In over 100 countries, Christian NGOs are the front-line, hands-on way that America has been improving the health of the poorest peoples of the world. In disaster situations, in particular, more than half of the aid agencies that respond are Christian-based. These FBOs range from the very small B with an annual budget of $100,000, to the very large (annual budget of $1 billion). Many Christian NGOs are quick to respond to humanitarian disasters, arriving early and often staying into the critical phase that transitions relief to traditional development. Most FBOs are highly accomplished and professional, often defining “professionalism” and even innovation in conducting primary health care, public health, and nutrition activities in humanitarian relief settings. Additionally, many of these NGOs contributed to the development of international standards for (in water and sanitation, nutrition, food aid, housing, and health) that serve as the worldwide measure for appropriate and adequate relief. (www.sphereproject.org).

Four of the largest relief agencies, seen in nearly every developing world disaster situation over the past decade or more, are Christian NGOs. The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) maintains a low profile, yet operates an extensive array of primary health care and bulk food aid programs. Similarly, Lutheran World Relief quietly specializes in delivering food aid, bringing food to famine zones such as in Ethiopia and Sudan. World Vision, in contrast, has a very high profile in the US and is arguably the largest NGO in the world, running emergency programs in nutrition, supplemental feeding, and food delivery, as well as traditional development programs. Church World Service (CWS) was, at one time, the largest NGO in the world, working tirelessly distributing food aid. Currently, CWS is the official US refugee processing agency in Eastern Africa, facilitating the identification and transportation of refugees to be resettled in the US.

All of these FBOs and others (including the United Methodist Committee on Relief, Mennonite Central Committee, the American Friends Service Committee, Mercy Corps International, and Caritas International) have developed their own unique and recognizable styles, strategies, and tactics for saving lives in times of disasters, using their comparative advantages in health education, shelter, water supply, sanitation, or the management diseases, including HIV/AIDS. In almost every instance, effective programs have depended upon the training of local community health workers to build health response capacity for displaced communities.

There are six notable ways in which Christian aid agencies differ from non-religious NGOs in disaster settings:.

●    Source of contributions:  Christian NGOs are able to draw contributions (financial, in-kind, and in volunteer time) from thousands of churches and Christians around the world.

●    Overseas partners:  There are local churches in almost every country of the world that provide natural partners for relief agencies. Indeed, Christian NGOs regularly seek out the opportunity to work with local congregations in the communities of both the forced migrants and the host countries.

●    Larger purpose:  Unlike non-religious NGOs, Christian NGOs are able to offer disaster victims a holy vision of a better life after the crisis, reason for continuing as an active member of a community, a system of hope, and, particularly for aid workers, a system of ethics for relationships. However, because of prohibitions against the use of federal funds for religious activity, Christian NGOs must be scrupulous in separating their religious activities from their medical work. As a result, this important benefit is rarely documented.

●    Access:  Religious NGOs sometimes have extra access to war affected and rural peoples because of their alliances with local churches, or because they are known to be independent of government control.

●    Responsibility for peace: Christian NGOs frequently focus their response efforts on building peace. Health activities are one important mechanism in peace-making and rebuilding trust.

●    Focus:  Some evaluators have observed that faith-based NGOs are more dedicated to the hard work involved in disaster zones, than the less-religious NGOs. Organizational politics, administrative problems, and salary negotiations are kept in perspective with the needs of the people being served when workers already “know why they are there.”