wfn.org | Re: United Methodist Daily News note 3000

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3076 notes).

Note 3073 by UMNS on July 23, 1996 at 15:43 Eastern (7034 characters).

CONTACTProduced by United Methodist News Service, official news
agency of the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville,
Tenn., New York, and Washington.

:    Ralph E. Baker                               359(10-71){3073}
          Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470            July 23, 1996

Learning to Be United Methodist:
Haitian Network Trains Church Leaders

by John Coleman Jr.*

     PRINCESS ANNE, Md. (UMNS) -- Struggling with growing pains, a
fledgling national organization of Haitian-American United
Methodists looks forward to playing a greater role in a
denomination it is only beginning to understand. But in the
meantime, it has a lot to learn.
     "We have much the same doctrine in Haiti as here," said the
Rev. Sony Augustin, outgoing president of the five-year-old United
Methodist National Haitian Network. Indeed, Methodism's founder,
John Wesley, is revered by Haitians for his compassion for the
poor and his message of salvation through grace available to all. 
     "But church administration is where the difference lies. A
pastor here may have a two or three-point charge, but in Haiti we
would have 20-30 churches to supervise with help from lay
pastors," he said.
      Most local churches in Haiti are poor, explained Augustin,
pastor of the Haitian Premiere Eglise Methodiste Unie (First
United Methodist Church) in Brooklyn, N.Y. Unlike churches in the
United States, they are not primarily responsible for paying
apportionments and pastors' salaries. They also have fewer church
committees, he added, and a more submissive laity.
     "Here, laity are more empowered, which is good," said
Augustin. "But that causes role conflict for some who feel they
can hire and fire and control pastors. Some of us have to learn to
compromise with  mutual respect and a sense of teamwork."
     The history and structure of United Methodism, the roles of
pastors, lay leaders, committees and work areas -- such nuts and
bolts topics were the focus of the Haitian Network's Leadership
Convocation held here June 27-30. 
     Ironically, the convocation site, the Eastern Shore campus of
the University of Maryland, in an area popularly known as the
cradle of Methodism, was one of many schools founded by Methodists
to help educate African Americans after the Civil War.
     About 70 lay and clergy delegates attended the event,
speaking in Haitian Creole, French and English, they represented
some of the 18 Haitian churches, missions and fledgling
fellowships located in Boston, New York, New Jersey, Maryland and
Florida. The network holds larger membership gatherings in
alternate years.
     "We have a profound eagerness to learn about this
denomination," said Augustin, who estimated there are more than
3,000 Haitian United Methodists in this country with new
congregations emerging in Michigan, Georgia, Connecticut and New
Hampshire. 
     "So, we did not come to fellowship, but to receive intensive
training as we wrestle with issues that are problematic to Haitian
churches and communities." 
     Those issues include conflicts in sharing church facilities,
financial obstacles to becoming chartered as full churches and the
difficulties in serving new Haitian immigrants who come with so
many needs, but we have so little money to help support the
church. Indeed, many immigrants send much of what they do have
back home to families who are worse off.
     Yet, Haitian ministries here are growing nonetheless. The
Boston congregation moved last year to a larger shared facility
where it provides English literacy classes, family counseling and
Bible study to a thriving Haitian community. The four-year-old
Salisbury, Md., congregation, which hosted the convocation, has
grown from five to more than 85 members, offering similar services
to Haitian residents at Wesley Temple United Methodist Church.
     The South Orange, N.J., congregation started three years ago
when the search for a place to worship in Creole prompted five
people to begin holding prayer meetings in a parish house. Now 60
members share space at Vaulsberg United Methodist Church, but
still must depend on guest preachers since they cannot afford an
appointed pastor.
     Such growth and such challenges make the Haitian Network and
its yearly gatherings so crucial to its members.
     "The chance to share important information, develop emerging
leaders and establish a sense of community with one another can
help Haitians here avoid getting lost in the sea of United
Methodism," said Ruth M. Lawson, who directs the General Board of
Global Ministries Office of Black Ministries that provides
resources and other assistance to the network and some of its
member churches.
     Indeed, the new officers elected at the convocation to serve
for the next two years are themselves evidence of an emerging
leadership and presence in the denomination.
     The Rev. Luc Dessieux, president, founded in 1981 the oldest
of 10 Haitian-American congregations in Florida, Grace United
Methodist in Miami. Now he serves the 300-member Haitian Mission
in Fort Pierce, Fla., which recently became the first Haitian
congregation to purchase its own building.
     Michelle Pierre, Boston, is vice president and a candidate
for ministry, currently pursuing a degree in education.
     The Rev. Molege Desir, secretary, serves a 60-member Haitian
fellowship at First United Methodist Church, Asbury Park, N.J.
Recently he was ordained a deacon, after completing studies at
Drew University Theological School, Madison, N.J.
     Charlene Pierre, treasurer, is a laywoman in Homestead, Fla.,
who will move to Atlanta this fall with her husband when he
enrolls in Emory University's Candler School of Theology on a
United Methodist Crusade Scholarship.
     According to Dessieux, these new leaders plan to develop a
youth component in the network, do aggressive fundraising to
improve its financial health, and try to increase the involvement
and support of annual conferences where Haitian ministries are
located. 
     In the long term, the network hopes to create a national plan
for Haitian ministry that involves the entire denomination,
similar to the Hispanic and Native American plans; develop United
Methodist curriculum resources and training manuals in the Haitian
Creole language; do more recruitment and training of lay and
clergy leaders; and produce newsletters to facilitate
communication among network members and with the church at large.
     "We see ourselves as a spiritual force for revitalization in
this church," said Dessieux. "And we want to become full, self-
supporting participants in its mission and ministry."
                               # # #

     * Coleman is a free-lancer writer and communications
consultant to the General Board of Global Ministries in New York.

Editors: Photos of the new Haitian Network officers with former
president Sony Augustin and scenes from the convocation are
available from the General Board of Global Ministries.  Call (212)
870-3821, or FAX (212) 870-3948.

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