Amid the heartbreak and hardship, the Church has been present – offering hope and modelling another way, reports Allison Alley of World Vision Canada
The news following the recent earthquakes in Venezuela has been filled with jarring images of destruction: apartment walls torn open to reveal glimpses of the lives inside, and rescuers searching through rubble for the missing. We have also heard of families sleeping in improvised shelters, food shortages, and the heartbreak of life being suddenly upended.
But for the people of Venezuela, this hasn’t been the beginning of their hardships. When the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes struck on June 24, the country was already at the centre of one of the largest displacement crises in the world, with nearly 7.9 million people having fled the country over the past decade in search of safety and a better life. Those who remain have been living with strained services, poverty and fragile systems.
This is a crisis within a crisis.
But it is not the only story. Amid the heartbreak and hardship, the Church has been present – offering hope and modelling another way.
Since 2019, Hope Without Borders, a network of more than 2,000 individuals and churches, has been serving people in need across Venezuela and in neighbouring countries where many Venezuelans have fled. In the aftermath of the earthquakes, the network has mobilized to deliver food, clean water, sanitation support and first aid to children and families affected by the emergency.
Our church partners are already present, woven into the social fabric of communities and deeply trusted by the people around them. Local pastors know which families have lost homes, who is grieving, and which children have been separated from their parents. They are well placed to offer practical support, comfort families carrying deep loss, and pray with people in their suffering.
Canadian Christians are also standing with Venezuela. Tenth Church Vancouver has been mobilizing its church family to both pray and bring practical help. "Crisis reminds us how interconnected we are as a global community,” says Patrick Elaschuk, Tenth’s Pastor of International Missions. “We feel called to lean in and support children and families in Venezuela during this difficult chapter, ensuring they know they are neither forgotten or standing alone. Because our vision is to walk alongside children and families in vulnerable situations, this is one way we can offer practical care through trusted partners already present on the ground.”
When Jesus was asked, “Who is my neighbour?” in Luke 10, he did not answer by drawing a boundary. He told a story about compassion that crossed one. The neighbour was the one who stopped, saw the wounded man and allowed his life to be interrupted by another person’s suffering.
That is a word for the Church in moments like this. Venezuela may feel far away to many Canadians, but in Christ, distance is never the measure of responsibility.
“In a world where digital media streams images of destruction back-to-back with images of desperate rescue, we must resist the temptation to become indifferent witnesses to pain,” says my colleague João Diniz, World Vision’s Regional Leader for Latin America and the Caribbean [photo at right]. “We are called to move from awareness to visible and active Christian witness.”
That witness can take many forms. We can pray for Venezuela in our homes and churches. We can reach out to Venezuelan Canadians we know and ask how they’re doing. We can show care in our own neighbourhoods, remembering that this tragedy feels close for many families here in Canada. We can give, knowing that basic needs like food, shelter and sanitation are urgently needed. However we respond, we are invited not to look away, but to draw near with compassion that crosses borders and reflects the love of Christ.
Allison Alley is president and CEO of World Vision Canada. Photos of João Diniz, World Vision’s regional leader for Latin America and the Caribbean, and of the earthquake cleanup work courtesy World Vision. The regional Hope Without Borders network is an initiative of World Vision International.