Christian Emergency Network's Ready Church

Christian Emergency Network

Christian Emergency Network (CEN) is a communications and collaboration network mobilizing Christians and their churches to support the nation’s “Readiness” agenda. By networking and educating Christians to be aware-ready-and-there before, during and after disasters, CEN is preparing the Church at large to be a source of hope, comfort and salvation during times of national crisis.

CEN rallies Christians in emergencies of all kinds uniting thousands of Christian organizations, ministries, churches, media and millions of individuals to deliver a unified message of hope during disaster and to keep the faith community informed, equipped and sustained to effectively support disaster response and recovery efforts.

{The CEN website received 20,000,000 hits on one single day during an activation}

Ready Church Model

• CEN Chapter
• Activation Area
• City Leaders
• Ready Church ‘Boot Camp’
• Ready Church Campaign
• Readiness Experts Facilitate EOP Integration
• Interfacing organization
• Set up and support
• Existing networks connected
• NIMS compliant training
• Critical mass recruited
• Database of resources/ready volunteers
• Distribution outlets
• Integration into emergency management structures
• State of activation readiness

CEN/The Ready Church Initiative

In June 2008 CEN launched the CEN/Ready Church Initiative to network and equip local churches in select pilot cities. The pilot program, slated for the Fall 2008 is being fast-tracked to meet the needs of Christian citywide leaders responding to weather- related disasters currently happening throughout the nation.

The Ready Church Initiative is a national collaboration of Christian organizations facilitated by CEN to network churches at the local level to provide the right response to emergencies. Christian city leaders involved in existing compassion ministries are trained to integrate their constituents into a local network that is prepared to care for itself and then others in the same or nearby impacted areas in the event of an emergency. Churches are assessed; gaps in preparedness are filled; training in response is given; and then these churches are registered and mobilized through a national database and communications system.

Building on the principle of collaboration, CEN acts as the communication hub and network facilitator. Training, materials and expertise in various “best practice” areas are provided by network participants. During the “proof of concept,” CEN will establish a fully operational Ready Church model and recruit a critical mass of local churches and local media to join in with organizations like The Salvation Army, and the Mission America Coalition citywide leaders to:

1. Promote a vision of a citywide/nationwide equipped and “ready” church as part of a sponsored awareness campaign.
2. Train city leaders in guidelines and best practices for mobilization.
3. Set up “Activation” areas and network existing organizations with the help of CEN chapters.
4. Assess churches, fill their preparedness & response gaps, and register their commitment and resources to be made available during an Activation.
5. Train, recruit, and maintain a database of volunteers and facilities with the help of participating government and NGOs.
6. Prepare to activate and deploy as needed.

Why now?

Katrina has shown us that the government strategy of response cannot be accomplished without the tactical readiness of the local Church.

A Ready Church can play a pivotal role in completing the response chain at the local level:

1. Communication
2. Logistics
3. Leadership
4. Training

A Ready Church can be a significant and key achievement in protecting the homeland and minimizing the impact of natural and manmade disasters. Several models of success are soon to be validated and can be expanded to have a significant impact by October - if we act now.

All Government, Non-Government (NGO’s), and Faith-Based and Community Groups Included

The Ready Church Initiative will bring together churches, citywide Christian leaders, government agencies, and media to equip a local network for disaster preparedness, response and recovery; and all will benefit from the results. It provides an opportunity for different faith communities to adapt the working model. Christian, Jew, Muslim and any other faith-leader may join the effort to learn and share with their communities.

Groups are invited to:

1. Come and see – bring yourself or send local representatives to sit in or participate in the Ready Church Initiative.
2. Participate – join in the strategic planning at local roundtables and in the work of the local CEN chapter.
3. Invest resources – put in your human and other resources to help engage as many churches and members as possible, so we can share freely in the success and invest ours back into your faith communities.
4. Lead in areas of expertise – invest your expertise, so we can learn from each other.
   

CEN Contacts:

Mary Marr, Founder/Chairman – 520-577-6589, Mary.Marr@ChristianEmergencyNetwork.Org

Judy Hannestad, Director of Communications – 800-260-5637, Judy.Hannestad@ChristianEmergencyNetwork.Org

Mary Marr Bio

Mary Marr, Founder and Chairman of Christian Emergency Network (CEN), was called into ministry in 1978 after a successful career in public education in which she wrote the State of Michigan Guidelines for Career Education. After completing a theology education Mary’s media career began when she was approached to host a one-hour radio program that later became a syndicated daily radio program called Outreach Alert heard on over 1000 radio outlets nationwide. Mary also launched the Detroit Leadership Network and the Tucson Leadership Network, while actively engaged as a conference speaker and author of inspirational books, articles and commentaries.

In 2001, in collaboration with ten leading national ministries, along with public and private sector agencies, Mary founded the Christian Emergency Network (CEN), an unprecedented Christian collaboration and disaster-focused communication organization. Mary leads the charge as CEN rallies the Church to be aware-ready-and-there to give a compassionate Christian response to emergencies.

In addition to being an active member of the Mission America Coalition and the National Religious Broadcasters, Mary has worked cooperatively with the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) National Preparedness Campaign and contributed to the DHS Institute report that evaluated the best practices in the faith-based community related to Katrina.