What will be your response?

Last night at our meeting, Joe and Steph Johns (missional living pastor) shared with us about their recent trip to DR Congo. The purpose of their trip with to define the partnership with World Relief in Congo and to contribute to a 3 year strategic plan. Joe talked about some of the aspects of what World Relief is doing there. WR uses the churches to alleviate suffering by forming networks that are called upon to help with numerous things. One of the main focuses is peace keeping.
Some facts:
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is one of the weakest nation states in the world. The US ranks it third-- (1) Somalia, (2) Afganistan, (3) DRC, (4) Iraq. In the last decade, over 5.4 million people have died in the bloodiest man-made catastrophe since WW2. 1.5 million people are intally displaced from their homes. 45,000 people die daily from conflict and disease. The largest UN peace-keeping force world-wide is deployed in eastern Congo. Nearly half a million Conglese have become refugees--some even resettled to Fort Wayne. And the most shocking statistic: Congo is reported to be over 95% Christian......
World Relief is using church mobilization to change lives in DRC. The people there have a hard life to begin with, considering the poverty. But add in the threat of war and violence, and life gets even tougher. I am so excited to see the work that is being done there. We will have a two-part mission: compassion through widow home-building and prayer, and also documentation by getting bios of the pastors in the area for a later project.
We are feeling the weight of the pain and suffering in this country. And also some sense of amazement that no one really knows that this is happening. I challenge you to tell someone else about this tragedy. The next person's response maybe greater than mine or yours.