UMC Response to Nepal Earthquake and How You Can Help

Many of you have been asking how our congregation, and the United Methodist Church as a whole, is responding to the devastation caused by the earthquake in Nepal.

For many years, the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church has been in mission with the people of Nepal. This existing relationship positioned UMC to take immediate steps to assist the people of that nation, including providing household and community water filtration units for survivors, and working with United Mission to Nepal, a partner in community-based health and education projects in Nepal for more than 60 years. To read more about these efforts, click here.

Closer to home, the Mission, Justice and Community Work Area of DGFUMC, has approved an immediate emergency gift of $1,000 from our congregation to the United Methodist Committee on Relief’s (UMCOR) Disaster Response in Nepal to support relief efforts.

You can also help with relief efforts. Individual gifts may be sent through UMCOR, using the code Advance #982450. To send a gift electronically, click here.  To donate by check, please make your check payable to Advance GCFA, write the Advance number 982450 on the memo line and mail to:

Advance GCFA
PO Box 9068
New York, NY 10087-9068

To donate by phone, please call 1.888.252.6174.

Katherine Parker, a missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries, who serves as part of the Health Team of the United Mission to Nepal, asks that we would join in specific prayers for the people of Nepal:

• There is anxiety that this event will trigger another quake on one of Nepal’s other two fault lines and that more aftershocks will further destabilize buildings. Please pray Psalm 46 for the assurance of God's continued presence and protection.
• Please pray for those who have lost loved ones and those who have lost their shelter either temporarily or permanently. Please pray for those sleeping outside that the weather will hold stable and it won't rain.
• Water shortages are always a problem in Kathmandu, so please pray that the water supply will be sufficient and uncontaminated (I've heard reports of "rust colored" water). Please pray that the temporary outdoor living will not lead to a cholera outbreak.
• Please pray for our response team traveling to Kathmandu and for UMN staff as we implement our emergency response plan to help those in need.
• Please pray for the teenage children of several missionary colleagues who are in Kathmandu and separated from the rest of their family here in Pokhara and for other families who are separated from loves ones.
• Please pray for calm and release from fear as the aftershocks continue.

  To read more about Katherine's experience, click here.