Haitian Culture

John and Dawn Denton have served in international ministry for many years, and they are faithful partners of Connect 2 Ministries. As we recognize World Humanitarian Day, we asked John and Dawn to share their thoughts on gospel ministry and serving in an international context. Jesus gave us instructions at the end of Matthew to “go and make disciples” (Matt 28:19). Some might be called primarily to go to their neighbors or city, while others are called to go to the nations as well. Some of us do something in between. Our family has been blessed to share a small [...]

Over the years, our four core pillars have been the guiding principles. We are biblically focused, church centric, invested in compassionate relationships, and rooted in indigenous ministry. There’s a simple reason for that. The challenge in ministry is that if you take too broad of an approach, you end up exhausting your resources quickly and reaching less people as a result. We have seen many organizations come into Haiti and do just that. While they’ve been incredibly responsive to need, doing it without guiding principles means you spend your resources rather than investing them. It’s impossible to feed everyone or [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]