I Don’t Have a Watch, but I Do Have Time
By Laura-Jean Watson
“I don’t have a watch, but I do have time,” remarked Dr. Jean
Dorlus as he spoke at a brunch at Hershey Free Church about ministry in Haiti. He is taking time to build relationships,
disciple other men, and build into lives around him. Problems in Haiti have existed for years, and
there are no quick fixes. True change
requires an investment of learning needs, prayer, addressing actual problems, changing
hearts, and supporting indigenous solutions.
The Protestant church in Haiti has grown 30% since the
earthquake, and discipleship has become a major focus and need. Mark Lewis related, “I was in Haiti for
probably the most amazing three days that I will ever experience in my
life. They were three days of fasting
and prayer, and I’ve never seen the movement of the Holy Spirit in such a way
where so many people … came before the Lord repenting. … Easily saw in one
three hour period at one church service, 35 people prayed right in front of us.
… I’m seeing this and thinking, ‘What’s disciplemaking going to look like in
this context?’”
Dr. Dorlus explained what a wake-up call the earthquake in
2010 was to the church. Pastors realized
that the church was not a building, but rather the people. Even the seminary changed its approach,
because they were not prepared to answer the questions people were asking. They have since added courses to explain
Christian worldview and philosophy of ministry. ReachGlobal did not come
saying, “We have to build this for you,” but they came asking the Haitians
questions. “What is it you want to
do? What is it that should be done to
change this country?” Dr. Dorlus explained, “It is a long-term approach. …
That’s why, one of the things we are doing, is to study the Haitian culture
itself to see how we can do discipleship in a completely different way than we
did in the past.”
Mark Lewis explained, “Whenever we go to do crisis response,
it is always with vision mission. The
mission is multiplying transformational churches among all people. It is making disciples that make disciples. …
As we got beyond the relief stage, the conversation then switched to, ‘Where do
we see multiplying transformational churches in this context? What is the potential for ministry influence,
for coming alongside the disciplemakers that are already in the country and
adding wind to their sails at this particular time?’”
Jean Baptiste Wadestrant, explained the process of moving
past the relief stage and the rehabilitation stage to the developmental
stage. “This is the one that takes a lot
of time, a lot of energy, a lot of resources, and a lot of people pulling
together to do.” Americans and Haitians are
working together to “see the things as clear as possible and then see what the
next step would be.” This would be
something that would last past the individual leaders and be an ongoing
process. “It’s not a better week with
some people that played with kids, … but something that even after you leave,
when you come back in 5 to 10 years, you see that it is still ongoing, and you
see changes really happen.”
Mark Lewis recalled that he has had hundreds of
conversations where people all knew someone doing ministry in Haiti, which is
good, because people are responding to God’s call and meeting needs. He quoted Jim Collins. “Sometimes good is the enemy of better and
best.” Mark went on to explain, “And so,
though it is a good thing, it’s good at the cost of better and best. Better and best is something that changes us.
Why are we going? If we are going to be
changed, to learn, that’s a good reason to go.
If we’re going because we think we have something to offer, we’re flat
out missing the mark. I’ll tell you
what, these guys have more to offer.
Honestly, there’s more for us to learn in Haiti than anything we would
ever have to offer these guys.”
American culture problems, church issues, and personal
issues are mirrored in Haiti, but we cannot see them because we are in the
middle of them. Mark pointed out, “Yet,
these guys can look and they can see the fruit of our dysfunction in their
churches. They can see it really clearly
in our approach, our attitudes. But the
beautiful thing about the relationship is that they also can’t see things in
their culture. And so, we can see things
and ask questions."
Initially, Mark recalled, we went to provide physical relief
that needed to be done. We are in a
different stage now. “We want people to
come with a heart and an attitude to be instead of to do. It really goes to Jean’s example of the watch. Jean has time. We don’t have time in our culture. We keep time, but we don’t have time. So, because of that, it is very difficult for
us to be. We always have to do. Again, there are some real kingdom principles
in there that just start to transform.
Relationships become more important than projects.”
When you return from a week, you may not have built a house,
and people will ask you what you accomplished.
“We were. That’s what we
did. We spent time with people, and we
learned about them. In the process, we
learned something about ourselves.”
“At the largest level, I would say in general, the American
church is doing a really poor job of listening, because we are going into the
context with an agenda. What we do is we
see needs, and we fix needs. These guys
don’t need fixed.”
Mark emphasized that we come as part of an international
team representing all the churches involved.
Don’t come in with your own agenda wanting to be served. As Americans, we have our own expectations of
comfort. “You are investing in this
continuum of ministry.” Prepare ahead of
time. Read about culture context
recognizing you are part of the disciplemaking continuum. “You are going, not necessarily for what you
are going to give to Haiti, but maybe you are going for what you are going to
invest locally. What am I going to learn
in the process of going that is going to change me so that my walk with Jesus
is deeper so that I can transform the people I interact with 52 weeks out of
the year rather than going to transform somebody that I’m only going to meet
for an hour?”
“I think about the American church, how easy it is for us to
simply provide spiritual gifts and services to people without really committing
to the path of discipling,” expressed Pastor George Davis. “So, people come to a church with the
expectation that, ‘You are supposed to take care of me, you are supposed to do
this for me’. We even add consumer
language to our church experience so we can talk about church shopping and that
sort of thing. … So, in many ways, the
challenges you are facing in the Haitian community are much like we are facing,
if we would only acknowledge it. In this
partnership, we are on a learning journey together, with much to teach each
other. … God really invites us into something much bigger than ourselves.”
Our partnership with Haiti is a mutually beneficial
relationship. Pastor Dave Hyatt brought
home a very important closing thought from Revelation 3:17-18 where God is
speaking to the church in Laodicea.
“You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.'
But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and
naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold
refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you
can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can
see.” He said that we are rich with
Confederate money. “It isn’t worth anything, but we have lots of it. We have stuff, but in God’s economy, what God
counts is to truly love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your
mind, with all your soul, your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself.
I don’t know how we’re doing on that measure. The call to mission in Haiti is
to make an account transfer.“
