Supporting the Church Worldwide

Helping in Jesus' Name

Samaritan’s Purse partners with the church wherever we go, coming alongside the local body of Christ followers to be the hands and feet of Jesus to a world in need.

Whether it’s deploying volunteer teams after a natural disaster in the United States, distributing aid around the globe, or delivering gift-filled Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes to children in need—Samaritan’s Purse works through the local church to serve the least of these in Jesus’ Name.

Rebuilding the Persecuted Church

After decades of brutal war, the church in South Sudan was decimated. Radical militias had pillaged and burned churches across the country in an attempt to wipe out the people of God. By the time peace came in 2005, a country was in ruins.

Samaritan's Purse saw the pain South Sudanese and Sudanese Christians had endured in war time and committed to build back the church one building at a time. Over the course of six years, Samaritan's Purse rebuilt 512 churches made of concrete and steel that are still standing—and thriving—today.

One pastor whose church was destroyed by war and rebuilt by Samaritan’s Purse is Pastor Michael Dut. His community was bombarded “in the mornings, afternoons, and evenings every day” at the height of the war. One bomb eventually blew up his church, leaving it in ruins—but not for long.

“We prayed and Samaritan’s Purse came to build back the church,” Pastor Michael said. “We survived because God helped us. God is our protector; we have no one else to run to.”

Our work did not finish with the physical building. After the project concluded, Samaritan’s Purse built up the people of God through discipleship programs, literacy training, peacebuilding courses, and many other ministry resources. Today, thousands of people from many different tribes and tongues in South Sudan are learning to read God’s Word for the first time through Samaritan’s Purse programs. Church leaders are now equipped to be a light amid the darkness in South Sudan through our training and discipleship initiatives.

Running to the Storm

When Typhoon Sinlaku slammed into the Northern Mariana Islands, it wiped out power and running water on the two major islands—Saipan and Tinian. Trees were flattened, and many houses lost roofs. With no water, electricity, and shelter, islanders didn’t know where to turn.

But Samaritan’s Purse quickly deployed to the western Pacific island chain, bringing over 240,000 pounds of relief items to the battered islands. Our 767 aircraft, the largest in our fleet, made three airlifts carrying water desalination filtration systems, a medical clinic, and relief items such as durable tarps, solar lights, mosquito nets, and generators.

To identify the greatest need among islanders on Saipan and Tinian, our disaster specialists worked through the local church to help hurting families. Many thousands of people who’d never thought to go to church before began flocking to churches across the islands to receive aid and, in doing so, heard the Gospel.

Chad Taflinger, head pastor of Saipan Church of the Nazarene, received generators, shelter tarps, and solar lights from our teams. His was one of 13 different churches we partnered with during the response. He and his congregation identified people suffering from chronic illnesses, who were especially vulnerable without electricity, and supplied them with our generators.

“Samaritan’s Purse has given us little pieces of hope that get people through the day, reminding people that the church is here in the mess with them,” the pastor said about the relief materials he received from us.

Serving Our Neighbors Years After Hurricane Helene

Even several years after Hurricane Helene tore apart communities across the mountains of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, Samaritan’s Purse has not stopped helping our neighbors through churches small and large in the region.

In addition to working with the church to store and distribute relief items immediately following the storm, Samaritan’s Purse helped rebuild or support over 100 houses of worship wiped away by Helene’s floodwaters. New and sturdy church buildings restored through Samaritan’s Purse are now praising God all the louder in the nooks and crannies of the southern Appalachian Mountains.

“It amazes me that this little church out in the middle of nowhere was the object of God’s grace and mercy, and He never forgot us,” said Pastor Holt Whitson of Halls Chapel Bible Church in Burnsville, North Carolina. His church was destroyed by the hurricane but rebuilt by Samaritan’s Purse.

Across the United States after disaster, Samaritan’s Purse works alongside a network of thousands of churches to serve hurting families reeling after tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, and fires. The local church hosts our army of dedicated volunteers and follows up with families we helped in the community long after we are gone. Many of these churches also partner with our child evangelism and discipleship ministry, Operation Christmas Child.

Bringing Good News and Great Joy to Jamaica

After Hurricane Melissa devastated Jamaica as a Category 5 cyclone, we brought in tons of relief materials and an Emergency Field Hospital to help thousands of families reeling from the disaster. Our network of Operation Christmas Child church partners was essential to our initial response, helping our Disaster Assistance Response Teams (DART) connect with cut-off areas to assess and meet critical needs.

Amid the chaos following the storm, we also brought hope to struggling families by flying in over 9,000 Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts to remind the little ones in Jamaica that God has not forgotten them. Local church leaders trained to conduct outreach events, presented the Gospel of Jesus Christ before eager children tore open their gift-filled shoeboxes. Later, many of these children embarked on The Greatest Journey, the 12-lesson discipleship course designed for shoebox recipients.

Since 1993, Samaritan’s Purse has delivered gift-filled shoeboxes to over 244 million children in more than 175 countries and territories. More than 52 million children have enrolled in The Greatest Journey since 2009 with more than 27 million boys and girls making decisions for Christ.