Update from IM Global Servants Dwight & Barb Bolick

Dwight and our partners in Latin America are exploring what it means “to invite people to become disciples of Jesus Christ and to proclaim, through both word and deed, God’s reign of justice, peace, and abundant life for all creation.” Caring for creation has become an essential expression of the gospel and a vital part of their Christian witness.

One of the networks Dwight serves is RECONPAZ—the Continental Christian Network for Peace—made up of volunteers from churches throughout Latin America. RECONPAZ supports and equips pastors and communities who protest ecological devastation while also modeling practical, hopeful alternatives for protecting God’s creation. In several Central American countries, pastors advocating for clean water and healthy ecosystems face persecution, arrest, and even assassination for resisting the “principalities and powers” responsible for polluted rivers and depleted water sources.

In Honduras, Dwight focuses on training rural communities in rainwater harvesting, a practice that provides an independent water supply for households and gardens, reduces time spent searching for water during the dry season, and strengthens community resilience. We have trained groups and installed model systems in Honduras in nine locations, - schools, community centers, a church and, - even a penitentiary!

One group he works with in Tegucigalpa serves as volunteer caretakers of a 2,500-acre nature reserve. Dwight trained them in developing rainwater collection systems to supply a reservoir used for fighting frequent forest fires and nurturing a native-tree nursery. They are also establishing a botanical garden with walking paths where visitors can learn about ecological stewardship, bearing witness to the hope that all creation will one day be restored and set free from corruption.

Now in a recent trip, Dwight is introducing bio-sand filters, for use in kitchens and for drinking. We found a distributor of these filters in Honduras, making the costs and installation much easier. Bio-sand filters use gravel and sand, creating a biological layer capable of removing 99.9% of pathogens. With Edgard and Helen, outstanding RECONPAZ coordinators in Honduras, we will be training groups and monitoring the uses and maintenance of these natural wonders.

On the outskirts of Tegucigalpa, we are partnering with a missionary pastor, Alvin Anderson, who has planted five churches in isolated, underserved neighborhoods. In these communities, water must be purchased from trucks, which can only reach limited points in the steep terrain.

We will be installing rainwater systems in more of those churches as our resources allow. Also, with the bio-sand filters, they will be able to provide drinking water to neighbors.

Access to clean water is a human right.

It is also an expression of the abundant life that God dreams for all of us, for all creation, in the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Rainwater systems like these are one way of equipping churches for mission in their communities.

You can make more rainwater projects and bio-sand filters possible by donating to the Bolick’s Specifics, designating it for Rainwater.

Call 610-768-2323 or write to: imdonorservices@internationalministries.org