Nurturing a Vision
Haiti
is probably one of the most needy countries in the world in all areas
of ministry. This country has been so desperate that the
United Nations has described it as a paralyzed country. A foreign
diplomat on a trip to Haiti pictured Haiti as hopeless. Missionary
organizations have left Haiti due to the witness of hardships and slow
moving progress. Yet, we have found that the only bright spots in Haiti
are the places where the name of Jesus is proclaimed.
An evangelical witness was established in Pignon around 1940. The
Jerusalem Baptist Church was opened under the leadership of Pastor
Sidoine Lucien. Later, God worked through Dr. Guy Theodore to start the
Hospital de Bienfaisance program. Pignon is now the only town in
northern Haiti where there is highly visible social progress. We
believe that Haiti can be reached with the Gospel of Christ in very
systematic ways that will last. Various communities need to be targeted
and reached through a church planting style geared towards a holistic
ministry module.
We believe that the
needs of Haiti can be addressed through church planting in the
following ways:
The Spiritual Battle
A church planting movement must focus upon reaching out in the power of
the Holy Spirit to rescue people from the slavery of voodoo into the
kingdom of Christ. Haiti remains Satan’s stronghold. It is a
country where Satan is lord. He has blinded the hearts and minds of
people and enslaved them to his kingdom. We have seen a revival of
voodoo even as democracy is being planted. People are searching for
something or somebody to put their hope in. Voodoo has entrapped
millions of people, leaving them unaware that they are driving
themselves into more despair. A church planting movement must focus
upon reaching out in the power of the Holy Spirit to rescue people from
the slavery of voodoo into the kingdom of Christ. We have seen people
coming to the knowledge of the Lord and He is impacting their lives.
Our goal is to build churches that will touch the very heart of the
satanic culture. Radical changes can come would produce mature and reproducing believers.
The Battle of Survival
For a church planting movement to be effective, it must move with
compassion towards those in need. That is the example that we have from
our Lord Jesus when he saw people who were in desperate need. He
reached out and touched them.
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The per capita
income is little more than $200.00. There are people who make less that
$50.00 in a year. Families average around four children. The young
people are hopeless with little chance to go to University. Life
expectancy is 51 years old for the male as he fights all his life to
survive. 33% of children die before they reach the age of five due to
malnutrition and infection.
The proclamation of Christ includes touching lives through compassion.
Care must be taken not to let these needs overwhelm, rather, the
purpose of meeting needs is to lead the soul to the knowledge of Christ
and to spiritual maturity. We must reach people where they are.The Spiritual Battle of Illiteracy
A little more than 50% of the people of Haiti know how to read or
write. Effective discipleship includes the reading and understanding of
the Word of God. Church planting must gear toward educating people so
that they in turn can teach others also. A Christian may learn the
essence of Christianity, but reproduction is enhanced if he has a
certain level of literacy.
An evangelical church can be effective having as its ministry a church
school to impact the community for the Lord Jesus Christ. Literacy will
focus upon discipleship and teaching morals that are biblicaly
focused. Through literacy, we may lay the foundation for small group
study ministries that put a person in one on one focus in transforming
lives to the Savior.
Short Term Five Year Plan
Short term goals for the church in Cap Haitian would include any
movement within the church in one on one discipleship; seeing that
every member increases the depth of his relationship with the Lord.
Starting with the leaders primarily, this would include people trained
through a month long course. Each student would invest a minimum of two
hours a week in personal training. At the end, each one would select
one or two people to work with in one on one personal training.
Trainees become trainers. The goal is that every member of the church
be trained and be training someone in one on one discipleship.
Long Range Fifteen Year Plan
With the Lord’s help, we have built the EFC of Cap Haitien, a
training center and a K-12 school. We hope to one day have a pediatric
clinic and a center for discipleship networking.
Within ten to fifteen years, the EFC of Haiti should be in place with a
strong national leadership. Churches would be planted in key villages
and cities where the name of Jesus is not named. We would like to see
twenty-five to thirty churches within ten to fifteen years. Another
goal is to have one or two people trained in a seminary in the United States so that there could be someone replacing Pastor Henoc Lucien as full-time senior pastor of the evangelical Free Church in Cap Haitien. At that time, Henoc could give his tme to another city or area or some endeavor that will help the church in Haiti on a broader basis.
Philosophy of Ministry
Making
disciples throughout northern Haiti for Jesus Christ and plant
independent churches. These churches will equip each member through
discipleship to meet the needs of people both physically and
spiritually, introducing them to salvation in Jesus Christ. Each church
will reproduce new churches with unified doctrine and philosophy to
bring glory to God through an international outreach.
The Church Must Be a Non-dependent Church
In order for a local church to be autonomous, there must be a certain
level of non-dependency. As long as there is poverty in Haiti, there
will be a certain level of dependency. However, the level of dependency
may be significantly decreased.
•
Have churches in target areas so that they may be large enough to bring
in contributions that may lead them to a self-support status.
• Do development projects that may help the people help
themselves so that more people from the community may have jobs and be
able to contribute to the general income of the ministry and produce
non-dependency.
• Teach the people the value of stewardship and investing in
the work of the Lord.
• Find help in the U.S. to jump-start ministries; i.e. funds
for building projects and other preliminary projects so that the
ministry may not be crippled for years.
• Find help from Christians and other world organizations that
do compassion works so that we may not have to invest all of our time
in non-church planting projects. We may ask an organization to build a
school or a clinic or do a development project alongside our churches.
• Provide low interest micro-loans through the church to
enable people
to develop small businesses and foster more jobs.
• Conservatively use our equipment and funds in ways that
reflect stewardship and honor the Lord.
Human
Resources for Ministry
Haitian
Christians in Ministry
VOHM has at its heart the goal of making Haitians disciples for Christ
who will become leaders and workers within their local churches. The
major work force in the local churches will be local Haitian
Christians. As the Haitian people are won for Christ and are discipled,
we intend to send those identified for leadership to seminary to return
to Haiti to work within VOHM. Children from our Christian school will
become the future leaders of the work.
Missionary Resources
As the ministry is progressing, there is the opportunity to have others
from outside Haiti participate in the work. Not many people are willing
to go to Haiti as career missionaries. The hardships that exist in
Haiti are difficult to overcome. We must continue to motivate others to
share their love with Haiti and invest their lives in those for whom
Christ died.
Recruiting
Others
Much of our work may be done through short-term teams. The goal is to
have churches come to Haiti and catch the vision in a very personal way
and see how the Lord may use them in a long-term situation in Haiti. We
may use short-term teams for construction, VBS, English camps,
discipleship and evangelism, youth ministry rallies, leadership
development, medical and development work, etc…
Borrow Missionaries from Other Fields
As problems arise around the world and missionaries from other fields
are forced to return home, we would be willing to accept missionaries
who for one reason or another need to be away from their own fields. A
missionary couple from Africa fluent in French, for example, would be
ideal.
Recruiting Career Missionaries
The short-term teams may serve as a network to find those who fit in
with the culture of Haiti and have the heart to serve Jesus Christ. To
work in Haiti one must have a heart of compassion and be committed to
living among poor and desperate people. Our communications with
churches that have sent teams would be with the department of
recruiting and short-term team recruiters. We are praying that God
would raise up those of His choosing in order that the proclamation of
the Gospel in Haiti may be done.
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