What would you think if you walked into your church and found irrigation equipment between the pews and the altar? I’d be surprised, and would wonder what the trustees thought of this intrusion.

But what if the irrigation demonstration was part of a ministry event that would help Christian farmers serve their families and communities and would draw people who don’t follow Christ to enter the church?

In rural Thailand, a church hosted an event that taught how irrigation and other techniques could benefit the community. It was sponsored by a ministry of Cru®. Two of my coworkers — Sarah Wontorcik, a writer, and Guy Gerrard, a photographer — traveled there to report it.

I invite you to take a look at “Cultivating Hope in Organic Farming.” You’ll read about Runchan, who farms and pastors village churches, and who took part with others from his village. Here’s some of the background that Sarah wrote:

Unto®, the humanitarian aid ministry of Cru®, expresses the kindness of Jesus in the toughest places on earth by relieving suffering, restoring dignity and revealing hope. The ministry focuses on three programs — food and agriculture, clean water, and critical aid — that serve physical and spiritual needs of people around the world.
Through the food and agriculture program, Unto distributes seeds and teaches people how to garden or farm more effectively, offering lasting aid that restores agency — empowering farmers to provide for their own families.

I was excited when I heard that this story was planned. When we lived in Asia thirty years ago, I visited Thailand three times, and Anne Marie was there twice, to report about Cru’s work there.

Meanwhile, I’m working with our Cru communications leaders and the team that works on our website, Cru.org, to make sure stories like this are still told in even more effective ways. I’m also working on several other projects, including a Discipleship Pathway book that will be used by several Cru ministries.

As you think of our ministry, please pray that God will help the group of writers, editors and designers to have an early version of the Discipleship Pathway book ready by mid-July for our Cru25 staff conference this summer. Also, please pray that our article about Thailand will motivate readers to take part in Unto outreaches and that God will continue to meet the needs of people in the most difficult parts of the world through that ministry.

Sincerely in Christ, — Mark Winz