Ministry in Haiti

September 11, 2008 – 5:19 pm

Yesterday (9.10.08), I posted about the current conditions in Haiti. Below is a personal excerpt from the life and ministry of a close friend of mine, Dave Coats. He and his family ministered in Haiti for seven years.

I trust that his testimony provides clarity on the reality of how catastrophes of this nature affect countries like Haiti. I pray that stories like this break our hearts for people, such as the Haitians, who are in need of the true hope found in the gospel of Jesus Christ and open our eyes to see opportunities for God to glorify Himself in redeeming sinners.

Dave Coats on life and ministry in Haiti after a destructive storm:

When you consider a hurricane going through a 3^rd world country like Haiti, you have to remember that probably 50-75% of the people live in housing that is very inadequate and temporary. Everything from cardboard, to tin, to many thatch-roofed huts or crumbling buildings is their refuge. They feel safe in building on ravines or mountain sides that become roaring rivers and landslides of mud.

If the previous hurricane season removed any evidence of their neighbors’ houses, they simply take it as an opportunity to move in. I remember coming back up the main road out of the capital city after one rain storm with the 4-lane road turning into a river with water clear up to the floor board of the 4-wheel drive vehicle. People were trying to walk up the road. Others were clinging to poles, while waiting for the heaviest rain to pass. By the next morning, the road was empty of water, but filled with debris, rocks, and pieces of whatever was dislodged from places up the mountainside.

But what I am describing was only because of a heavy 30-minute rain. When the hurricanes go through, these are the conditions for a couple of days. Crops are lost and houses destroyed. At times, thousands of people disappear or are lost out to sea.

One of our colleagues recalled driving along the ocean front at the bottom of the mountain after one of these disasters. He was trying to slowly cross an area filled with a river that normally was a dry gully. As he waited for the right time to cross, he watched a refrigerator floating down the mountain towards him. To his dismay, he realized a woman was hanging onto the “Frigidaire” as they called it, headed for the open ocean. It is doubtful she knew how to swim.

Very few have housing that they can find shelter in away from the fury of the storm. The beaches are often destroyed along with the beautiful palm trees that line them. It will take several years for these beaches to return to somewhat normal.

So how does ministry go on in the poorest country in this hemisphere? What are the conditions that hinder it the most?

Actually, the above picture is a devastating one for the local churches across the country of Haiti. It will take weeks to recover. Most of the people in the mountains or outside of the big cities (of which there are approximately 3-4 in which about 1/3 of Haiti’s population live) will have to move temporarily to find some other means of sustaining themselves, as they will have lost their crops that feed their meager subsistence. Some churches may lose most of the local members to other parts of the country to live with relatives till they can make it again.

But I will again say that this is not their worst problem. Haiti is a country that sold its soul to Satan in 1804. It is a land that has been heavily controlled by Voodoo worship. The gospel has been in Haiti since the late 1800’s but has made little inroad into a country of mostly Roman Catholic churches mixed with voodoo (One documentary shows the Roman Catholic villagers walking out of the church and going down to join the voodoo priest in a worship of their spirits. For the simple Haitian who fears the evil spirits, the Roman Catholic “saints” are similar to their spirits.).

At times it has been difficult to gain an accurate hearing for the pure gospel of Jesus Christ. Poor people flock to whatever church seems to offer the most for their poverty. If a mission offers to pay national pastors, pay to put up buildings, and support them in supplying food and other materials, that church is likely to be very well-attended. Some biblical ministries have watched those they have seen saved and growing attracted by these other programs and the appeal of the finances or even a promise of training in the “promised land” - U.S.A.

However, I remember sitting in an open-sided, thatch-roofed building that the people had put up while I was away for a 10-day reprieve. We had met on a front porch which had become too crowded. People sat along the sides and stood along the fence. I had challenged the people to ask God for a way to expand our ministry setting. I told them I would buy a bench, if they would too.

When I came back, they had found ways to put up that building and many had bought or built a bench. Within a month or so, we had the building full of people.

The challenge was in ministering to people who had no education. People asked me why I went to seminary when I was planning on going to a country that had a 75% illiteracy rate. I said, “because it is a country of 75% illiteracy rate, I have to know how to take the theology of the centuries and make it understandable to children.”

That is the challenge, the biggest challenge of places like Haiti. We must believe that the same Holy Spirit will indwell them and help them understand the scriptures. Yes we must help them learn to read, so they can read their Bibles. Then we must also teach them so they lead their own people in Truth.

Dr. Dave Coats
Missionary to Haiti (1983-90)

Dave received a BS in Bible and History from Pillsbury Baptist Bible College in Owatanna, MN and his MDiv and DMin from Central Seminary in Minneapolis, MN. After coming home from Haiti, he served as a youth pastor and camp director in New Brunswick, Canada from 1990-1996. He then moved to Dunbar, WI and fulfilled the role of Student Services Director at Northland Baptist Bible College.

He currently serves as the Dean of Men at Northland (now Northland International University), a position he has held since 1998. Besides teaching classes at Northland, he also plays an active role in the discipleship process at Northland Camp and Conference Center during the summers. He and his wife Judy have three children all of whom are currently residing in Virginia Beach, VA.