Congregational Planning
What happens if an earthquake hits in the middle of Sunday Worship? Or a flash flood renders the Sanctuary un-usable? How will you continue to serve your congregation and community in the midst of a disaster? Preparing for emergencies on a congregational level is just as important as preparing your family. Here are some tools specifically designed for faith-based organizations, so that in the worst of times, we can continue to bless our communities.
Prepare to C.A.R.E. Congregational Training
For those congregations wishing to engage in more formal training with either the church leadership or the congregation at large, the following resources are available. Prepare to C.A.R.E (Congregations Actively Responding to Emergencies) is a dynamic competency-based training program that empowers congregations to effectively and efficiently respond to emergencies and disasters within their communities. Prepare to C.A.R.E. is an interactive curriculum designed to use multiple teaching modalities with content tailored to the unique geographic and cultural characteristics of the congregation and community.
Prepare to CARE has three levels, with each building upon the previous:
C.A.R.E. Level 1—provides individuals and families with basic preparedness information to protect themselves, their families including pets, their property and help them sustain until help arrives
C.A.R.E. Level 2—provides similar information for churches, temples and other houses of worship so that they are able to continue ministry on some level to the Disaster CARE Ministry Team.
Lutheran Emergency Response Team (LERT) Training
LCMS Disaster Response offers LERT (Lutheran Emergency Response Team) training, designed to teach you how to prepare for and respond to emergencies, both within their individual lives, and as a community. Together, we will address the nature of disasters and explore what our response should be to disasters as members of Christ's church. We will explore how Christ has shown mercy to us, and how we can show our community that same Christ-like mercy. The goal is to prepare congregations and individual members to be better prepared when a disaster strikes and to help them know how to respond within their congregations, and in word and deed, within the greater communities.
Complete the Application Form to schedule a training!