As horrific eye-witness stories arrive from earthquake-devestated Concepción, Chile’s Anglicans are calling for financial support rather than material donations as they organise support for their hardest hit congregations.
In recent days Chilean newspapers have revised down the death tool to around 520, while the Chilean Government has accounted for 279 bodies.
Bishop of Chile, Tito Xavala, has appointed Felipe Chamy to the position of pastor at San Juan church in Concepción.
In effect Mr Chamy (pictured living up to the motto on his T shirt " Don't waste your life) is taking charge of the church Chile Anglicans are using as a base to distribute aid.
Mr Chamy's wife Berni and their 2 week old son are moving to Concepción later this month
Pray for the members of San Juan and the two other Concepción churches " San Pedro and St Johns " which have a combined membership of around 70 families.
Below is an eye-opening report from James Dixie, a member of CMS missionary Tim Swan's church in Chile who accompanied the advance Anglican relief party that drove in trucks to Concepción on March 2 and stayed until March 5.
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“THE EARTHQUAKE WAS NOTHING… WHAT CAME AFTER WAS HORRIFIC”
We are back from Concepción… but have been busy on phase two of the mission to the south.
"Conce" was difficult. We needed the police escort into town.
There was an anarchistic mentality which is only now finishing and was horrific.
One pastor said: "The earthquake was nothing ... nothing. What came after, what people did to each other afterwards, that was horrific."
He and his wife had not slept in 5 days as there were only 4 men in their street to man the barricades, he said you would hear the gunshots in the distance, then as they got nearer you would hear the whistles of nearby barricades, when they got really close you would pray that they would "only" steel everything you had (food & water), but not rape your wife. So far God has protected them, but they were on the ragged edge as you can imagine.
There were barricades on every street, little communities dug in to protect themselves. Where we were staying two of the men manning the barricades had received minor flesh wounds from a shotgun ricochet a couple a days previous.
While we were in Concepcion, the Military were bringing things under control, with a curfew from 6pm until midday, leaving people only 6 hours to do everything necessary. During non curfew times, bands of cyclists go around, scoping out potential targets for their gangs to hit that evening. Because of this, for the safety of the pastors we were delivering aid to, we had to travel around during curfew hours, without a permit, hoping that the soldiers would trust the bishop who was with us, which, thanks to God, they did.
The military are not everywhere yet though, and on Thursday evening Bishop Tito and [Anglican minister] Juan Esteban were delivering to one of these areas, as they approached the barricade armed men shouted at them to stop. Hands on pistols ready to draw, they shouted for them to turn the interior light on so that they could see who was in the car, as they did this one of the men at the back shouted, "Bishop Tito, you married me, remember?" " Juan Esteban assures me that he was fine during all this, but that he was concerned for the bishop, who is richer in years and also in sensitivity!!
Having said all that, the most impacting thing for me was the warmth of greeting we received from the brothers and sisters in Concepcion. I have a tendency to cringe at the term brothers and sisters, but here, now you really realize that we are all one family, brothers and sisters adopted by God, united by a salvation not deserved and sharing a love beyond a human love. Among the Christians here, the greatest gift we bought was not food and water, but the fellowship of the Christian family, in Santiago, Chile and the rest of the world who are praying for them.
The earthquake has also bought opportunities to bring the gospel to people in a way that I would not have thought possible, the truck driver for example was asking questions about God, the Bible and our faith for virtually the whole 12 hour journey, even apologising to us for not changing the subject!!
These events bring home to people the fact that our control and careful planning of our lives is completely illusionary, the sacking of Concepcion, a large but friendly city, has shown what really lies in the hearts of men and the reaction of Christians is a sharp contrast to what they see in themselves.
All of this is on top of the constant aftershocks, averaging about one every hour or two, during our 3 days there we had 3 or 4 larger tremors between 6 and 7, one of which triggered a tsunami alert (false, thank God).
The second phase of the mission to the south will be 90 volunteers are going to the coastal areas affected by the tsunami to help in the cleanup and initial rebuilding.
If anything it is potentially more dangerous than our visit to Concepcion, partly because there are more people involved and most of them are young (university aged) and inexperienced in just how dangerous life can be.
They are being accompanied by older, more experienced heads who will be caring for them, but it is not clear yet if the army have a permanent presence in the area they are going to.
The other reason being that they are going to be by the sea, and exposed if one of the many aftershocks, some of which are large earthquakes in their own right, triggers a tsunami. Please pray for them as they help people to clean up destroyed villages, in building temporary accommodation and in being available and open to share the Gospel if God provides the right situations, which I am certain he will.
