RICHMOND, Va.—When Laura Ritter, a member of Chamberlayne Baptist Church in Richmond, Va., arrived in Grand Goave, Haiti. for the first time in January 2011, she was struck by the extreme disparity.
“You bring more in your suitcase for the eight-day trip than a lot of them [Haitians] have at all.”
Ritter and her pastor, Mark White, have traveled twice to Haiti on mission trips, as part of a rotating group of 12 people from three Richmond-area churches. The journeys represent two years of work which encouraged and empowered Haitians after the earthquake that struck in 2010.
Members of Anointed New Life Baptist Church, Chamberlayne Baptist Church and First Mennonite Church standing in front of a \\\"rubble house\\\" in Grande Goave, Haiti. (Photo courtesy/Chamberlayne)
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White described it this way: “You’re going from one of the wealthiest nations in the world, to one of the poorest.”
On that first trip, White said, the team didn’t have running water in the house they were staying in until the last day they were there.
Lois Williams of Anointed New Life Baptist Church, a three-year-old congregation in Richmond with whom Chamberlayne shares facilities each week, jumped at the chance to go both years. She found the Haitians inspiring.
“They have nothing and still they can talk about the goodness of God,” she said.
Williams described Haitian worship experiences as an opportunity to unite with fellow Christians. “’At the Cross’, is ‘At the Cross’ in any language.”
The church members may have been inspired by what they found in Haiti, but the level of cooperation by the three churches across denominational and racial lines is also notable.
Five Richmond churches have a decades-long history of holding joint services once or twice every year, rotating hosting duties. Soon after the 2010 earthquake which left thousands of Haitians homeless, White brought the idea of helping the Caribbean nation to Chamberlayne’s deacons and then the congregation itself.
Realizing a large group would be most effective, Chamberlayne’s leaders shared their plans with Anointed New Life and First Mennonite Church. Together the churches came up with volunteers and raised money to pay for the trip.
Cooperation came naturally to the three congregations because they were already working together. Anointed New Life, a predominately African-American church, and Chamberlayne, primarily white, share Chamberlayne’s facilities. Along with First Mennonite, also predominantly white, they co-host community events and share mission opportunities.
By serving together closer contact becomes inevitable. Williams recalled the first spring festival the churches co-hosted.
“We had the hot dogs. They had the petting zoo. Everybody had to mingle, and we had a lot of fun.”
It’s simply this type of fellowship which has fostered relationships, White says.
White describes the goal of the churches as first and foremost is to serve the community. But out of their partnership they are seeing other benefits.
Christian Ellis of First Mennonite Church with two Haitian friends. (Photo courtesy/Chamberlayne)
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“We have started friendships that are growing, and we have a greater appreciation for what’s happening at neighboring churches,” he said. “Some barriers have been lowered. We’re more comfortable with each other, and the question is no longer will we do things together, but what will we do and when will we do it.”
Back from Haiti and inspired to do more, the team began collecting books for the school it had just helped build. And soon it was planning a return trip, which occurred last January, this time to build rubble houses. Rubble houses are homes built by packing remnant materials from destroyed structures into steel cages and pouring mortar into them to harden into new, more earthquake-resistant homes.
White says that through partnerships with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Compassion International, a Christian child-advocacy organization, they were able to work with the same missionaries, and worship in the same church, which he feels is critical to a mission’s success.
“It is important that mission work is connected with people already on the ground in that area who know the best way to serve in that context,” he said.
Returning to the same area also enabled them to catch up with some old friends. One of those was Maxi, a 12-year-old boy whom team members met while working on the school in 2011. He talked to them during his recess, then after school he went home, changed clothes and returned to help.
“He was interested in making American friends, and working on his English,” said White. “This year he heard we were in the area, and showed up at some of our worksites.”
White says that these relationships are where he sees growth happening.
“We’re called to make disciples, not to make converts,” he pointed out. “We’re trying to help others grow, and grow ourselves, in Christ’s likeness.”
The churches are not sure yet where they will serve in the future, but they continue to work together. In the coming weeks the three churches will pack food boxes for Stop Hunger Now, an international hunger relief agency. The event will give all age groups an opportunity to do missions together.
White says it is important to them to be sure that whether their future role in Haiti is as encourager or as financial supporter, they are empowering Haitians. He worries that too much involvement by non-governmental organizations after a disaster can create a handout mentality at times, and the churches want to be careful that whatever type of aid they provide is not harmful. He is encouraged to hear that missionary friends in Haiti are providing financial education and small business workshops, and that people are starting their own businesses and getting back on their feet.
“When the average person is taking ownership, it is then that society will change,” White says
Erin Miles Spickard ([email protected]) is a contributing writer for the Religious Herald, based in Nathalie, Va.