Updated December 3, 2024

Our God has a tender heart for the hurting people of this world. Read updates about our ongoing efforts to deliver gospel-focused relief to those in need, especially among people affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton and in the still-needy countries of Ukraine and India. 

With so many current needs, your gifts are greatly appreciated by us and especially by those being helped. 

Ukraine

Through the help of World Relief funds, a team of Ukrainian Christians (contacts of Bibles International missionaries) delivered relief aid into a war-torn area in eastern Ukraine during the week of November 25. The group brought not only physical relief but also the life-giving message of the gospel to people who have little hope left. The team held 3-4 services daily, and some attendees publicly repented of their sins. 

Slovakia missionaries Don and LeAnne Waite give their Ukraine ministry report that Leonid and Natasha are still hosting refugees in their home three to four days a week. They often host 20-40 people at a time in the small apartment they share with their four children. Leonid and Natasha have seen at least 16 people saved, baptized, and added to their church. They are discipling new believers who want to be ready to teach others when they can go back to their homes.

Vova and Laura, the Waites’ other Ukrainian ministry partners, continue their powerful ministry among people directly affected by the war. During a brief visit to the US, Vova and Laura presented a Ukrainian flag to BMM President Patrick Odle and his wife, Ruth. The flag was signed by dozens of Ukrainians who have been helped through World Relief.

The Waites said, “God is working in incredible ways through faithful Ukrainian believers. The help that we have been able to provide through World Relief is a drop in the bucket, but we’ve seen again and again how God can take the little we can do and multiply it incredibly.”

Hurricanes Helene and Milton

In the wake of hurricanes that devastated the southeastern US, BMM’s World Relief funds are extending the outreach of Florida, North Carolina, and Tennessee churches as they help affected communities. As more church-based relief efforts develop, we will send further help based on available World Relief funds.

Florida

BMM church planters Sam and Beth Rojas were directly impacted by Hurricane Milton. Through their soccer program, the Rojases had previously reached out to families living in a trailer home community. The community was hit hard by the hurricane, and many of the families did not have insurance. World Relief funds are helping Sam and Beth provide food, water, and help with roofing repairs for the trailer homes. 

North Carolina

World Relief is also helping a North Carolina church purchase additional relief materials to help others in their state. The church has filled its Sunday School classrooms with supplies that they are transporting to hurricane-affected areas.

Tennessee

In eastern Tennessee, a church experienced six feet of water inundating their auditorium. The damage left them with a shell of a building as they had to throw out their damaged pews and all office equipment. The church's two parsonages were ruined as well. World Relief has sent funds to help them replace chairs, Sunday School materials, and more.

Another eastern Tennessee church has supplied 250 meals for first responders, offered quantities of potable water, and assisted a family in gutting their home. The church is serving hot meals for up to 1,000 people for as long as funds allow. The church would like to help a sister church in Newport whose pastor and assistant pastor lost all their belongings (including computers and commentaries), along with their church and parsonage being filled with five inches of mud. With available funds, Eastside Baptist hopes to assist in any way they can.

Would you join us in helping these grassroots relief efforts that have become essential in the hurricane-affected areas? A gift to World Relief helps these churches and others to prayerfully and carefully represent the gospel of Christ through material supplies and spiritual support.

India

Approximately 60,000 Indians are living in camps for internally displaced people (IDP) after tribal violence targeted Christians in May 2023. Nearly 30 villages and 25 churches were burned down, leaving the Christians unprotected and living in fear. The affected area is one with historic BMM connections. 

World Relief is helping an Indian Christian hospital (started by BMM missionaries nearly 100 years ago) as they hold free medical clinics, primarily among IDPs but also among flood-affected communities. In the past year, the hospital has treated 675 people who could not have otherwise afforded medical care. The Christians of India continue to ask prayer for peace between the two tribes and that God will comfort families affected.

Creative Access Nation

In an Asian Creative Access Nation, a wearying civil war has stretched on for several years, forcing many ethnic minorities—most of whom are Christians—to flee to the jungles and mountains for safety. Prior to the conflict, BMM missionaries had worked incountry to translate the Bible and teach literacy in partnership with nationals.

In the absence of missionaries on the ground, national pastors and church planters have been serving as our trusted contacts to provide relief aid to their internally displaced countrymen. Through generous donations, World Relief has provided food, cottages for shelter, and medicine to believers and unbelievers alike. Some of the recipients were blind people who had no way of acquiring food. Like the other recipients, they received sacks of food, cooking oil, blankets, mosquito nets, and tarps. Along with physical relief, our national partners distributed 450 Bibles, 1200 New Testaments, and 1200 Gospels of John and other Christian books.

In one district, the war turned more than 40 villages into battlefields. Our national contacts had previously planted six churches among these villages. When aid was distributed, the unbelieving villagers became interested in knowing about God and salvation. In the last two years, six national missionaries have conducted evangelistic crusades and carried out more than 20 Bible teaching campaigns for the villagers. 

Praise the Lord that so far 98 people have accepted Christ and been baptized. Among believers, the relief made them feel that God remembered and cared for them. These Christians became like missionaries to those around them, sharing God’s goodness even in the jungles.

Can you help?

God never brings suffering without a desire to lead people to salvation or to cause His believers to grow. He is using our missionary teams in these pivotal locations to be a living testimony of His compassion to hurting people. Your gift to World Relief equips them to bring God’s light into their darkness.

Give to World Relief through our Projects page (choose #4).

To give by mail, make checks out to Baptist Mid-Missions Foundation with “World Relief” in the memo line. Mail to:

Baptist Mid-Missions

PO Box 308011

Cleveland, OH 44130-8011


To give by credit card over the phone, call 440-826-3930

Count on us

Our goal is to be ready to bring relief both to Christians and to unsaved people that the Lord wants to touch with the gospel. We honor your contributions by using them to the fullest extent to help those for whom they are given, and for accountability our missionaries send us detailed reports of their use of World Relief funds.

Please keep our missionaries in prayer for wisdom and endurance in their efforts. They want to effectively provide for and comfort the hurting, even while balancing existing ministries in their already-busy schedules.

Thank you for helping us help others in the name of Christ.