Hope for the Future
Against this backdrop of darkness and confusion, Haitian pastors and international ministries are making great strides in the name of Christ. The evangelical church, by some estimates, now makes up 40 – 50 percent of the Haitian population.
Even in the early days of the largely Catholic nation, Protestant Christians made their presence felt. According to the Library of Congress Country Studies, by the mid-19th century, small numbers of Protestant missionaries – principally Baptist, Methodist and Episcopalian – served the Haitians. Almost half of Haiti's Protestants were Baptists; Pentecostals were the second largest group. Many other denominations also were present, including Seventh Day Adventists and Presbyterians. In the late 1950s, about 20 percent of the population identified itself as Protestant.
In 2004, the evangelical Christians in Haiti are working to reclaim the entire nation for Christ. Haiti for the Third Century, or HAVIDEC, is a group of Haitian Christians led by Pastor Chavannes Jeune. In partnership with Christians around the world, including New Directions International (NDI), they planned a series of events at the beginning of 2004 to “take Haiti back from the devil, and dedicate her to Jesus Christ.”
An estimated 15,000 people attended the closing event in Port-au-Prince on January 4, 2004. The events concluded with the signing of a new “Declaration of Independence” which declared freedom from the curses of voodoo.
And now, at the conclusion of the Bicentennial year, Haitian pastors and NDI once more joined forces to pray for God’s blessing. (See yesterday’s Religion Today article for more about Haiti at the Cross .)
HAVIDEC’s strategy involves a five-phase plan of action with the ultimate goal being “nothing short of breaking the bondage of voodoo, poverty, ignorance, crime and corruption, and bringing in a time of peace and prosperity through the church as God’s salt and light in that society.”
