We cannot express enough gratitude for the outpouring of support and interest in these blog posts and the ministry we are beginning to do in Haiti. Praise God! Thank you so much! The past week we managed to take a 4-day vacation celebrating Cory's parents' 40th anniversary as well as relocate to Sioux Falls. Everything went well, and thanks again to the friends at ARC in Luverne for helping us with the move. Amazing servants!
Note: this is part 4 of 6 of the OUR NEW VISION series...page down to see the earlier posts
One key area of weakness, or even sinfulness, we humans all struggle with is the temptation to just do it ourselves. It applies to many areas of life...parenting, business, discipleship (of self and others), teaching...in other words, virtually any leadership scenario. When something needs finishing we tend to pull up our bootstraps, grab the reigns, and "get 'er done." Here in the Upper Midwest most of us are descended from ancestors who bravely carved out the prairie one row at a time, and a whole new life in the process, and the homestead could be a lonely place where "if it is to be, then is starts with me." That attitude, a necessity for survival in those difficult days to some extent, lives on in the modern era despite being largely outdated.
There are many pitfalls with doing it, whatever "it" may be, on our own. We miss out on training the next generation, gaining new perspectives and techniques from others, and sharing in the experience of fellowship. Most dangerously, perhaps, is the temptation to vainly believe we have a monopoly on the skill and knowledge needed to accomplish a given task. This leads to pride, burnout, and resentment of others who appear to us to be unwilling to help.
Conversely, collaboration is almost always harder, but the benefits can be spectacular. Jesus and Paul were both revolutionaries at this approach. One could even make the case that Jesus' whole ministry was geared toward minimizing his own impact in order to set the next generation of leaders up for success. He avoided overdoing miracles, turned the big crowds away, and allowed the disciples to carry out the day-to-day leadership of the ministry from baptizing to managing money. And what about Paul? Isn't it amazing to consider that all of his mission projects started from scratch and were fully-functioning churches with an autonomous native leadership structure in less than two years? Sometimes it only took 3 months! After that Paul would write letters imploring them to remember things he taught, but rarely flexing his authority and ordering them to do anything.
How can this be? How could Jesus and Paul allow such incredible freedom to early church leaders to fail and/or succeed? Were they not concerned that the church would crumble after they left? Were they not concerned that the leaders would sin and fail and disrupt the unity of the body? Were they not concerned with the biblical knowledge, or lack thereof, of the church councils?
Here is the key: THE HOLY SPIRIT!
One key tenant of the Christian faith is that upon repentance from sins, forgiveness, and placing one's faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, the believer is immediately indwelled by the Holy Spirit, who is the third member of the Trinity, or God himself. Simply put, whether a follower of Jesus is young or old in the faith, he/she has the most important tool needed to faithfully obey God...the Holy Spirit!
However, a case could easily be made, judging by the incredibly disunity among Christians worldwide, that we don't really believe this truth. We don't really believe other Christ-followers, with vastly different traditions or beliefs from our own, really have God in their hearts. At least we don't act like we do based on how we treat them.
No area of God's kingdom reveals this reality more than missions. Historically, international aid and even mission agencies have been some of the most condescending, control-happy, Spirit-squelching organizations around. We institute programs and policies designed to help the native people, assuming our enlightened perspective allows us to know what is best for them, but these ideas are often conceived in comfortable board rooms somewhere in the USA or another developed nation. We neglect the talent, the experience, the passion, and most importantly, the Spirit's inspiration, of the local folks who are more invested in the outcome. Sadly, such programs tend to lack impact or sustainability, leading to disillusionment on both sides of the "collaboration." This scenario has been playing out and continues to play out in Haiti every year.
Did you know the United States Government took over Haiti from 1915-1934, controlling the infrastructure and finances through the strength of the Marines? There were cases of abuse and condescension was prevalent, no doubt, but as far as foreign occupations go the USA graciously helped the Haitians move forward quite a bit. Roads and schools were built, the budget was balanced, and the country enjoyed a nice measure of peace, especially considering the year before the occupation five or six different presidents ascended and descended the ladder of power through various coups and assassinations. In the end, however, the military failed in one key area: collaborating with and empowering native leadership. The Americans ended up being withdrawn quite abruptly due to FDR's new policy in the mid-30s to reduce interference in the politics of Latin American nations. At that moment everyone on both sides suddenly realized Haiti wasn't ready to take over the various projects. Native leaders were haphazardly appointed and orientated to leadership positions, but in the end they simply did not know how to service the roads, or maintain the finances and administration, etc... The training that should have been occurring for the previous two decades was crammed into a few weeks and ended up failing to prepare the new leaders for success. The infrastructure of roads and bridges began to crumble, vividly symbolizing the entire newly appointed government. The Haitians were blamed for not taking care of the projects, and the Americans were blamed for not knowing how to utilize concrete properly in the Caribbean.
Getting back to the missions' side of things, one of the greatest quotes on this topic I have ever heard/read is this...
"Sometimes the people who put the most weight on being Spirit-led are also the ones who downplay the Spirit's leading in others..."
May this never be said of us! Here is the reality, people: There are great Christian leaders in Haiti doing amazing things for Jesus, and they have the vision, faith, cultural perspective, and even in some cases the education to do greater things in the future. The Holy Spirit is working in and through them, and if we truly love the people of Haiti and want them to have a great future in Christ, we must trust the leaders He has raised up and partner with them AND SUBMIT TO THEM! Every time we launch some new program of our own conception in a country like Haiti, not only do we risk failure, but we risk undermining what God is trying to do. This isn't about the greatness of the Haitian people (though that is another discussion) but the greatness of the Holy Spirit working through them.
To finish out the Native-led = Spirit-led discussion, we will just say that we do believe that Americans and other developed-nation members have a lot of wisdom to offer Haiti and other such countries, but the attitude surrounding the transmission of that knowledge means everything. It must be done within the context of trust and respect, and the insight must flow both directions. Do not go into Haiti with the idea of changing lives in less you are ready to be changed yourself! We simply believe that Haitian people are capable, due to the leading of the Holy Spirit, of rising up and leading their own people into a healthy future depending completely on Christ. Circumventing that basic belief by using our strength and resources to claim unwarranted leadership over the people will lead to continued failure and/or subverting God's will for these people to lead themselves.
This discussion could easily go on and on, but the best way to proceed is probably to share a shining example of what we have been talking about. We would like to introduce to you the first ministry we are partnering with in Haiti.
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| "Christian Educational Center for Disable and Deaf-Mute Children" |
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| Laine Lucner & Wife |
Almost three years ago Cory met this family and became aware of their incredible ministry in southern Haiti. Laine Lucner and his family have accomplished much with little, and they have sought to address a nearly overwhelming need in Haiti...to support and educate disabled children. These treasures of God are usually neglected in countries like Haiti, where specialized educational training is nearly non-existent, and families can rarely afford to send children to such opportunities. In the midst of that struggle this native family has carved out an incredible ministry, with the main purpose of honoring and glorifying God, and we feel compelled to support them in their work and help them expand and sustain what they are doing.
Today the boarding school, located in the southern city of Les Cayes, serves about 25 students who come each semester to live with the other children and learn from the amazing teachers, mainly with the use of sign language. The deaf and downs syndrome children, and others with disabilities, all mix together and enjoy life and education in a healthy atmosphere. This is truly a native-led and Spirit-inspired ministry, and they have already accomplished great things. However, the need in Haiti is incredible, and everywhere one travels disabled children can be seen crawling in the streets or confined to never leaving home. The opportunity for ministry to these children, as well as their families and communities, is great.
This Fall we look forward to meeting with Laine Lucner and his wife and family and charting out a path for future involvement. Over the past few years we have become friends with them, supported them as much as we could, and prayed for God to direct our partnership together. Now the time has come to take the project up several levels and help the dreams and visions of both sides become a reality, and our hope is to discover similar ministries all over Haiti. This goal is becoming a reality as we speak.
Follow the Spirit today, fellow adventurers!
-grimm family
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