Equipped for Servant Leadership: Pastor Brave’s Story
In Golomoti, Malawi, Pastor Brave is leading with intentional ministry. He has witnessed how your partnership with Water Mission is transforming lives.
Through Water Mission’s Living Water training, Pastor Brave gained a deeper understanding of what it means to meet physical, social, and spiritual needs—keys to holistic ministry—and put this learning into action.
Holistic Ministry in Action: Teaching Adult Literacy
Pastor Brave felt deeply moved by the lessons on meeting physical, social, and spiritual needs holistically.
I realized a special need in my church. Many people did not know how to read or write. So, I started this class with the knowledge and skills gained from Water Mission training. As I speak, the entire class [of 40 members] is now able to read and write. They are able to read the Bible, which they never knew how to read before.
Pastor Brave and some of his students, who appreciate now being able to read the Bible for themselves.
Witnessing the impact of his efforts, Pastor Brave has become a motivated, passionate advocate for holistic ministry.
“I am sure that if it were not for the Living Water training, I could just be an idle person. But because of the training from Water Mission, I was enlightened,” he says. “This has been a very special thing to me—I can't deny it.”
Leading by Example: Promoting Healthy Hygiene
Water Mission’s safe water project in Golomoti is our largest in the East African country of Malawi, serving 23,323 people. In addition to installing the safe water system, Water Mission staff held trainings to educate community leaders on how to build handwashing facilities at their homes and churches.
Water Mission did not only teach us about spiritual things; I have also learned about…how we can prevent waterborne diseases so God’s work can progress.
This practical knowledge has inspired 27 of the 30 church leaders who attended the training to construct home handwashing facilities. Pastor Brave says his handwashing station is an opportunity to teach healthy hygiene to his congregation and neighbors.
He says, “Others have inherited the example and constructed their own handwashing facilities.”
This is more than a man giving us financial assistance, because we have seen so many lives now free from diseases, and many lives have been won to God through Water Mission’s intervention. I am so grateful, and may God bless Water Mission.
Pastor Brave practices servant leadership in his community by teaching literacy classes, healthy hygiene, and the Bible.
Quenching Spiritual Thirst: Advancing the Gospel
Safe water, sanitation, and hygiene meet physical needs, but spiritual transformation only comes from a relationship with Jesus.
Through Water Mission’s training on unity in the body of Christ, leaders like Pastor Brave have felt empowered to work together in their evangelism efforts. Pastor Brave has personally witnessed 24 individuals saved through door-to-door evangelism.
We have realized how important it is for one church to unite with other churches. We understand this is the will of God. Regardless of the size of the churches…for us to achieve God's mission, we are working together here in Golomoti.
At Water Mission, we are honored to partner with church leaders like Pastor Brave to follow Jesus’s example of meeting physical, spiritual, and social needs in communities. Thank you for continually giving to support our Living Water program.
That is our main goal: That people may be saved and know Jesus as their Savior.
5 Bible Verses About Serving Others
Pastor Brave serves his community by teaching literacy classes and educating people on best hygiene practices. The Bible instructs all Christians to follow Jesus’s example of servant leadership.
- Matthew 28:20 — “But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
- John 13:34 — “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”
- Hebrews 13:16 — “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”
- Micah 6:8 — “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
- John 13:12-17 — “When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, [Jesus] said to them, ‘Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.’”
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