March 22 is World Water Day.  Plan to lead your church to carry out a project to support the work of Pure Water, Pure Love.  Pure Water, Pure Love (PWPL) is a WMU Compassion Ministry that changes lives throughout the world.  Earn money to give to PWPL by hosting a waffle breakfast or supper.  Here’s how:

Before the Event:

1. Select a date and time for your Waffles for Wells event --- perhaps breakfast on a Sunday morning before Sunday School or supper on Sunday evening.
2. Promote your event.  Communicate the purpose of the event is to raise money to give to PWPL so more people can have access to clean, safe water and hear the good news of Jesus.
3. If possible, offer a sign-up sheet or link to attend the event so you will know about how many people to prepare for.
4. Ask church members to donate the food and other supplies needed – waffle mix; cooking spray; syrup; butter; plastic plates, cups, and cutlery; napkins; coffee; and juice or milk.  If you want to kick it up a notch, then ask individuals to donate items for a topping bar such as berries, bananas, whipped cream, powdered sugar, chocolate chips, or nuts.
5. Ask several individuals to loan their waffle makers for the event.  Having multiple waffle makers will keep people from waiting in line.
6. Recruit volunteers to welcome guests, make the waffles, serve the waffles and drinks, clear the tables, collect donations, and clean up.
7. Set up the day before the event.
8. To decorate, cover each table with a blue plastic tablecloth.  Ask church members to loan their decorative water pitchers to use as the centerpieces.  Make copies of the PWPL flyer from:  www.wmunew.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/PWPL_half_page_flyer_.pdf.  Put several flyers around the pitcher on each table.
9. Email, call, or text reminders to everyone who signed up.

During the Event

1. Volunteers should arrive an hour before the event to make the coffee and waffle batter, finish setting up, and visit with people who arrive early.
2. As people arrive, collect their donations in an empty pitcher.  Thank them for giving to PWPL.
3. During the breakfast (or supper), share these facts about the global water crisis: 

*More than 2 billion people around the world lack access to safe drinking water.  

*Every day more than 700 children under age five die from diseases linked to unsafe water, poor sanitation, and poor hygiene.  

*Three billion people do not have access to handwashing facilities with soap.  

Explain how your church is partnering with PWPL to make a difference and change lives.  Encourage people to read the flyers on their tables and to take home a flyer to remind them to pray.

4. Pray together for God to allow the people who receive clean water to know Jesus, the Living Water.  Pray missionaries serving overseas would stay healthy as they share about Christ.  Pray many would hear about Jesus through Pure Water, Pure Love.

After the Event

Donate the money raised to PWPL.  Donate online by visiting wmu.com/pwpl and clicking the “Support PWPL” tab or send a check make payable to WMU clearly marked for PWPL to: 

PWPL
c/o Woman’s Missionary Union

PO Box 83001

Birmingham, AL  35283-0010

TAKE THE HANDWASH CHALLENGE

Encourage your family to pray for people who lack access to clean water by taking the handwash challenge.  Here’s what you do:

• Purchase a new bottle of liquid hand soap for every sink in your home.
• Use a permanent marker to write PRAY across the front of each bottle.
• Share with your family the statistics about the global water crisis from this article.
• Challenge your family to pray.  For one week, each time family members wash their hands, they should pray for God to protect, comfort, and provide for people who lack access to clean, safe water.  Pray God would show you ways you can help be a solution to someone’s need for water by raising or giving money, raising awareness, participating in a water-relief project, or some other act.

“Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)” UNICEF, accessed October 11, 2021, https://www.unicef.org/wash.

 

Reprinted from the March 2022 issue of Missions Mosaic, Woman’s Missionary Union, Birmingham, Alabama.  Written by Tracey Gholson. Used by permission. To receive this issue, or subscribe to Missions Mosaic, call 1-800-968-7301.