Samaritans Purse is a Christian, non-profit organization who offer emergency relief from water and
sanitation to disaster relief. Samaritans Purse began in 1970, when the founder, Bob Pierce visited
Koje-do in Korea and saw numerous cases of children suffering from illnesses and poverty.
The ministry is widely known across the globe for their emergency support and relief aid
(Samaritanspurse.org.au, 2018).
The work of Samaritans Purse aims to provide emergency help to thousands of people who suffer
from war, famine, disasters and poverty. They aim to achieve their goal of helping those in need
whilst demonstrating the love of God and spreading the word of Jesus (Samaritanspurse.org.au,
2018). Samaritans Purse cover over 10 different types of emergency relief … such as supplying
clean water and sanitation, disaster relief and education. All of this is made possible by working
through the two companies; Samaritan’s Purse Australia Limited and Samaritan’s Purse
Australasia- Operation Christmas Child Limited.
Samaritans Purse has 11 statements of faith in which they base their faith upon. The organization has 17 ministry projects such as ‘International Crisis Response, Operation Christmas Child and Animals, Agriculture and Livelihoods’. Through ministry projects such as these, Samaritans Purse is able to help over 150 million children from 160 countries receive Christmas gifts, provide hygienic and safe water to over 400,000 people in 2016.
“We want you to know about the grace that God has given…” (2 Corinthians 8:1-5), this scripture
is part of Samaritans Purse 11 statements of faith in which they base their ministry upon. The 11
statements of faith include;
– “We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God”
– “We believe that there is one God. Eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit
– “We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless, life…”
– “We believe that, for the salvation of lost and sinful man, repentance of sin and faith in
Jesus Christ results in regeneration by the Holy Spirit and that Jesus Christ is the only way
of Salvation.”
– “We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit whose indwelling enables the
Christian to live a godly life.”
– “We believe in the resurrection of both the save and the lost…”
– “We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ and that all true
believers are members of His body, the Church”
– “We believe that the ministry of evangelism is a responsibility of both the Church and each
Christian”
(Samaritanspurse.org.au, 2018).
The previously mentioned faith statements are a major aspect of Samaritans Purse and the missions
that they aim to achieve. These missions include over 17 different ways of providing aid to
thousands of people around the world.
The international crisis response mission educates people on ways to prepare for inevitable natural
disasters along with helping them rebuild their lives once the disaster has hit. Providing different
necessities such as food and water, medicine, shelter and supplies has helped over 2,500 people in
certain crisis-stricken areas.
Samaritans Purse has multiple projects where they provide sanitation and clean drinking water. One of the major projects is “Turn on the Tap” which provides clean water to those who need it. This project provides personal hygiene and the prevention of water borne diseases that are associated with the use of wells and rainwater tanks (Samaritanspurse.org.au, 2018). This project has changed the life of approximately 1.46 million people who were living without the use of clean water.
In many developing countries the help for religious churches and education is not in high priority for the government. Samaritans Purse aids in the construction of churches, education and training within the community for Christian workers and they also supply literature resources and bibles for personal and educational use. Bible Christian literature is provided to churches and the ministry partners who are unable to receive Bibles in their traditional language. Along with constructional aid, Samaritans Purse offers evangelistic training to those who are unaware of the loving word of God.
Through all of these projects, no matter what their aiming to do they achieve it with the word of God in their mind and allow His love to pour out of their actions. Whether it’s across the world or domestically, their priority is always demonstrating Gods love.
Throughout many missions, across many years, Samaritans Purse has contributed to Christian worship through service and relief aid. They have provided the word of God to those who would’ve otherwise never of heard it, and in these situations, it has completely changed their perspective on life. The service has provided help to people who would still be stuck in a cycle of distraught and pain but instead they now are worshiping God throughout their daily lives and helping other to do the same.
Through projects such as The Christmas Child Operation, thousands of children are now aware that they are loved by God and hundreds of other people throughout the world, just by providing them with a small shoe box full of presents. Through this work many schools around the world are being educated on the good that giving and helping other be aware of God’s word can do, this is some of the most amazing work as the younger generations are learning about the Grace that God provides.
In 2010 a worker employed under Samaritans Purse was kidnapped and held captive for approximately three months in Darfur. During this time in Sudan there was a major abduction threat to foreigners, and many other charity organisations would not allow their employees to travel to Sudan under their jurisdiction. Flavia Wagner, a Samaritans Purse employee, had already been kidnapped once while under the protection of the organisation prior to departing for Darfur. After the second abduction she sued the non-profit organisation for a lack of training for security personnel and disregarding multiple threats of abduction (Ax, 2011).
While the organisation was trying to provide aid to those in an area where help is needed most, the safety of their staff needs to be taken into consideration. 2 Corinthians speaks of sacrificing your needs and stepping out for those who need your help, but this should not mean that employees should be putting themselves in life threating situation to achieve this.
Samaritans Purse prides themselves on providing aid to people who have to live within dangerous types of areas on a day to day basis. In 2 Corinthians 8, it speaks of how people should give the gift of God’s Word and support them during times of need, which is exactly what Samaritans Purse achieves. As this foundation grows into a larger organisation, the management group will need to further develop large organisational ideals and values such as the protection, health and wellbeing of their staff and not just those they are trying to help. Consideration will need to be given to where the organisation plans to send their employees, and health and safety policies will need to be adhered to, to ensure employee safety and protect the organisation from further legal action.
Overall Samaritans Purse provides a much-needed service also contributes to Christian worship through their services across the world, touching many people’s lives and changing them for the better. This is what our Lord, Jesus Christ, came on Earth to achieve, and how he gave his life to better ours. This message is what Samaritans Purse embodies in their work, the sacrifice of our time, hard work and generous donations, will better the life of God’s children.