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 through discipleship. Lives touched through the Gospel, turned over to the Lord and properly instructed 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 biblically 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 time 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.