The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team is deploying crisis-trained chaplains to Germany in the aftermath of an attack that left 12 people dead and many injured earlier this week.
On Monday, a truck ploughed into a busy Berlin Christmas market. Local authorities are still looking for answers in the suspected terror attack while the community mourns. Many have visited a makeshift memorial set up near the scene of the tragedy.
That memorial is one of the places where the international team of Rapid Response chaplains from Canada and the United States will offer emotional and spiritual care. The chaplains, two of whom are fluent in German, will minister alongside the local churches who invited them to serve in Berlin.
“People are suffering, and we’re responding after communicating with local churches,” said Jeff Naber, manager of chaplain development and ministry relations for the Rapid Response Team. “We’re going to offer emotional and spiritual care, especially in this Christmas season. We’re going to share the love of God; to share with people that so many years ago He so loved the world that He gave us His only Son.
“That’s why we go.”
Douglas Barr-Hamilton, a British RRT chaplain, is flying on Boxing Day to join the assessment team.
This is the Rapid Response Team’s fifth international response in 2016 and its second to Germany. Earlier this year, a small team of chaplains deployed to Munich in July following a deadly shooting in a mall.
Please keep the Berlin community, particularly those affected by the deadly attack, in your prayers.
The Rapid Response Team, an international coalition of crisis-trained chaplains, can deploy at a moment’s notice in times of tragedy because of the support of faithful donors.
Information about the work of the Rapid Response Team, and how you can support it, is here.