Baptist World Alliance, BWA News Release

Baptists appeal for help for typhoon victims in the Philippines

Baptist World Alliance Logo

The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) is appealing to Baptist organizations, churches and individuals to make generous and urgent contributions to assist victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.

The typhoon, described as perhaps the most powerful ever recorded, had speed of more than 300 kilometers or up to 195 miles per hour when it made landfall on November 8. At least 10,000 people are feared dead in the Philippines province of Leyte after the massive storm cut a swathe of destruction across the region.

Gerlie Baltero of the Luzon Convention of Southern Baptist Churches in the Philippines said “bodies were lying in the streets” and “people have lost homes, their work, and some their loved ones.” He reported that “many are in need of food, water and medicine” in other  hard hit provinces such  as Iloilo, Cebu, Oriental and Occidental Mindoro, Davao Oriental, Tacloban, Surigao del Norte, and Palawan.

There are five BWA member organizations in the Philippines with total membership of about 430,000.

Donations may be made online at www.bwanet.org/give, or sent to:
Baptist World Aid
c/o Baptist World Alliance
405 North Washington Street
Falls Church, VA 22046
USA

The Baptist World Alliance, founded in 1905, is a fellowship of 266 conventions and unions in 134 countries and territories comprising 51 million baptized believers in 178,000 churches. For more than 100 years, the Baptist World Alliance has networked the Baptist family to impact the world for Christ with a commitment to strengthen worship, fellowship and unity; lead in mission and evangelism; respond to people in need through aid, relief, and community development; defend religious freedom, human rights, and justice; and advance theological reflection and leadership development.