Disaster relief, rebuilding 1,000 families

Thousands of homes were leveled in the historic and tourist city of Yogyakarta after a 6.3-magnitude earthquake hit, leaving thousands of people homeless, injured or killed.

Church planter Thomas Maspaitella was part of a multi-church rebuilding effort to adopt 1,000 families and provide for their basic needs. Tents, food, camp stoves, dishes and children’s school kits were given to each family. After three months of developing relationships, Thomas, a graduate of Nusantara Bible Seminary (NBS), Indonesia, began leading a team to plant a church. Three house meetings and Bible studies launched, and Thomas hopes to start more in the future.

NBS students also joined together with mission groups and churches to help meet the needs of the people after the disaster. They cleaned up rubble, distributed tents and food, counseled and evangelized. Every week for over two months, a new team of people from NBS drove eight hours to the area for disaster relief work. Students saw the horrors of this type of disaster up close but also saw what individuals can do to help rebuild lives. NBS called the disaster a “unique opportunity to really see how the family of God can pitch in and help one another.”