St. Mark Church and How to Minister during Fire

St. Mark Lutheran Church has been through quite a bit with the 2017 Sonoma County fires.

A year ago, we worshiped about 270 people in two services.

29 families connected to St. Mark Lutheran Church lost their homes.

That’s families. Obviously, more people were involved than 29.

In addition, 15 members of our congregation died in the last quarter of 2017.

Too many have moved away for a variety of reasons.

We miss them.

What St. Mark officially did to help

We have excellent and hard working members at our church and they went right into action the first day of the fires.

Both pastors were available to anyone who needed help.

Our church administrator, well-connected with the community, started making phone calls and gathering information.

The church building itself sheltered families–particularly those who were not sure where to go.

But that’s what any church would do–and the Sonoma County churches all sprang into action immediately.

What St. Mark members specifically did to help

Here are a number of the ways our members helped each other and the greater community.

Prayer, of course, is the greater work. Everyone was praying!

Called around to find everyone. This was particularly poignant when an elderly couple, without a cell phone, left their house and visited friends in San Francisco.

Their absence sparked a mention on national news. When they finally turned up, they were touched the church family (as well as their relatives!) cared so much about them.

Took in another family to share their home. Most of us bunked with friends or relatives in the early days. But one family of five took in a family of four for 8 months.

Provided training for those who wanted to help. Two weeks after the fires started, a team came for a one-day seminar on ways to help people process natural disasters.

Brought over the Lutheran Comfort Dogs to help. These dogs had just returned from the east coast when they deployed to our county. The children, in particular, enjoyed being with them.

(How do you prepare before a fire? This post provides some tips).

Practical concerns

Individuals and churches from around the country made generous financial donations. Their gifts enabled (and continue to enable) the church to share those gifts with our families in crisis.

Quilting ministries from two churches and the Santa Rosa Quilt Guild provided quilts for everyone who lost their homes.

Our Lutheran potlucks ceased for the rest of the year. Donated funds were used to purchase all the food we served at what traditionally would have been a potluck.

As our church administrator, Debi, explained,

“The feeling was, how can we bring our family together for a meal without causing additional work/stress to our people?  The answer was to provide the meal so our church family could dine and connect and share with one another.”

Donated new mattresses for anyone who lost a home. A “son” of the church provided monies from his family’s foundation fund to provide a new mattress to anyone who lost one.

Practical helps

Listened to stated needs, didn’t just respond in ways that made them feel good.

One member who lost her home asked us please not to give them anything–they had nowhere to store possessions except the trunk of their car. So, friends put together a list of items to provide later.

Helped sift homes ashes hunting for valuables. Church members had done the same thing two years before for the Cobb Fire–we were experienced and willing to help.

Provided a junk drawer for someone who just needed encouragement. (You can read the blog post here)

Pastors, parishioners, and elders attended fire survivor meetings with widows and single women who were uncertain where to begin and wanted an extra set of ears to hear the information provided.

Simplified worship and Christmas activities. Holiday activities were important, but we needed to keep them simple. With so much going on in the congregation, familiar–rather than new and elaborate- activities helped.

Anything else?

This list is what came to mind immediately, many more activities took place.

Teams continue to visit a survivor encampment to bring water and pray. They helped build shelters, Debi also pointed out,

“Beginning weekly last October, members from our church and other churches have been bringing bottled water and living water to the residents living in FEMA trailers.  They will continue to do this until the last trailer is gone.”

Many members participated in community fire-relief activities.

We continue to check on our friends–and, always, pray.

“We are committed to walk this journey with our families for however long it takes, weeping and rejoicing with them,” Debi said.

This past summer fires swept through the town of Redding, three hours north of Sonoma County.

A friend of mine pastors a large church there. On day two of their agony, I connected Debi, our church administrator, with theirs. They spoke for 90 minutes.

““I didn’t realize how much I’d learned, or how quickly I could transition back to those early days of the fires, and share the critical things that we had learned,” Debi said.

“There’s a part of me that is sad about having experienced the fires and trauma, but on the other side I’m thankful that I was able to help someone else assist their community.”

What have we learned?

How precious our fellowship is, and how necessary when crisis envelopes us.

The first Sunday after the fires started, my husband and I drove 90 minutes to worship with our church family.

But the service started a little late. We all needed to hug each other and to start listening to the stories.

We cried and we mourned.

And then we worshipped together.

Just like a family–because we are a family at St. Mark Lutheran Church.

Tweetables

What specific things did one church do during the Sonoma County fires? Click to Tweet

Practical and personal ways to help during a natural disaster. Click to Tweet

Loving a congregation through a natural disaster. Click to Tweet