Who We Are, What We Do, and How We Do It

Water Mission is a Christian engineering ministry providing access to safe water and an opportunity to demonstrate our Christian faith to people in need throughout the world.

Our work is based on the belief that God is concerned about the physical and spiritual well-being of all people, and He desires a personal relationship with each of us. In the Old Testament, through the prophet Isaiah, God calls each of us to experience a life that satisfies our deepest longings. He puts it in the metaphorical language of thirsting. “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters…Give ear and come to me, hear me that your soul may live.” (Isaiah 55:1,3)

We believe that God fully revealed Himself to the world in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus spoke as God when He said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” (John 7:37) Jesus pointed to Himself and promised to quench our spiritual thirst with “living water,” if we would put our trust in Him.

As Christians, we are called to respond to three imperatives which are given to us in the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. Our response to these imperatives is manifested as follows:

The Great Commandment
Both Matthew and Mark in the New Testament of the Bible relate the Great Commandment to us. In Mark we read:

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Mark 12:28-31, NIV

So the question is, “Who is our neighbor, and how do we love him?” The answer to the first part of this question is “Our neighbor is all of mankind.” The answer to the second part of this question is “We love him by caring for his needs the same way we care for our own needs.”

Thus, for the Christian, this commandment that we love our neighbor as ourselves requires that we be concerned about the physical well-being of all people – regardless of age, sex, race, faith, or any other characteristic that might distinguish them from ourselves.

And how does this concern act itself out to the benefit of others? Physical needs in the form of food, water, shelter, clothing, health care, etc., abound throughout the world. It would be difficult to imagine one person or organization being able to respond to all needs. But Jesus calls Christians not to attempt to respond to all needs but to work within the “Body of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 12:27)

Thus, for Water Mission, in particular, our response to the Great Commandment is to work to provide access to safe water to people in need. And we do this work always with no expectations of receiving anything from those we serve. We are careful to place no requirements on those we serve other than to ensure that, in each project, access to safe water is provided to everyone regardless of age, sex, race, or faith, and that the community being served work to ensure the physical equipment will be properly operated and maintained.

The Great Commission
The Great Commission is also presented to us by both Matthew and Mark. In Matthew we read:

Then Jesus came to them and said, “…Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…”

Matthew 28:18-20, NIV

So the question again is, “How do we respond to this imperative?”

In all cases we are directed by this imperative to conduct ourselves in a manner that causes the people we are interacting with to notice, and hopefully question, something pleasantly different about us. As Jesus taught his followers in Matthew 5:16, “Let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

Beyond this, the way Water Mission responds to this imperative depends on the particular circumstances of each specific project. Whenever and wherever we have the opportunity, we will share, in an informational non-threatening manner, what we believe to be the following propositional truths with those we interact with.

• We believe in an eternal transcendent God who created all men (men, women, and children) in His image for His pleasure.
• We believe that we are alienated from our Creator by our sin.
• We believe that we are reconciled to our Creator through Jesus Christ, who we believe to be the Son of God.

As noted above, when able to share this information, it will always be done in a sensitive, non-threatening way. “Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear.” – 1 Peter 3:15