On 17 August, Indonesia marked its 80th Anniversary of Independence. Unfortunately, on the same day, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck the Poso region of Central Sulawesi. In response, the Sulawesi District Church of the Nazarene, in collaboration with Nazarene Compassionate Ministries, extended aid services to the affected communities.
The island of Sulawesi lies within the confluence of the Australian, Pacific, Philippine, and Sunda plates, making the island highly susceptible to earthquakes. This earthquake was not the first. In fact, in 2018, a major earthquake had devastated almost the entire city of Palu and Poso, with thousands of deaths and millions of casualties. The 2025 earthquake, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), struck at 6:38 a.m. Central Indonesian Time (Central Indonesian Time), resulting in two deaths and 44 injuries.
Several Nazarene churches are located in the Poso area, and the district office is only a few hours from the earthquake site. Although not directly affected or significantly damaged, with initiative and a heartfelt desire to help, the pastors instructed their congregations to collect whatever aid they could. Praise God, they collected 10 boxes of eggs, 100 kg of rice, 10 boxes of instant noodles, two boxes of soap, as well as sugar, coffee, tea, and medicines. The Sulawesi NCM coordinator organized a team consisting of 17 people—a combination of NCM volunteers, pastors, and local church members—to distribute aid to earthquake victims, particularly in Tolambo village, where the Tolambo Church of the Nazarene is located. Some residents are still living in tents, afraid to return home.
Sily Wangu Mamboyo, one of the pastors and NCM members, praised God for the compassion of local congregations that were moved to help their brothers and sisters affected by the disaster.
“Although not much, the congregations gave from what they had, and the spirit of mutual support from the congregations in the GKN Sulawesi District showed,” Mamboyo said. “We distributed aid to Tolambo village, which took 5-6 hours to travel to. We left early in the morning and returned almost midnight. But the joy was felt in being a blessing to the community there. We are also still conducting assessments in other areas to gather information and determine what actions we can take next.”
The Church of the Nazarene in Indonesia prays that the people in the earthquake-affected areas will experience the love of Christ through the loving actions of the NCM Sulawesi team.