I Don't Have a Watch, but I Do Have Time

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.“