Standing With Family In Jamaica & The Philippines
Jamaica
Joel Bain (Lead Pastor of Grace Family Church, Jamaica) shares this update on the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa which swept through his country on October 28th…
On Tuesday, October 28, Hurricane Melissa made landfall in the southwest of Jamaica. This slow-moving storm, with wind speeds estimated at 185 miles per hour, devastated the western side of the island, having significant but less severe effects in the east, where the members of Grace Family Church live. We are grateful that God spared us from the brunt of the disaster, but our hearts are broken for our countrymen who have lost family, shelter, livelihoods, security, and educational opportunities, and must rebuild their lives from scratch.
In the midst of the passion and panic of the immediate relief efforts, we’ve felt the Lord calling our church to patience and to keep our eyes open for the right opportunities to do good to others, especially those of the household of faith. We’ve been able to help a number of our members to serve family and friends who suffered loss and damage.
Recently, we mobilised our community to collect, sort and ship clothing to some local partners from Youth With A Mission (YWAM), to be distributed by a local church in Montego Bay serving a devastated community. We will continue to engage with partners to determine the ways we can serve during the long recovery ahead of us.
We are deeply grateful for the prayers and countless messages and emails from pastors and members of Sovereign Grace Churches during and after the storm. Our partnership with you all is precious to us. Please pray for increased zeal for sharing the gospel with those around us. We know that God’s interest is much bigger than how we rebuild, but that more and more people would come to know and trust Jesus, and build their lives on the only foundation that will survive the storms to come.
Philippines
Jeffrey Jo (Lead Pastor of Cross of Christ Salvation Gospel Ministries in Manila, Philippines and National Leader for SGC Philippines), shares a report on two recent natural disasters that have affected the Philippines…
For the past recent months especially in the area of Cebu, back-to-back calamitous events transpired. The first one was a 6.9 magnitude earthquake that killed 69 people, injured 156 and ruined a number of infrastructures. This happened on September 30, 2025 (Virma Simmonete, BBC News, October 5, 2025).
After only a month, on November 4, 2025, Cebu was hit again, this time by Kalmagi hurricane that took 85 lives, injured 17 and caused 75 to go missing. Almost the whole city and countryside were flooded up to 2-storeys high. Most cars, trucks and other vehicles were swept by the strong current of the flood. More than 400,000 people have been displaced (Virma Rivera, BBC News, November 5, 2025).
Two of our churches from this region were greatly affected - His Dwelling Christian Church of Cebu City led by Nilo Ebo and His Dwelling Christian Church of Isabela, Bacolod led by Gilbert Tolentino. 15 families were displaced from the former church and 9 families from the latter. They were without water and electricity for days and any help from the outside was difficult and challenging.
Could God have prevented these natural disasters? Absolutely YES! But He allows it to happen for a lot of reasons, mostly for reasons known only to Himself. How then should we respond in times like these?
First, we should seek to glorify God in our circumstances. We should be more concerned about His glory than our relief. We live for the glory of God (Job 1:21, 1 Cor.10:31, Phil.4:11-13). Secondly, we should examine our priorities in light of the brevity of life (Ps.90:12). Lastly, we should grab this wonderful opportunity not only to share the gospel to the lost but also to care “… for those who belong to the household of God” (Gal.6:10).
This is where our gospel partnership in our family of churches comes in. Prior and after the calamities, we have been receiving a lot of messages, assuring us that we are prayed for and care for us as we go through this season of difficulty. Financial assistance was also sent to these churches both from our SG Asia-Pacific fund and local regional fund. We feel strengthened and indeed, we have not felt alone.
On behalf of our region, thank you for our partnership expressed in love, prayers and financial assistance. Your benevolence pleases and glorifies God and means so much to us. We are so grateful to God for Sovereign Grace Churches.
