I have been trying to make some practical applications that are specific to the General Rules in my recent sermon series on Wesley’s General Rules. When I preached on the second rule, “Do all the good that you can,” I wanted to think of a concrete way for our church to “do good” to others throughout the season of Lent.
The result of this was the decision to start a campaign at our church during Lent to give to Blood:Water Mission. If you are not familiar with Blood:Water Mission, it is an excellent organization, doing wonderful work. You should go to their website in order to get the most accurate and comprehensive information available, but here is some random info about Blood:Water Mission:
- $1 provides clean drinking water for one person for one year! That is amazing, and reason enough to want to support Blood:Water Mission.
- $3,000 will build a well that will provide clean drinking water for a village. Again, this is a pretty amazing result that you could see with a generous, but for many people not completely unimaginable amount of money. (If it seems unimaginable, maybe we need to get a lot more imaginative about ways that we can spend less on ourselves and more on those who lack basic necessities like clean drinking water.)
- They also work to provide safe blood for blood transfusions. (I have to admit, I am not as clear on the “blood” side of Blood:Water Mission… but it is a part of what they feel called to work toward.)
- I believe Blood:Water Mission started due to the burden of the members of Jars of Clay, when they were faced with the need during a trip to Africa. (I am not positive that they are the “founders,” but they are definitely involved with it.)
- Did I mention that $1 will provide clean drinking water for one person (who would not otherwise have clean drinking water) for an entire year?!?
I would encourage you to prayerfully consider giving during this season of Lent (and beyond) to Blood:Water Mission. Can you find ways to cut a few corners and send the money that you save to Blood:Water Mission so that a brother or sister who is thirsty can have a cup of clean, safe, uncontaminated drinking water? You can give directly through their website here.
Kevin M. Watson 
I agree with you wholeheartedly about blood:water…their goal is to build 1000 fresh water wells in Africa. And if I’ve heard correctly, they’re thinking about Haiti as well, but that could just be a rumor. Our church did a one time donation to them but opted to build wells through a program within the UMC but blood:water mission is on top of things. Donald Miller says people like Jena Lee, who is the director of blood:water, are living out a great story. That the world will be missing something if Jena Lee ends her story now. I think that’s a good point. If you’re interested in a book with pictures of Africa from Jeremy Cowart and thoughts and captions, written by Jena Lee, check out Hope in the Dark on Amazon. It’s amazing. In addition to that, check out Bono’s speech given at the 2006 National Prayer Breakfast on Africa and his book On the Move with is a transcript of the speech with pictures. Both are equally amazing. Peace.
great post… thanks for the inspiration 🙂