Meet a Haitian Pastor: Emmanuel

Emmanuel Jules, 30, has been the youth pastor for ten years at Eglise de la Bonne Nouvelle (the Good News Church) in Mais Gate, right near the airport on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. This year, as the lead pastor heads to Texas to attend seminary, he will take over as lead pastor of Bonne Nouvelle. Jules, an incorrigibly gracious man with a soft-spoken demeanor, was one of the 150+ attendees at our Churches Helping Pastors retreat last month in the capital.

THE QUAKE AND ITS WAKE

La Bonne Nouvelle’s building was destroyed in the 7.0-magnitude earthquake on Jan. 12. Thankfully, the one man who was in the church at the time was able to get out, but five members of their church died elsewhere in the cataclysmic magnitude-7.0 temblor that cost upwards of 200,000 lives in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas. The church’s 300 attendees–100 more than were coming before the quake–currently meet in the lead pastor’s house. About 50 to 70 parishioners are living in the sprawling tent cities.

It wasn’t until February that they saw the first, and only relief group that was able to help their church: an evangelical group “of friends” from Brazil. Jules is grateful for the help from the group, who was also helping other churches. At the same time, “given all the people we have, it didn’t cover everybody we have to care for,” he says with a shrug. He’s not bitter; it’s just the reality of the needs vis-à-vis the resources that are actually available.

Without any USAID, UN, or other aid agencies in sight, the pastors at Bonne Nouvelle stepped up.

“After the earthquake, there were children who lost their parents, their mother, their father,” says Jules. To help these children, they created an orphanage, called “Orphans Vulnerable Children,” or OVC. “We put the name in English, strategically,” explains Emmanuel, as a way to gain more ready recognition from foreign groups.

The orphanage represents an integrated task. “We try to integrate the children [with the others] because otherwise, they can get made fun of,” explains Emmanuel. “The other kids say, ‘There they are! There are the orphans!’ and make fun of them.”

As Emmanuel observed the other churches, ones who were receiving aid, he says, “I saw the responsibility there is within the [global] church. If I could only have this help. For example, if two other organizations would help us, that would be such a relief. We have the other churches to help, the children to take care of, our own church to help. We said, if God sent an organization to help us, that would help us a lot. Because we have the church to build. We’re meeting at the pastor’s house. It’s too much. We lack the means.”

“There was a Haiti we had in another time, it was a green Haiti, that was a nice life, really special, paradise. But, after January 12, everything changed. The earthquake has left a legacy. We’re going to find the way to get out, but it’ll be with a lot of difficulty. In Haiti, we are completely shattered, stripped of everything.”

EMMANUEL ON THE GLOBAL BROTHERHOOD

Jules, along with many, many of the other pastors at the retreat, has a remarkably deep view of the global fellowship of believers. “We are really a big family. We see when each other is in pain, and have needs.”

Here, he talks about the significance of groups from abroad who have come, are there now, and will come:

“But people came to encourage us, through the losses, the valley of pain. It gives us a faith in the land, in our brothers in the faith. You see, really, how it could help to carry us financially, physically. Because we don’t have churches; the people don’t have food, they don’t have anything.”

“The presence of foreigners in our church, in all the churches of Haiti, is really welcome. Once the people see have seen you in your situation, you’re encouraged, it gives you comforting words. It’s already what we’re waiting for: kingdom and his justice.”

“The first thing is to share in our weaknesses, in our needs, to help us cross the valley of the shadow of death, like Churches Helping Churches is doing: coming to give us advice, counsel, helping us understanding the undertaking of our every day.”

“So, when foreigners come, it’s to share in the problem that we’re facing, to give us hope, to tell us that we can rebuild our country, so that we can know that we are blessed, that we’re not the only country in this world that’s poor, that even still, we’re here, we’re Christians, we’re still living, and that we have the faith to rebuild our country.”

“Because we all have the same destination, even though we live in different conditions. We are bound together in the most difficult and vulnerable moments like the one which we’re in right now. It’s a chaotic and difficult situation that we’re in now. But tell [the foreigners that] we are a people who’s strong and sure, a force that can surmount the problems.”

EMMANUEL ON HAITI AS JERUSALEM

“I think a lot about the prophet Nehemiah. He was living this nice life in a foreign king’s palace when he learned that invaders had destroyed the wall in his native Jerusalem. So, Nehemiah went back to the king and demanded, ‘Let me go back to reconstruct the wall of my country. My people are suffering, so I can’t stay here, so I’m going to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the wall.’”

“Once he got there, he lifted the people’s morale by saying, ‘We can’t stand here with our arms crossed looking at this broken wall. We’ve got to rebuild Jerusalem.’”

“So now, in that sense, that’s where we are now in Haiti: We’re going to rebuild the wall.”

“This is the first moment when we’ve realized that we’re not alone in our corner of the world, that somewhere our brothers and sisters are coming to see us to help us and travel to us. Someone is thinking of us! In our moment, God sends our brothers and sisters who come from other countries, and they help us. It’s really amazing.”

“In that sense, there’s more hope now than before the earthquake.”

Stay tuned for more from our talk with Emmanuel as he talks about the situation of the youth in his church, as well as suggestions and encouragements for churches who are considering sending mission groups to Haiti to help in the rebuilding. Also, in case you were noticing any odd phraseology, Emmanuel spoke with us in French, the second language of most Haitian professionals after Creole.