Brian Houston, the head of the hugely successful Hillsong Church, with his wife. Courtesy Photo.
Media reports show that record-breaking temperatures and months of severe drought fuelled a series of massive bushfires across Australia in past months.
In the worst-hit state, New South Wales (NSW), the BBC reported on 10th January, 2020 that fire affected more than five million hectares, destroying more than 1,800 houses and forcing thousands to seek shelter elsewhere.
An estimated 1 billion animals have been lost, and scientists fear long-term damage to many sensitive ecosystems.
In response to the unprecedented and ongoing devastation, Uganda Christian New has learnt that several Christian Ministries and organisations worldwide are spearheading relief efforts for the bushfires that have besieged the nation.
Hillsong Church organised a Global Bushfire Appeal in which they raised over $1 million . According to the Christian Post, the Church announced that the donation will go towards among other things assisting volunteer firefighters across the country and supporting families directly affected by the fires.
“Please continue to pray for our nation, our leaders, firefighters and communities affected and for rain that will end the drought in our scorched land,” Hillsong senior pastor Brian Houston said.
The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team announced last week that it would be deploying two groups of crisis-trained chaplains from the US, Canada, and the UK to Victoria and New South Wales, as Christianity Today reported.
“God has been reminding me the beautiful words in Matthew’s Gospel: ‘Come to Me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest,’” Steward Beveridge, who leads the ministry’s rapid response team in Australia and New Zealand is quoted as saying. “When I have the opportunity to talk with people, there are tears and a moment of silence as they reflect on the words and take comfort in them.”
NASA released Thursday an animated video showing how the smoke from the bushfires reached the lower stratosphere and had traveled across the Pacific Ocean, reaching Chile.
Christianity Today reports that fires in southeastern Australia interrupted evangelical efforts of Scripture Union teams in the nation’s most populous states.
Sources report that the fires started in various ways: some by lightning, some by human actions, including arson. However, it’s the climate conditions that provide ample fuel for the fires to grow and spread.
“The intensity and size of bushfires in some areas has led to the creation of their own weather systems,” the Red Cross reports, “generating pyrocumulonimbus clouds, trapping heat and generating strong wind and lightning strikes, in turn sparking further fires.”
“Power, fuel, and food supplies have been severely interrupted to some communities and road closures have been common,” the Red Cross continues. “This has resulted in some communities being isolated, or only accessible by air or sea (when smoke conditions allow).”
According to VOX, Australia’s government created a new National Bushfire Recovery Agency to help fund fire relief and authorized payments to volunteer firefighters, some of whom have now spent months on duty.
