Jennifer Harris recently wrote an article about awWater project helps that alleviate world’s poverty
More than 270 Christian organizations in the Micah Network are working together to ensure the United Nations keeps the Millennium Development Goals designed to cut global poverty in half by 2015. First Baptist Church of Columbia is one such group, striving to be a prophetic voice reminding the world that God cares for the poor.
“We felt a call to answer the Micah Challenge,” said Susie Bennett, deacon at First Baptist Church. “We needed to respond.”
Since answering the challenge, the church has chosen a project each year that fits in with the Millennium Goals. The first year, the church partnered with Heifer International, an organization that seeks to end hunger. The church set a goal of $5,000, enough to fill one of the ark-shaped banks Heifer International uses as a fundraising tool. When the funds came in, however, the church had given a little over $10,000, doubling their goal.
This year First Baptist is working with WaterPartners International to provide clean and safe water to Mereta Elementary School and the Village of Sayshayto in Ethiopia. “Children under the age of five are dying so fast, and all because of a lack of access to clean, safe water,” Bennett said.
Projects such as these truly make a difference. The fight to end world hunger, poverty and homelessness depends on the decentralized participation of private citizens and grassroots organizations. The governments of the world do not solve the problems plaguing us and all of humanity. We the people need to take it in our own hands and follow the example set by active organizations such as First Baptist Church of Columbia and the other over 270 Christian organizations in the Micah Network.
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