On February 6, 2023, a 7.8 earthquake rocked southeast Turkey and northeast Syria.

There is a Presbyterian Church in Aleppo that opened the doors of Aleppo College (a school run by the church) as a relief center. Within hours, over 350 had sought shelter and supplies there. A picture below shows a woman showing a young girl a sleeping bag at this shelter, and a scene from within the shelter.

We have seen the news reports of people were displaced from their homes in the heart of winter, mourning the loss of their homes, their families, their friends.

Mark Mueller, Director of the Outreach Foundation, made an emergency appeal for Presbyterians to help. He wrote, “Paul writes in the 8th chapter of Romans, ‘For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ I cling to Paul’s words today more than ever. 36,000 people have perished in the recent earthquake in Turkey and Syria…yet we remain resilient and committed as Christians because we live with hope in Jesus Christ. He is our advocate. Claiming Paul’s words, we confidently respond in word or deed to the work of Christ in the world.”

Mueller wrote this emergency appeal email on February 15. Our witness committee had already voted two days prior on February 13 to send an emergency missions check of $10,200 to help the Turkey earthquake victims. I am so grateful by the compassionate heart of our Witness Committee that they were moved to help our Presbyterian friends affected by the earthquake.

I texted news of our help to Tom Boone (who works for the Outreach Foundation and visited our church recently) and he was in Germany on the way to Turkey. He was so thankful to hear of the relief from our church. Please keep praying for the victims of that tragic earthquake, and praise God that you are part of the efforts to help them!

May the peace of Christ bless you,

Andrew