{"id":686,"date":"2009-06-24T17:11:08","date_gmt":"2009-06-24T17:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?p=686"},"modified":"2010-12-22T12:52:39","modified_gmt":"2010-12-22T17:52:39","slug":"7134","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/24\/7134\/","title":{"rendered":"Merge: Flu Concerns Should Not Affect Mission Trips"},"content":{"rendered":"

MCALLEN, TX (June 24, 2009) \u2013 Fears about the H1N1 virus \u2013 more popularly known as swine flu – and violence in Mexico influenced six Evangelical Covenant churches to cancel mission trips planned in partnership with Merge ministries, but executive director Dale Lusk says working in Mexico still is safe.
\n
\nLusk says he understands the fears due to media accounts, but stresses the point that \u201cif it wasn\u2019t safe, we wouldn\u2019t take people there. Those of us who live down there haven\u2019t seen much change in the day-to-day life of people. Families still take their kids to school. They still go to the grocery store.\u201d<\/p>\n

Merge is a ministry of the Department of World Mission and Lusk notes the department is not pulling its missionaries. \u201cMissionaries in Mexico have children and they\u2019re not worried about it,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve gone all around the country. I take my three-month-old son across the border.\u201d<\/p>\n

While it is true that the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the alert level about H1N1 to Phase 6, Lusk points out that the designation simply confirms that the virus has spread to numerous countries – that is different than issuing a warning. \u201cAn alert does not mean don\u2019t go,\u201d Lusk says.<\/p>\n

That understanding is consistent with information provided on the Centers for Disease Control website, which states, \u201cWHO\u2019s decision to raise the pandemic alert level to Phase 6 is a reflection of the spread of the virus, not the severity of illness caused by the virus.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CDC adds, \u201cWHO continues to recommend no restrictions on travel and no border closures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lusk notes that Haiti is a country that has been a \u201cwarning\u201d country for years, but a number of Evangelical Covenant churches still travel there at least once, if not multiple times each year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Medical professionals issued dire warnings initially because it was unknown how many people had been infected in comparison to the number of people who died. Now it appears to be little, if any, more dangerous than other strains of the flu.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe two likely reasons for the higher death rate in Mexico, which is still very small, are poorer nutritional status and economic barriers to health care for Mexicans,\u201d says Dr. Gwen Luepke, a former Covenant missionary to the Congo now living in the United States. \u201cThere are 300 times as many people who died in one season of seasonal flu in the USA than of novel H1N1 flu so far in Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n

Extra-precautions initially were taken because no one knew the extent to which the virus had spread or its lethality. Lusk says he believes churches made decisions too early in the process.<\/p>\n

Lusk says he also understands that people may be concerned about reports of violence. Cities such as Juarez have been battlegrounds for drug cartels.<\/p>\n

Most of the violence, however, has been among the cartels and law enforcement. \u201cUnless you are a policeman, a drug dealer or a federal officer, you don\u2019t have anything to worry about,\u201d Lusk says.<\/p>\n

A friend of Lusk\u2019s did mission work in Juarez in March and \u201cnever saw anything,\u201d he says. \u201cIn talking to the pastors in Juarez, they don\u2019t see any issues in the area where they live.\u201d<\/p>\n

Groups have a greater chance of getting hurt in their cars as they travel through the United States to get to Mexico than they do of being victims of violence in that country, Lusk asserts.<\/p>\n

Lusk believes unfamiliarity with the country also may have led to the decisions to cancel.
\nAll the churches that cancelled were going on their first trips with Merge, he says. Twelve other churches still are going, and they all have been to the country previously.<\/p>\n

Lusk says he doesn\u2019t know if the fears caused any churches not to pursue mission trips.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongregations should consider more than the news when deciding whether to embark on mission trips,\u201d says Luepke.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they should pray regardless of H1N1,\u201d she says emphatically. \u201cIf it is God\u2019s will that they should go, then that\u2019s the safest place for them to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lusk laments that the people of Mexico suffer when Christians from the United States cancel or decide not to consider traveling to the country out of fear. \u201cI just think it\u2019s sadder for the Mexican Christians to have groups cancel on them, when the Mexican Christians have need for encouragement and they themselves don\u2019t really see a perceived danger for the teams,\u201d Lusk says.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of children\u2019s homes have almost no money left,\u201d he says. \u201cThey\u2019re used to existing with teams helping them, and all the teams have cancelled. So a lot of children\u2019s homes are scrambling, wondering, \u2018what are we going to do now?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Participation in Merge trips always declines from previous years when CHIC is held, but \u201cThis will be the first time the numbers are down over a previous CHIC year,\u201d Lusk says.<\/p>\n

In addition to fears and CHIC, the beleaguered economy also has led to fewer churches taking mission trips, Lusk says.<\/p>\n

Anyone traveling to a foreign country should first check the Centers for Disease Control website to learn about the particular country to which they are traveling. For more information on traveling, click here<\/a> or click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MCALLEN, TX (June 24, 2009) \u2013 Fears about the H1N1 virus \u2013 more popularly known as swine flu – and violence in Mexico influenced six Evangelical Covenant churches to cancel mission trips planned in partnership with Merge ministries, but executive director Dale Lusk says working in Mexico still is safe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nMerge: Flu Concerns Should Not Affect Mission Trips - Covenant Newswire Archives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/24\/7134\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Merge: Flu Concerns Should Not Affect Mission Trips - Covenant Newswire Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MCALLEN, TX (June 24, 2009) \u2013 Fears about the H1N1 virus \u2013 more popularly known as swine flu – and violence in Mexico influenced six Evangelical Covenant churches to cancel mission trips planned in partnership with Merge ministries, but executive director Dale Lusk says working in Mexico still is safe.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/24\/7134\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Covenant Newswire Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-06-24T17:11:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2010-12-22T17:52:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/24\\\/7134\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/24\\\/7134\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8\"},\"headline\":\"Merge: Flu Concerns Should Not Affect Mission Trips\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-06-24T17:11:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-12-22T17:52:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/24\\\/7134\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":893,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/24\\\/7134\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/24\\\/7134\\\/\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/24\\\/7134\\\/\",\"name\":\"Merge: Flu Concerns Should Not Affect Mission Trips - Covenant Newswire Archives\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-06-24T17:11:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-12-22T17:52:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/24\\\/7134\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/24\\\/7134\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/24\\\/7134\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Merge: Flu Concerns Should Not Affect Mission Trips\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/\",\"name\":\"Covenant Newswire Archives\",\"description\":\"Evangelical Covenant Church\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/author\\\/covwebster\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Merge: Flu Concerns Should Not Affect Mission Trips - Covenant Newswire Archives","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/24\/7134\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Merge: Flu Concerns Should Not Affect Mission Trips - Covenant Newswire Archives","og_description":"MCALLEN, TX (June 24, 2009) \u2013 Fears about the H1N1 virus \u2013 more popularly known as swine flu – and violence in Mexico influenced six Evangelical Covenant churches to cancel mission trips planned in partnership with Merge ministries, but executive director Dale Lusk says working in Mexico still is safe.","og_url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/24\/7134\/","og_site_name":"Covenant Newswire Archives","article_published_time":"2009-06-24T17:11:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2010-12-22T17:52:39+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/24\/7134\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/24\/7134\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#\/schema\/person\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8"},"headline":"Merge: Flu Concerns Should Not Affect Mission Trips","datePublished":"2009-06-24T17:11:08+00:00","dateModified":"2010-12-22T17:52:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/24\/7134\/"},"wordCount":893,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/24\/7134\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/24\/7134\/","url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/24\/7134\/","name":"Merge: Flu Concerns Should Not Affect Mission Trips - Covenant Newswire Archives","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-06-24T17:11:08+00:00","dateModified":"2010-12-22T17:52:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#\/schema\/person\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/24\/7134\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/24\/7134\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/24\/7134\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Merge: Flu Concerns Should Not Affect Mission Trips"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#website","url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/","name":"Covenant Newswire Archives","description":"Evangelical Covenant Church","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#\/schema\/person\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/author\/covwebster\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6131,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686\/revisions\/6131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}