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Encore Issues | PW | PC(USA) |
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Living Waters for the World by Steve Young Living Waters for the World is many things—an opportunity for service; a water purification system that's simple, sustainable and affordable; a resource to train and equip church mission groups and others to form partnerships, lead health, hygiene and spiritual education, and install water purification systems—but most important, it's about learning how to love our neighbors in concrete and tangible ways. The aptly named mission project of the Synod of Living Waters has come a long way since its humble beginnings around a table at a Synod Hunger Action Enabler meeting in 1992. "It boggles the mind and overwhelms the heart to see how the Holy Spirit has worked in the l ife of this project," says Wil Howie, missionary-in-residence for Living Waters for the World and the organization's founder. "God is so good." Wil is a psychologist-turned-minister who believed that the Synod of Living Waters (of which he is a member) could literally bring lifesaving, living waters to people in need throughout the world. From that seed of inspiration, a water purification system and related educational components were developed and are continually improved by a group of Presbyterian volunteers and others. What's more, they have been implemented at 28 sites in Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil, Honduras, Haiti and Belize. In March 2005, two systems are being installed Chenai, India, an area affected by the December 2004 tsunami disaster. Presbyterian Women, within the Synod of Living Waters and throughout the denomination, has been a key part of the organizaiton's growth—participating in the program, increasing awareness, giving financial support early in the project's history and, most recently, providing a Thank Offering (including Health Ministries) grant to establish Living Waters for the World's permanent training facility, Clean Water U. Steve Young is a lifelong Presbyterian and an elder at Historic Franklin Presbyterian Church in Franklin, Tennessee. He serves as moderator of the Mission Interpretation–Financial Development Task Force for Living Waters for the World. |
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