Praise and Prayers for Haitian Ministry

Nearly 100 church leaders recently gathered in Port-au-Prince, Haiti for the first leadership conference sponsored by Perspectives Réformées (PRIHA), in partnership with Christian Reformed World Missions (CRWM). PRIHA is Back to God Ministries French outreach.

Church leaders attending the two-day conference, held May 30-31 on the campus of the Evangelical Baptist Seminary, focused on the topic "Watching over Your Ministry."

Pastors and church leaders face many difficulties in pastoral ministry. The goal for the two day conference was to assist them in identifying both the pitfalls as well as opportunities to make pastoral ministry more effective.

The presenter, Claude Delauge Jacquet, is a veteran of pastoral ministry. “He did a very good job presenting several important subjects to the participants,” says Rev. Zachary Segaar-King, CRWM Haitian leader who helped organize the conference. “All the topics were very timely for pastors and church leaders in the Haitian context.”

Those who attended the conference affirm that the event was valuable for their ministry.

“What a blessing for us at PRIHA to see those Haitian evangelical leaders assembled for the first time for an in-depth examination of their ministry,” noted Rev. Jacky Chéry, BTGMI Haitian leader.

“In some cases, it was with tears in their eyes that they testified on the first day concerning the trigger produced in them by the topics of the conference.”

One pastor said that, after 12 years of open conflict with a pastor in his community, in the afternoon of the first day he formed a delegation of deacons from his church to go and seek reconciliation with the other pastor.

Another church leader also said that that same evening he went to see his pastor to work out problems they had been having. The pastor was thrilled with their reconciliation.

“At PRIHA, we give glory to God for the timely results of this conference,” says Rev. Chéry.

At the end of the second day, the Haitian evangelical leaders present said their only regret was that a larger number of leaders could not participate. They hope the conference will be repeated next year and that many more leaders will take advantage of it. 

Perspectives Réformées will host a second conference on Music and Adoration, July 17-19.

“On a related note,” adds Rev. King, “we ask for your prayers for the Haitian ministry. Recently, PRIHA was forced to withdraw its Bible study correspondence course because it could not secure permission from the author to use the materials. This situation leaves a giant hole in the Haitian media ministry.”