Haitian Culture

Early Growth

Between 2010 and 2020, Haiti’s religious climate saw a dramatic shift. Before the 2010 earthquake, polls showed about eighty percent of people in Port-au-Prince identified as Catholic, and less than twenty percent attended evangelical churches. Ten years later, the numbers were split at fifty percent for each category. We witnessed some of those personal changes firsthand in our Mercy Network churches. People often came with testimonies of misdirected worship that had been arrested and refocused on Christ, by God’s grace. “We did our sacrifices; we paid the spirits; we paid the Voudou priests to protect us. Then the earthquake [...]

2023-06-03T06:51:22-07:00June 2nd, 2023|Categories: Ministry Highlights|Tags: , , |

A Future for Restaveks

One of the questions we often encounter is, “Why do we make our Children’s Homes into a permanent home for restavek kids rather than pursuing adoption?” It’s a fair question. In an ideal world, every child would have a stable family with loving parents. But that’s not our reality. Adoption is not always reliable or feasible. It can be an extremely long and expensive process which is a challenge for many families, let alone those already struggling to provide for themselves. In addition, many children have complex medical, emotional, or social needs that make adoption difficult. In either case, [...]

Supporting Missions with Your Family

At Connect 2 Ministries, we believe that ministry is a community effort. The Great Commission is a call to all God’s people, and making disciples is not something we do in isolation. That’s why we try to encourage families to make missions a regular part of life. Here are some practical things you can do to get started. Pray Together. Prayer is the most powerful thing we can do as Christians, and the best thing you can do to get your family involved in ministry is to pray together. Sponsor a child as a family, and commit to praying for [...]

2023-06-21T15:58:46-07:00April 14th, 2023|Categories: Ministry Highlights|Tags: , , , |

Vodou in Haiti

The majority of people in Haiti, whether Christians or not, believe there are spiritual forces at work. As a culture, Haiti is very open to supernatural occurrences, and part of that reality is due to the country’s complex religious history. Probably anyone who comes and hears the gospel in one of our Mercy Network churches has been exposed to Vodou in one way or another, and it’s a topic that arises consistently when we talk about evangelism. Vodou is one of the most prominent religions in Haiti. It finds its roots in West African beliefs and practices brought to [...]

2023-06-21T15:36:04-07:00March 31st, 2023|Categories: Ministry Highlights|Tags: , , , |

Walking By Faith

The writer of Hebrews tells us that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Faith means trusting that God will keep His promises, even when it seems counterintuitive. And walking by faith requires a deep understanding of God’s Word combined with a willingness to follow His direction. But what does it look like, in a practical sense, to walk by faith? Here are a couple of examples. When God called Abraham to leave his home and journey to an unknown land, He promised that he would become the father of [...]

2023-06-21T15:38:45-07:00March 24th, 2023|Categories: Ministry Highlights|Tags: , , , |

Walk for Restaveks (March 2023)

Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere, which means Haiti’s children are some of the most vulnerable. Many of them have become child slaves—restaveks—as a result of their parents giving or selling them to others. That's where our Children’s Homes come in. One of our top goals at C2M is to provide safe and loving homes for restavek children, offering them food, shelter, education, and most importantly, the love of Christ, on a daily basis. However, this goal comes with challenges. Over the last year and a half, the country of Haiti has faced severe social and [...]

2023-04-06T15:32:22-07:00March 3rd, 2023|Categories: Ministry Highlights|Tags: , , , |

How Should We Respond to Poverty?

Every day, 16,000 children die from starvation around the world. That means 16,000 died yesterday, 16,000 will die today, and another 16,000 tomorrow. By contrast, we live in a place where we throw away enough food to end child starvation. Statistically, if we took all the money we spend on dog food alone, we could stop world hunger. Can you imagine that? When we think in those terms, it’s especially shocking that child slavery still exists only 700 miles off the coast of Florida. We see a dramatic need to fill that gap and say, in very practical terms, “This [...]

2023-04-06T15:35:05-07:00February 24th, 2023|Categories: Ministry Highlights|Tags: , , , |

Ministry Under Pressure

This last year has been one of adjustments. Haiti’s continued social and political turmoil has made us think outside the box about ways to support our ministry partners in Haiti, and we have seen some encouraging fruit. In the midst of dark times, God is still at work. We have been able to give food recently (in a very limited capacity), but we’ve still been able to offer some resources through our clinic and serve as support for our Mercy Network pastors. Pastor Poyis and Jimmy are in communication with these men consistently, and they are faithful to let [...]

2023-04-06T15:41:17-07:00January 27th, 2023|Categories: Ministry Highlights|Tags: , , , |

A Haitian Christmas

Of every holiday, Christmas is the one celebrated most around the world. The reach of the gospel is far-ranging, and Jesus’ birth has shaped the traditions and customs of nations because of it. As we look forward to Christmas Day, we’re praying that the coming weeks would be a time of great hope and joy for God’s people in Haiti. Here are a few of the things you might see while celebrating a Haitian Christmas. “Merry Christmas” in Creole is “Jwaye Nwèl.” Early in December, Haitians decorate their homes with pine branches or Christmas trees. On Christmas Eve, people share [...]

2023-10-30T12:40:42-07:00December 16th, 2022|Categories: Ministry Highlights|Tags: , |

“Children’s Homes” v. “Orphanages”

“Children’s Homes” v. “Orphanages” If you’ve been around Connect 2 Ministries for long, you know that one of our primary ministries is caring for rescued restaveks in our Children’s Homes. The title, “restavek,” describes an abused child who lives with and serves a family that is not his or her biological family. The children have either been sold by their own family to another that is financially able to provide, or they are orphans with no family to care for them. Either way, they find themselves without stable parents before they ever come to our [...]

2023-04-06T16:15:07-07:00December 2nd, 2022|Categories: Ministry Highlights|Tags: , , , |
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