Mission Statement
Samaritan’s Purse is a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world. Since 1970, Samaritan’s Purse has helped meet needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose of sharing God’s love through His Son, Jesus Christ. The organization serves the Church worldwide to promote the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
What is Samaritan’s Purse?
Samaritan’s Purse is a Christian organization that takes its name from Jesus Christ’s story in the Bible of the Good Samaritan. In Luke 10, Jesus tells of a man from Samaria who finds a traveler robbed and beaten at the side of the road, in desperate need of help.
Although the traveler was a complete stranger, the Samaritan bandages him, carries him to a local inn, spends a night caring for him, and then takes coins from his purse and pays the innkeeper to continue caring for him. The Samaritan also promises to come back and pay the innkeeper even more, if that is what is necessary to restore the traveler to full health.
Like that Good Samaritan, Samaritan’s Purse provides aid to hurting people-victims of war, disease, disaster, poverty, famine, and persecution. We do it regardless of their religious faith, race, gender, or socio-economic standing. We usually partner with local churches, just as the Good Samaritan partnered with the innkeeper. And we continue to nurture that partnership, and monitor the effectiveness of our work, just as the Samaritan arranged with the innkeeper.
History
“Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God.” Bob Pierce wrote these now-famous words in his Bible after visiting suffering children on the Korean island of Koje-do. This impassioned prayer is what guided him as he founded and led the ministry of Samaritan’s Purse in 1970. His mission for this organization was “to meet emergency needs in crisis areas through existing evangelical mission agencies and national churches.”
Samaritan’s Purse Canada
Samaritan’s Purse Canada has been doing essential relief and development work in Jesus’ Name all around the world since 1973. Our Emergency Disaster Relief programs provide urgently needed assistance including food, water, and temporary shelter. We meet critical needs and give people a chance to rebuild their lives here in Canada and around the world.
Through Community Development and Vocational Programs, we help people break the cycle of poverty and exploitation-giving them hope for a better tomorrow. Through education, shelter, and long-term care projects, we provide help and joy to vulnerable children.
“At Samaritan’s Purse we don’t run from disasters—we run to them. We go to help people in Jesus’ Name.”
—Franklin Graham, President
We also reach out to children through our annual Operation Christmas Child program that collects gift-filled shoeboxes from caring donors and distributes them to struggling kids in the developing world. The program has brought joy-and a powerful message of hope-to over 198 million children so far.
Through our Medical Projects, we provide quality health care in the name of the Great Physician (a description often used for Jesus). We also send medical and dental personnel to help in countries worldwide. And through our Teams program, we give servant-minded Canadians the opportunity to work alongside Samaritan’s Purse on a Mission, Relief or Youth Team.
Through our Water Projects, we are providing life-saving clean water and essential health and hygiene training to hundreds of thousands of people in the developing world.
All of this much-needed effort enables us to be modern-day Good Samaritans-and often earns us opportunities to achieve our ultimate goal, which is to share our faith in Jesus. We hope you will join us in this exciting work.
