Haitians urged to seek out countrymen for Christ

WEST PALM BEACH (FBC)—Gathering at United Haitian Baptist Church in West Palm Beach Oct. 18, an estimated 600 Haitian Baptists celebrated the 10th anniversary of their state fellowship by encouraging each other to stand united in the task of reaching their state for Christ.

Churches in the Confraternité Des Eglises Baptistes Haïtiennes De La Floride have experienced unprecedented growth in the past 10 years, said Frank Moreno, director of the Florida Baptist Convention’s Language Church Planting Department. There has been a 500 percent increase in Haitian Baptist church membership and a 100 percent growth in the churches’ giving to the Cooperative Program, he said.

Haitian Baptist churches are the largest and fastest growing language congregations in the Florida Baptist Convention, numbering more than 30,000 members, reiterated guest speaker Emmanuel Cesar, pastor of Emmaus Haitian Baptist Church in Fort Lauderdale.

Though Haitian Baptist churches are growing at a rapid rate, only 2.5 percent of the Haitians living in Florida profess to be Christians, he said.

"We have a lot of work to do," Cesar said. "We can’t do it if we are not united in the task. In order to do the work, Christians have to come together."

Christians have a duty to unify themselves and work together, said Cesar, referring to Romans 12:4-10 about a church functioning as one body through the operation of different parts.

To have good vision, Cesar illustrated, a person must use both eyes to see clearly. One eye cannot provide the whole picture. Other parts of the body depend on each other to function properly.

Likewise, unity in a church begins when Christians use their individual gifts to further their common goal of sharing Christ, he said.

"To stay unified, we must remember what foundation we are standing on," Cesar said. "It isn’t what you do or know, what your abilities are or what you own. We are standing on the foundation of Christ as our common point of focus."

The foundation of unity is love for Christ and love for each another, Cesar said.

"Love is what connects," he said. "Division causes people to move backward, not forward.

"In order to walk the road ahead of us with success, we must do what we are gifted to do and work together to do the Master’s work."

Fritz Fontus, a retired pastor from Miami, also gave a keynote address, speaking about the differences between "Protestantism and voodooism." In 2003, the government of Haiti recognized voodoo as an official religion, allowing practitioners to register with the nation’s Ministry of Religious Affairs and voodoo priests to perform baptism and marriage ceremonies.

Fontus said it is important for Haitian Christians to be enlightened about the practice of voodoo among some Haitians to understand how to reach them with the message of Christ.

People practice voodoo to have something to believe in, Fontus said, to believe in some form of magic.

Those who practice voodoo believe they are strengthened and protected by potentially thousands of divine powers, Fontus said. But they also believe that those powers can cause them or others harm.

Practitioners of voodoo are commonly suspicious of each other, he said, even fearing their neighbors and family. They can easily become paranoid and have no peace of mind.

Those who reject voodoo in favor of Christ experience tremendous joy and freedom from constant fear, Fontus said. But a danger for new Christians is mixing cultural aspects of voodoo with their Christian faith.

New Christians are sometimes tempted to practice voodoo again to get what they want if they have asked God for something and have not experienced instant results, Fontus said.

"We need to anchor them in the Word of God so they will not drift off," he said. "If we don’t help these people turn to God, they will turn back to their voodoo practices. We need to make sure they understand the essence of Christian beliefs and are not just participating in the external practices of religion.

"We need to pray for them to come out of voodoo completely because half and half doesn’t cut it," he said. "The devil cannot overcome God’s power. God’s power will overcome."

During the meeting, participants also attended break-out sessions on how to live an ethical life. Renaud Balzora of Balzora Consulting Ministries, Inc., in Margate, led a session on pastoral ethics. Marcel St. Clair, a retired Boyce Bible College professor in Brooklyn, N.Y., spoke about Christian ethics. Marie Carmel Thesée of Temple Crest Haitian Baptist Church in Tampa and Marie Gaston led a session for women on ethics and unity in the family. Marie Gaston is the wife of Joseph Gaston, associate director of the Florida Baptist Convention’s Language Church Development Department.

Jean U. Moïse was appointed the new president of the fellowship. Moïse is a Haitian church planter strategist for Palm Lake Baptist Association and serves as a chaplain for United Haitian Baptist Church in West Palm Beach.

Next year’s meeting is scheduled for Oct. 16, 2004, and will include a celebration of Haiti’s bicentennial. (Translation provided by Lude Gilles)