As a recently-converted Christian, Christopher Beth went on a mission trip to the Brazilian Amazon with his daughter in 2012. He had no inkling the trip would change his life.
“It broke me a bit,” Beth said of the mission trip. After seeing people drinking polluted river water, he researched the issue and learned there are at least 2 billion people in the world without access to safely managed drinking water.
As a result, he founded The Bucket Ministry — and 14 years later it is providing water filters to those in need of clean drinking water around the world.
“I thought it was about clean water,” Beth said, but he soon realized the filters opened doors to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with those receiving them.
Cleansing, redeeming and renewing
In a Brazilian village, one man walked up holding a filter and asked why Beth was helping their village. Beth answered that it was because of the love of Jesus, prompting the man to ask, “Who is this Jesus?”
Beth then shared his testimony, after which the villager said he wanted Jesus as his friend too.
“The filters save lives physically, but they can also be used to preach the gospel,” Beth said. He recognized the parallels between the filter’s work and God’s work in the lives of sinners — cleansing, redeeming and renewing.
Beth thought they would continue their work in Brazil, but he said God opened doors for them to expand well beyond small villages in the Amazon.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Kim Roberts and originally published by MinistryWatch.
