Our church has undergone a lot of changes recently, and we thought you might find it interesting to read a little bit about these new developments. To get some background on where we have come from, check out the post from February 27, 2011 called “Adventures at Our Church.”
Let's pick up where the earlier story about church left off. The church finally did split. The people had enough of the owner taking the offerings and not keeping the building up, and they finally left. For awhile they met in the high school down the street, but there is no room there big enough for more than about twenty people. We went to church with one of the mission teams, and half the people had nowhere to sit. It was clear the situation wasn't a long-term solution.
Meanwhile the owner of Ebenezer (the little pink church) approached Pam to try to sell his church building to Mission Haiti. We had some interest in the building, because it is smack in the middle of Ti-Rivier, and last spring we weren't sure where the Bible School would be located or hold classes when it opened. There was some thought of renovating that building and the two houses on the property and starting there. However, they came back with an offer of $200,000 US for the property and we just laughed. Pam counter-offered $30,000 and they just laughed. It was clear no sale was going to occur.
In a sense I feel bad for this guy. He is totally convinced that somehow he is going to get rich off of this building passed down to him from his grandfather and father, even though that was probably never the intent of building it in the first place. Pretty sad. Now he lost his chance to sell it at a decent price, and there are and probably never will be any other interested or qualified buyers for this property. We probably wouldn't even take it for free at this point now that we have moved on with plans for the Bible School. In a last ditch effort he did finally fix the roof and try to restart worship services there, but from what we hear no one really attends anymore.
Anyway, the church needed somewhere to meet, and we have a nice little cement pad and canvas meeting tent in the Mission Haiti compound, with several benches and chairs, so it made sense to relocate there. Then Bruce (a guy on the Mission Haiti board) had a vision and some ideas about doing church here, and Torrey Babb (the family who was here all summer) helped to get the whole thing off the ground, too. The idea was that we would never give handouts from this church, never steal members from other local churches, and do everything we can to invite non-Christians and new Christians to an environment that was non-threatening and non-judgmental.
So far it seems to be working pretty well. Pastor Delva is still involved. I am very impressed with him. He was genuinely concerned when people from the old Ebeneezer congregation were staying home on Sundays for awhile and not getting fed spiritually. Though he basically worked for free for the last three years, traveling here each week from Les Cayes and paying his own gas, he has stuck with this whole thing and held on to a calling he felt from God to serve and minister here. He and others share the preaching duties each month. We also have a youth Sunday once a month and incorporate the talents of the youth group and the children. The children's program each Sunday morning, led by Patchouko, usually has 20-30 kids, so that is fun to see. He is a gifted leader.
In the future the Mission Haiti Church (for lack of a better name) will be a great place for Bible School students to practice preaching and other church leadership functions. It is also a good place for us to invite people who give their lives to Christ during outreaches we do. They can come here in any clothes they have, which takes a lot of pressure off. Many still come in nice dresses and suits, so that is welcome, too. Yesterday we were happy to see Esperancia and her sisters, as well as Zoot and his family, two groups of people who were deeply touched by American mission teams and those who donated so generously to the Mission Haiti medical fund.
Our church is not perfect and never will be. We still get started late like any Haitian church, and then we go over the normal finishing time. Those things are hard to change, but they really don't matter so much either. We also aren't sure exactly how we will handle requests for weddings and funerals. We may have to defer to the more established churches when those moments occur. Without a full-time pastor we probably don't do as much pastoral care (visiting elders, sick, grieving, and spiritually struggling people in the church) as we should, but again, that could change when we have the extra help of the Bible School students at our disposal. We just hope our model of church will inspire other churches to be less judgmental (mainly based on clothes) and accepting of seekers and new Christians.
We do the best we can to “do church” in a way that is glorifying and pleasing to God in the setting in which we currently find ourselves. Isn't this what we are all called to do? Wherever you find yourself, in whatever situation, it is good to stop once a week, rest, worship, hear the preaching of the Word, and allow God to refresh and restart your soul for another week. As my uncle Michael often says, “If you ever find the perfect church, please don't start attending there because you will ruin it.” You just go to the church where God leads you and humbly play your part in making the church better day by day. The same is true in Haiti.
Enjoy the Adventure of Serving in Your Local Church!
-The Grimm Family Adventurers
Enjoy the Adventure of Serving in Your Local Church!
-The Grimm Family Adventurers
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