Sitting Under The Mango Tree
(Once again…coming to you LIVE from under my favorite mango trees in Haiti…!! Please exuse errors, as it was typed on my iPhone!)
Global Pentecostalism. I have to be honest. The title in itself scared me. Images of the movie “Jesus Camp” are embedded into my brain. Pentecostalism evokes shouts in tongues and fires with snakes crawling over the floor. But after reading a few pages, this book was different. This book, through listening and telling personal stories found in the biggest of cities and the smallest of villages, redefined pentecostalism.
“Theologians use labels such as the ‘integral gospel,’ or ‘holistic Christianity,’ to refer to churches that seek a balance between evangelism and social ministry.’ We have finally decided, however, to create a new term to define this movement, which is Progressive Pentecostalism.” (Yamamori & Miller, Loc. 32)
Progressive Pentecostalism. This I can understand. It seems only appropriate to read this book as I am traveling to and around Haiti. Haiti, the Republic of NGO’s. Haiti, where all hope seems to be lost. Haiti, that has been slaughtered with corrupt leadership for centuries. But Haiti is a contradiction. It is also a country where relationships are valued. God is on the tip of every tongue, and the words “Mesi Jesus” are written on nearly every tap-tap (taxi). This is a country where you cannot travel more than two blocks without passing by a church. Locals worship God with their hands in the air, singing praises to the Lord, praying with passion, and pleading for mercy. And there is no other place where I see this Progressive Pentecostalism practiced more than anywhere else in the world.
My family in Haiti is the monastic order, the Little Brothers of St. Therese. The leader of the monastery in Palmiste A Vin is Brother Olizard Pranius. He was born in Cap Haitien, Haiti, and though he served as a missionary in Jamaica for three years, he knew his calling was to serve amongst his own people in Haiti. As a Christian, he felt the call to serve. He joined the monastery to serve God by serving others. As our authors said, “It is impossible to separate their Christian commitment from their social engagement with the community. They want to be known by their love for others, rather than by their words.” (Loc. 465)
After the 2010 earthquake, Olizard truly embodied his belief. The natural disaster leveled 100% of his village and surrounding area. He quickly surveyed the area on foot with his six brothers. Together they met with families, prayed for miracles, and buried the lost. He preached the Gospel to restore hope, and called upon the community to rise up and to use this event as a fresh start. The Swiss Red Cross took notice of his leadership and how the community responded to him. Over the next month, they gave him enough money to build 648 homes in the community. As the community removed the rubble by hand, the brothers came in and rebuilt their homes. This took nearly two years, but the brothers continued working, while the people joined in, and soon the community changed. The church pews filled each evening for mass. The rural mountain community were no longer strangers, but they were brothers and sisters. They were family who had seen each other thru a horrific event and come through to the otherside. They were transformed, not only with new buildings and structures, but with the Word of Christ.
With Brother Olizard’s land, we built a chicken and goat farm. Over one thousand chickens produce an egg a day, and each day, his brothers distribute food to the poor. After the houses were finished, the German Red Cross gave him funds to build a school. Now hundreds of children from up to 20 km away are educated daily, not only in mathematics and science and languages, but also in the Word. They built a clinic just down the road from their house, which distributes clean water and a Haitian doctor sees patients for free on Wednesdays. When the brothers see a need, they meet it, and they do so because they have been called by God to live out the Word with their actions.
Today, I am staying at the monastery in Palmiste A Vin, a place that I call home. As I brought this team who had never been to Haiti before, I pointed out the plywood, ten by ten homes, that peppered the mountainside and spoke of how Olizard and his Catholic brothers transformed the community. I took them buy the clinic, and we walked down to the school. Indeed, as our authors wrote of Progressive Pentecostals, “The task of the Christian, in their opinion, is to transform people holistically, ministering to their physical as well as spiritual needs. They believe their role is to be Christ’s agent in the world, following the example that he established during his ministry on earth.” (Loc. 465)
Thinking back to many of my other blog posts, I realize that I write about a lot of people. Relationships with these great leaders, these great servants, these great Progressive Pentecostals have transformed me. Is it possible to be a Christian and to ride down the streets of Haiti without answering the call to live out your faith and serve? Can you divorce moral and spiritual needs from physical and economic needs? Brother Olizard would say no. I would say no.
Yamamori, Tetsunao & Miller, Donald. Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagment. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2007.
About the Author
Ashley Goad
Ashley is the Global Missions Pastor at First United Methodist Church in Shreveport, Louisiana. She's a UNC fanatic, Haiti Enthusiast, Clean Water Activist, Solar Power Supporter... www.firstserves.org www.solarunderthesun.org www.livingwatersfortheworld.org10 responses to “Sitting Under The Mango Tree”
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Ashley,
How wonderfully you have caught the spirit – “The New Face of Christian Social Engagement” in your ministry in Haiti. One of the things that amazed me about the book and especially the media on the DVD was the fact that the indigenous peoples were the ones doing the ministry. It is apparent that following the tragic earth quake it was the local people that provided the vision and the leadership to lift the country from despair, hopelessness, and hardship.
Miller and Yananori note the question “is whether Pentecostalism in all of its different manifestations can have an impact on the many problems facing our world, and especially developing nations” (31). Your experience gives a clear and resounding answer.
Two questions: Have you noticed a lessening or strengthening of relationships among the people as time has distanced from the tragic earthquake? I know when we made trips before the quake there was a huge amount of corruption. How does First United Methodist Church, as a mainline Protestant denomination, see their role in spiritual leadership and engaging community-based social ministries in Haiti?
Great, uplifting post! Thanks…
Ron! Thanks so much for your reply. There has been a significant strengthening of relationships since the earthquake, a significant sense of community. When speaking of the government, however, it remains a different story. Corruption and poor leadership continue to dominate the government. Our relationship has been an interesting one thus far. I am encouraged to come alongside Haitians who have strong leadership and capabilities within their communities and seeing how we can encourage and empower them to create a sustaining community. So far, so good, and we are learning more from the Haitians about relationship and community than I ever imagined! We’ll see how it goes from here…!
Thanks for your post Ashley! I really have nothing to add… this is well said and I can’t wait to visit Haiti with you next year 🙂
I am so excited!!! March! Woo!
Ashley,
Thanks for your post, Ashley. I needed that. It is good to know that there are those who are actually living out the Gospel. It has been a long time since I have seen this. What I usually see of Christians are “words” and “worship.” The words often seem empty and full of contradictions. The worship is often full of noise and emotion but lacking in true spirituality. But upon reading your post, I was encouraged to think that there are those out there who are true Christians and who actually live out their faith. It made sense to me that this church is full; it should be — there is something to really be thankful about. How refreshing!
Thank you for sharing. You helped bring some hope to my skeptical heart. For this I am very grateful.
Bill, I have hope. I have so much hope. Whether it’s Uganda, Russia, Ecuador or Costa Rica, I continue to meet people like Olizard who daily live out their faith and bring transformation to their communities. They intermingle and illustrate faith and works as the author of the book of James imagined. God is indeed alive and active, Bill, throughout His people all over the world. I love telling their stories, and when you need a “pick-me-up” or a testament of faith, just let me know, and I will tell you more!
My goodness Ashley. Brother Olizard sounds like an amazing man! Wow, his sacrifice and service really puts me to shame 🙂 thank you for sharing about him.
I totally agree with you: we cannot try to serve people’s spiritual needs while ignoring the physical. Even Jesus didn’t do that. He embodied very well the ministry of serving people physically and spiritually.
On another note, I remember when I visited Haiti, seeing so much voodoo worship. Is that a problem in the indigenous church, or just outside? Just curious 🙂
Well my dear, I hope you have a blessed rest of your time in Haiti. x
Liz! Olizard is amazing. Come to Haiti, and I’ll introduce you!
You are right. Voodoo does run amuck in Haiti. It is so intertwined with Catholicism, it is hard to distinguish one from the other. However, recently the Pope appointed a priest from Haiti as a cardinal to the Vatican. He has publicly denounced voodoo, and this has caused the Haitian priests to circle the leadership and formulate a plan. For years, Assemblies of God and Baptist pastors have preached the Gospel and proclaimed spiritual warfare against voodoo, and they have had much success. In fact, I almost wrote this blog on Pastor Evens Cherefant…as he exemplified as many qualities as Olizard from the “progressive Pentecostals!” …Guess I’ll save that story for another day!
Hugs, Liz!
Regardless of our denominational or theological ideas about God and the Holy Spirit, it is in spaces such as these where we cannot deny that the Holy Spirit is at work. When people hear – and follow – the call of God, and they feed the poor, when they serve with an open heart, when they sit with the broken-hearted, and expect nothing in return, then Spirit speaks to spirit. Life is restored. Funny, as I write this, not intending to say anything, I was brought back to an incident in church last night. I was teaching on John 3:22-35, where John the Baptist begins to step aside having mostly fulfilled his calling. We have a man who comes to our church who struggles with many things, including mental health concerns. Without going into all of the details, this man lept out of his seat and began to shout, pointing his finger at me, saying that God does not speak to people. It was obvious in a flash that this was not his mental illness speaking (I can say that with professional confidence). This was not the man that I know speaking. It was a spiritual attack and I began to pray. Of course there is much more to the story, but my point here – God does indeed speak to us and the enemy wants nothing more than for us to walk away from God’s call. Whether we practice our faith from a more charismatic expression or more reserved, all of us can speak to a point in which Spirit called to spirit and we were moved. We were changed. Brother Olizard. You. Me. The sorrow is much more about how many believers have heard God speak and not acted.
Ashley…
Well you do write about people … which makes everything “real.” What I “hear” in your post is reliance, perseverance and incarnation. I noticed a shift in Miller and Yamamori, where the manifestations of gifts have often been the focus in Pentecostalism, in Progressive Pentecostalism they are not the focus, it seemed more a by product; the focus seemed to be on an alternative social reality. That might be the distinctive you also write about. (well duh! Of course it is!). Of course I think this also stretches the boundaries beyond what was written about to “see” what is taking place in other denominations and within the Church as a whole.