Each November we take a special offering to support an organization working to pursue gospel renewal. Our 2024 beneficiary is Africa Inland Church-Tanzania (AIC-T)’s Diocese of Mara-Ukerewe, a remote and impoverished area of Tanzania. Our offering will help provide clean water and gospel hope to the people in these villages through the well-drilling ministry of Transforming Tanzania.*

We have an opportunity to directly impact over 39,000 individuals with safe, clean water and bring them the good news of Jesus Christ.

GIVE

*If funds allow, we may use some of our 2024 Thanksgiving Offering to begin a well-water ministry in Togo, West Africa with another missions partner, New Harvest Missions International. With a growing Muslim population, Togo is similar to Tanzania in its arid climate, poverty profile, and people’s desperate need for access to clean water.

The Pressing Need for Safe, Clean Water in Mara-Ukerewe

The people of this region in Tanzania struggle to meet basic human needs — securing adequate water is the most pressing of these needs, due to subsistence farming in a very dry part of the country. Those most impacted are women and children: in the dry seasons, they often must make a round trip of over ten miles on foot to reach a water source.

These water sources — rivers, streams, ponds and surface retention basins — are shared by livestock and wild animals. Numerous water-borne diseases, animal attacks, exhaustion, dehydration, physical and sexual abuse, domestic strife, and lost educational opportunities are some of the daily realities faced in the pursuit of water.

About Water-Well Ministry

  • Transforming Tanzania

  • Transforming Tanzania

  • Breakdown of Costs

  • Pray for Africa Inland Church - Tanzania (AIC-T)

  • New Harvest Missions International

Since 2008, AIC-T has partnered with Transforming Tanzania to drill wells throughout the Mara-Ukerewe diocese. Each of the more than 150 completed projects continues to provide for these communities. Conservative estimates are that more than 450,000 people now have easy and regular access to safe, clean drinking water for the first time in their lives.

Projects are initiated in villages where the diocese has an existing church or in conjunction with a new church plant. As a ministry of the diocese, these projects fall under the oversight of the church’s Department of Community Development. Once completed, these projects become the responsibility of the respective church and village where they have been completed. Through the diocese, a program of training in the management of the water well is conducted to ensure the sustainability of the well. A local committee composed of church members and village residents determines the fee schedule, hours of operation, security and, most important, maintenance and repair. 

  • $13,500: Survey (to locate a sufficient water source), staging, drilling, all materials — including pedestal, 3,000 liter tank, pump, connection to power grid or solar panel and battery.
  • $500: Training expenses to ensure the sustainability of the project; training includes identifying an oversight committee made up of church members, establishing fee schedules in consultation with village leadership (at least 60% of fees are set aside in a common fund held by the diocese for repair and maintenance), distribution schedule, security, and a diaconal component (the aged and infirm are typically provided water at no cost).
  • $500:  Land purchase: In an increasing number of villages a well project is undertaken in connection with a church plant; the diocese usually will have to purchase the land where the water source is located. The land will become the property of the local church where the congregation will meet and eventually build. There are also instances in which the survey does not identify a sufficient water source on an existing church’s property; these funds are held in an account to enable the church or diocese to secure the property for the project.
  • $500:  In the last year and a half or so we have added this additional amount to cover costs related to the administration of the ministry.

TOTAL: $15,000 per well

  • Pray for resources to drill wells in over 40 churches and villages on the diocese’s waiting list.
  • Pray for sufficient rains in the coming season, as people’s livelihoods are significantly dependent on rainfall.
  • Pray for the recipients of well water to thirst for the living water found only in Jesus and the gospel.
  • Pray for our mission partner, Peter Ngwili, and all those involved in evangelism and church planting in the AIC-T.
  • Pray for the Bweri Health Center: the completion of a surgical theater unit and the purchase of an ambulance.
  • Pray for 10 recently-established churches, that they would reach their communities through gospel transformation.
  • Pray that God would raise up many faithful pastors and new believers in Tanzania.

If funds allow, we may use some of our 2024 Thanksgiving Offering to begin a well-water ministry in Togo, West Africa with another missions partner, New Harvest Missions International.

Like Tanzania, the people in Togo are affected by the lack of clean, accessible water. New Harvest Missions International seeks to build boreholds with solar panels to power a pump that draws water from the ground. These drilling facilities will:

  • Increase access to drinking water for 2700 inhabitants
  • Improve health and well-being of populations by ensuring reliable access to safe drinking water
  • Promote good hygiene practices
  • Strengthen evangelism
  • Increase participation in religious activities

About Transforming Tanzania

Transforming Tanzania is a fellowship of churches, foundations and individuals in partnership with the Diocese of Mara-Ukerewe (Africa Inland Church-Tanzania).  Through Bible conferences, water projects and medical initiatives Transforming Tanzania seeks, by the grace of God, to bring comprehensive life change to pastors, congregations and communities.

Mission Statement:  Bringing comprehensive life change to pastors, churches and communities in Tanzania through ministries of Word and Deed.

Support the Thanksgiving Offering

Be a part of bringing restoration to the people in Tanzania.

Give