Sharing Living Water in the Congo

Global Ministries celebrates the signing of the partnership agreement between the Community of Disciples of Christ in Congo (CDCC) and Disciples4Water (a ministry of the First Christian Church (DOC), Edmond, OK), at the General Assembly.  Rev. Eliki Bonanga, head of the CDCC was in attendance at the Assembly and signed this partnership on behalf of the Disciples Community in Congo.

This agreement partners Disciples4Water (D4W) with the water program of the CDCC for an initial period of 5 years.  Safe, clean drinking water is a critical need in the Congo, and for many years the water program of the CDCC has been providing water as a starting point for health care, nutrition, hygiene and education.

Disciples4Water describes itself as a passionate group of Disciples seeking wholeness in a fragmented world by sharing living water and promoting a sustainable solution to the water crisis.  It was borne of the vision of Janet Helms and the committed efforts of other members of FCC Edmond.  They were inspired by the ground breaking work of Water4, an Oklahoma based nonprofit which has pioneered a sustainable, cost effective system of manually drilling wells utilizing materials commonly available in communities in most areas of the world.  A local team is equipped with a kit containing all the necessary tools and equipment for drilling, and they are trained how to drill, install and maintain the wells.  Last October a team of six people from D4W as well as two trainers from Water4 and a representative of Global Ministries were in Congo for the training of the 12 member drill team selected by the CDCC. 

Since that initial training 21 new wells have already been completed, and there are plans for another 30 wells in the next 6 months.  These wells are already changing lives and providing safe, cleaning drinking water for thousands of people.  This partnership seeks to strengthen and grow this ministry so that more and more communities benefit from life-giving water.