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Jesus said “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but those who drink of the water that I shall give them will never again be thirsty “.
John 4: 13-14
Water usually runs under bridges and very occasionally over bridges, but we can also use water to build bridges. A few weeks ago Frankie Ward, Dominic Moghal, Phil Lewis and I visited Pakistan, including a day in the mountainous region that suffered the devastating earthquake in October 2005. There we met a remarkably committed and visionary Christian, Dr Haroon Lal Din, who runs a local hospital. Recognising that much of the illness he encounters in his hospital is water-borne he has started digging wells for the villagers. These wells not only provide clean fresh water; they are also meeting places for the community in its commonality and in its diversity. His scheme inspired us.
Both in Pakistan and in Bradford we are aware of a widening gulf between ‘Islam’ and ‘the West’ expressed in ever deepening fear and mutual mistrust. As our group wondered about ways in which we could do something, even if a little, to help bridge this gulf we thought of Dr Lal Din and had the idea of Churches in Bradford Diocese (and perhaps beyond) giving wells to the villagers of Pakistan as an expression of our love for them in Christ and our desire to be one with them even across the miles and across the religious and cultural divide.
We expect each well to cost around £700 and I hope that at Christmas this year, or at harvest next year, churches or clusters of churches together or deaneries will make contributions for a gift of living water which will build bridges of friendship within villages and between the mountains of the North West Frontier Province and the hills of the Diocese of Bradford.
Yours with love
PS Frankie and Dominic (no email listed) will be delighted to speak to your church about our visit and about ‘Living Wells’.
The project is presented as a Powerpoint show, suitable for parishes and PCCs. A copy of this should have been sent to each parish, but if you have not received your pack, you can download it from here.
The full pack contains two versions of the presentation. The preferred one requires the font Tempus Sans to be loaded on your computer. If this font is missing, then the back-up copy that uses the (nearly ubiquitous) Arial should be used. I am not clear whether the presentation has been tested on a Macintosh system.
Each version involves about 7Mb download, so don't try this unless you have either broadband or quite a lot of patience!
If you simply click the link below, the Powerpoint will probably run directly on your computer. To download it, right-click the link and select "Save Target As..."
The preferred version, using Tempus Sans font
The alternative version, using Arial font
Also, download the script that goes with the presentation here. (18Kb .pdf document)
