Our story begins simply – a mission trip, a call from God, and the willingness to follow. From those humble beginnings almost 20 years ago, Set Free has grown through our network of indigenous partners to give over 2 million people clean water, rescue over 60,000 children, baptize millions, and plant thousands of churches.
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When Roland Bergeron, owner of a custom home building company, first heard that more than 800 million people in the world didn’t have access to clean water, he was shocked. An engineer by trade, he became even more involved in water ministry in 2002 when he went on his first mission trip to Central America. From that moment on, Roland knew he had found his life’s calling and began Water of Life. But he still felt unsettled. He was doing the right work but in the wrong location. Roland felt called to go to the hard places, unreached places, places where other organizations weren’t working. So, after a lot of prayer and a little divine nudging – Water of Life moved into Liberia, Sierra Leone, and India.
As the well drilling and church planting work expanded into India, another problem was revealed – the child slavery epidemic. Our India partner felt compelled to act. We knew that we couldn’t tell people about the grace and love of Jesus yet leave thousands of children enslaved. After discussions with our partner and a key supporter of this mission, Brookwood Church, Set Free Alliance started in 2011 to rescue, reunite, and care for the enslaved, orphaned, and vulnerable children of India.
Yet, God still wasn’t done with us. The work continued and the Kingdom of God grew exponentially to the point that slave owners were following Water of Life drill crews around to release their slaves into the care of pastor partners’ churches through Set Free Alliance. After some more prayer and continued conversations, Set Free Alliance and Water of Life merged to become Set Free in 2019 with the holistic vision to create a world where all are set free in the name of Christ.