 Printer-friendly version On November 12 2007, 100 Haitian Christian leaders from all over the world met for five days in Florida to reflect on the status of the Gospel among Haitians in Haiti and globally at a conference entitled “Vision Globale du Protestantistme dans le Mileu Haitien” (Global Vision of Protestantism in the Haitian Milieu). This meeting, the third since its inception 1998, and the vision of Rev. Dr. Soliny Védrine, Director of EGC’s Haitian Ministries, brought together Haitian leaders from Canada, the Dominican Republic, French Guiana, France, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, St. Martin/St. Maarten, Surinam, Turks and Caicos Islands (in the Caribbean) and the United States.
This year’s conference was called “Uniting Together for Better Service,” and focused on topics such as Biblical Theology, Pastoral and Practical Theology, and Haitian Socio-cultural Reality. Rev. Frantz Morisset, a long-time friend of Pastor Sol Védrine, shared a positive report about the outcomes from the conference. “At this year’s conference, we shared our joys, our pains, our successes, our failures, our challenges and our hope,” he says. “We have built up fellowships that hopefully will last even when we are far away.”
Frantz added that the conference theme also tied into how he managed the details of the meeting and how he saw unity at work as he directed the details of the event. “My role was like Nehemiah’s, having a project with a specific goal to reach in a specific time. I tried to follow his technique of management… In this, one can see that with constant prayer, there are benefits in planning, organizing, motivating, controlling, and directing, as well as exercising good communication, problem solving, and unity of purpose, similar to that of Nehemiah who used teams of workers to get the work done,” he says. “As a result of this year’s conference, I have met brothers and sisters from many parts of the world united in Christ for the sake of the Gospel, which goes beyond souls. I had the privilege to speak with or write to many people during the past year and it was a joy to finally see each other face to face.”
Haitian leaders from around the world offered the many presentations, including Dr. Dieumène Noelliste, former President of the Jamaica Theological Seminary in Kingston, Jamaica, who spoke on the biblical basis for Christian unity. “Dr. Noelliste stressed complete unity between the various evangelical leaders in spite of their doctrinal differences as they are working for the same cause,” Joël Lorquet, a Haitian journalist who wrote about the event reported. “This unity must grow until arriving at a perfect unity,” Dr. Noelliste says.
Another speaker was Pastor Jean Thomas, who provided a missionary response by sharing his experience of studying in America and then going back to serve a poor community in rural Haiti. Refusing to send his children to study in the city, Pastor Thomas’s children studied with those with whom they lived. He worked in this rural community to help develop a quality elementary school. “Pastors do not usually do this,” Pastor Sol remarked. “They usually send their own kids to study in the big city. Many are impressed with Pastor Thomas and even the government is looking at his model.”
Pastor Frantz Clotaire, who studied theology and agriculture in Minnesota, shared about his experience establishing a training school in Les Cayes, Haiti, located in the rural area of Southern Haiti. The training program, which focuses on both Bible and agriculture, teaches not only about missionary work, but also how to finance your own ministry through farming. “At 10 in the morning you are studying the Bible. At 2 p.m. you are raising pigs, goats and chickens. At 4 p.m. you are learning how to plant vegetables,” Frantz describes the curriculum.
Dr. Charles Poisset Romain was another key speaker at this year’s conference. Pastor Sol, stirred by Dr. Romain’s talk, says, “I was very impressed by Dr. Romain, who presented a portrait of a true Haiti, looking at the cultural portrait of the Haitian, which includes looking at the roots from Africa as well as the contribution of Europeans. This presentation helps one better understand the person whom you are ministering to.”
One evening, a special time was set aside to reflect on the needs and gifts of the youth and young adults within the Haitian Christian Diaspora community. This time was called “An Evening of Vision with Our Youth,” where different youth workers and Haitian young professionals had opportunity to speak about how they can best use their skills to help the church advance the biblical agenda and develop the social life of the Haitian community, whether in Haiti or abroad. Pastor Sol was particularly impressed with this youth program in seeing how the youth in the Diaspora who are on fire for the Lord are planning to go to Haiti (some for the first time) and serve.
James Destine, youth minister of the Boston Missionary Baptist Church, where Pastor Sol is senior pastor, reflects, “These young adults are looking to be of use. Their message to the older Haitian Christian community is ‘you have done all this great work for us, it is now time to pass the baton to us so that we can be strength that helps to continue the great work with you.’” James said another highlight of the night was the choir of young people from Ft. Lauderdale who sang in Haitian Creole, which is not typical of the young Haitian Christians in Boston who tend to be more English-speaking. “It made me happy to see Haitian-American young people who were fluent with the language. As a result of this event, I’ve heard personal testimonies from adults that it was an eye-opening time. Senior pastors attended, and there was a healthy integration between the young people and the pastors, which was a great thing.”
Pastor Sol says that the planning team is working to structure the conference to ensure that it will outlive them. They now plan to hold the conference every three years instead of every five, as previously.
“We want Vision Globale to continue to remain a forum for learning and sharing, where people can take what they hear and use it themselves for ministry,” he says. “Our ultimate hope is that leaders in other countries would follow our example to begin to gather the protestant leaders of their own country to figure out the status of the Church among their people. I am personally looking forward to someday seeing a Vision Globale conference of Peru or a Vision Globale of Panama or even of Australia!”
by Angie Wilshire
[published in Inside EGC, January-February, 2008]
|
