MICAH INSITUTE FIRST ADVOCACY TRIP TO HAITI - DAY 3

Day Three

Wednesday July 21, 2010

Integral to the Mission of the Church is the Ministry of Justice

Today we began the day talking to Jean Valery Vital-Herne, the national coordinator of Micah Challenge Haiti. Micah Challenge is a world-wide Christian-led movement in 40 countries that are working together to keep their elected officials accountable for the promises that governments from around the world made to cut poverty in half by 2015. These promises are the UN Millennium Development Goals.

The Micah Movement

In January of this year Micah Challenge USA came to New York Theological Seminary, bringing with it a deeply theological vision for justice. Inspired by the Micah Challenge, the Micah Institute at New York Theological Seminary was launched in April to educate the next generation of Christian leaders for ministries of peace and justice.

Through teaching a theology class in Haiti, I hope that new friendships are formed that will begin to establish a restorative network of healing and hope between Christians in the North and South. In our current global moment, we need a new prophetic paradigm of theological education based on a vision of integral mission. 

In the past, evangelical theology has emphasized the importance of converting people on the field of mission. The Great Commission in Matthew 28 to go into all the world and make disciples has been the mantra of the movement. Yet, as founder of the Micah movement in Haiti Jean Claude Cerin told us, “Jesus not only gave us a great commission, but also a great commandment—to love our neighbor as ourself.” Thus, integral mission brings together the Great Commission and the Great Commandment. Prophetic Christianity must engage in both evangelism and social witness. It is time for an integral theology—the whole Gospel for the whole people for the whole world.

Integral Mission in Haiti 

Prophetic theology today challenges both the church in the North and the Global South. Jean Valery says when he works with Haitian pastors, he encourages them to “re-read the bible” in relationship to the poor so that they can gain a fresh understanding of scripture that is connected to the Hebrew prophet's vision of justice.

Justice is God's Word manifest in a lived context, but what does that mean in post-earthquake Haiti?

Jean Valery said that top priorities for Haitians now are new jobs, good governance, and social services. The needs in Haiti are great. Port-au-Prince is surrounded by tent cities, but when will these families move into homes? When will the Haitians who are unemployed and underemployed find good jobs? When will half of the children in Haiti who are not in school find a school to attend? If the Micah Challenge movement seeks to inspire Christians to do their role in cutting poverty in half by 2015, they have their work cut out for them in Haiti.

Since 193 nations signed onto the MDGs in 2000, gains have been made in primary education world-wide. Yet, the aftermath of the earthquake, a history of neo-colonialism, and deep cultural conservatism provide serious obstacles to the struggle to end poverty in Haiti.

A Challenge to American Christians 

When asked what American Christians should do, Jean Valery, said, “I would encourage all American Christians to make a trip to the southern hemisphere. Through these trips they can get to know the ways that the majority of the people in the world who are poor live. Through understanding the challenges of their sisters and brothers in the global South, they will be in a better position to keep their elected officials accountable for justice. Thoughtful, prophetic advocacy for justice in solidarity with the poor is vital for the renewal of North American Christianity.

It is time for American Christians to get out of their comfort zone and join the global struggle for justice. The crisis in Haiti presents an urgent opportunity for American Christians to respond.

Conversations are currently afoot between the Episcopal Theological Seminary in Haiti, Azusa Pacific University in California and new urban monastic groups, to send people into the tent cities to live with the people for relationship building in the short-term and community organizing in the long-term. Father Oge Beauvoir, the Dean of the Episcopal Theological Seminary, is seeking to open the gates of his seminary to be an open space for Haitian religious leaders and leaders from other countries to get to know each other and conspire together for the Kingdom of God. Today we will travel to Sean Penn's tent city to learn of their example. Moving into tent cities raise a host of issues and potential problems, yet doing so opens up the possibility of developing a deeper understanding of the plight of those living on the margin.

The challenges in Haiti are great, so a multi-dimensional approach is vital. Direct advocacy, short-term trips, incarnational living, and prayer are a few of the ways that American Christians get involved.

President Obama has said the UN MDGs are the United States' development goals. What will the American Church do to help achieve these goals? What is our distinct role in the Micah movement for justice? 

Peace, 

Peter Heltzel

Director, Micah Institute

Associate Professor of Systematic Theology

MICAH INSTITUTE FIRST ADVOCACY TRIP TO HAITI-DAY 2

Tuesday July 20, 2010

Forty Seconds
In forty seconds the life of a nation changed forever. When the earthquake hit Haiti on January 12th, in less than one minute, the nation experienced mass destruction and loss of life. It is estimated that 230,000 people were killed. Over six months later, I find myself in Haiti teaching a theology class at New York Theological Seminary searching for meaning amidst the morass and hope after the horror.

Today I met a true hero Father Samuel St. Louis, an Episcopalian priest and educator. On our way to Leogane, the epicenter of the earthquake, we stopped in Darbonne. In the middle this small country town was Paroisse Annonciation, the Episcopal Church of the Ascension which includes a large campus with five schools and known as one of the best schools in the area. But on January 12th, the church and the schools were brought to the ground. The complex was reduced rubble and children no longer had a place to go to school.

A Process of Years
Father Samuel faced the greatest challenge of his ministry to rebuild what was destroyed in less than a minute. Underneath the rubble, he rose up, sought partners to help him clear the campus and began to rebuild, a process that will take years.

We sat in a circle in an empty room that used to be his office introducing ourselves and sharing why we came to Haiti. Then Father Samuel told us about the vast array of ministries on his campus—a church, pre-school, grammar school, middle school, high school, and professional school, as well as a health center and most recently a new dormitory for students from afar.

Prophetic Partnership
Father Samuel was encouraged by our visit and open to partnering, saying, “We are in a difficult situation in Darbonne. I am happy about what kind of partnership can emerge and even more excited about becoming good friends. We can do much apart, but together we can do so much more.”

Father Samuel has put this principle of prophetic partnership into concrete educational practice. After the earthquake, he teamed up with Episcopal Relief and Development and the Lutheran World Federation to keep his school going through these tough times.

Three Months
It took three months before the students could come back to school on April 12th, this time, meeting in large white tents with wooden desks and chalk boards. Today we saw the students in light blue shirts and navy blue pants and skirts, still meeting in those tent classrooms. Since they missed three months of school, they have to work through the entire summer to complete their studies. After surviving an earthquake, this summer most Haitian kids will not get a summer vacation.

During our time at the Episcopal campus you could hear the sounds of hammers and saws, as the construction work on campus forged on. This is a model of religious education on the move. The aftermath of disaster gives education purpose to become fully human amidst the tragedy of life.

Challenge for the Future
Curiosity is integral to what it means to be human. In good times and bad times, the desire to learn is insatiable. Life becomes more meaningful as we fully engage our mind in seeking to understand and imagine innovative ways to address the great global challenges of our day. Educating through a crisis demonstrates that active learning is of the utmost urgency for the future of the community of creation.

At this moment Haiti has to fight for education. It is estimated that over 50 percent of Haitian school- aged young do not attend school. Why? What can be done?

Today I thought a lot about Henri, the 14 year old boy I met yesterday, who can't read and does not go to school. It baffled me that so many young people in Haiti do not have the opportunity to go to school. I saw Henri again tonight at the fruit and vegetable market. After bartering for some avocados with Henri watching and laughing, I told him he needed to go to school and learn how to read. His future depends on it. The decision is his, and the deck is stacked against him. Education is an ongoing struggle.

How We Live Matters
Being a successful educational leader today takes creativity and tenacity. After the earthquake, the student's families could no longer pay tuition at the Episcopalian school, which meant teachers couldn't get paid. Father Samuel has been successful in getting grants to cover his teachers' salaries, so the families don't have to pay. But, he realizes this can't work forever. That it fosters a culture of dependence.

Now he is trying to develop a strategy for student's families to begin to shoulder the burden of their children's education once again. Given the herculean task ahead, rebuilding a church, several schools and paying teachers' salaries with shrinking assets, Father Samuel fights on, offering an active life that exemplifies “every minute of our lives matters.” Our lives are short. Do we live in a way that truly makes a difference?

Tomorrow’s Fight
I remain struck by the fact that the earthquake took place in less than a minute. Yes there were tremors afterwards, even last week. Yet, that one minute ended the lives of many Haitians and forever changed the lives of those they left behind. Realizing how quickly this natural disaster struck and witnessing its aftermath the past two days, has put my life and problems into perspective. I am full of deep gratitude to God, my family, friends, students and colleagues at New York Theological Seminary for the gift and opportunity to living a good life. I want to use the rest of the minutes that God gives me on this earth to love and serve others, working with members of the global church to build beloved community. Fighting alone we are weak; but when we pull together for the good of humanity, the possibilities are endless.

Tomorrow Father Samuel will host a gathering of over three hundred Haitians inaugurating a new work for cash program through which many local Haitians in Darbonne will be employed through rebuilding their children's schools. Father Samuel says, Ansanm nap rebatid Darbonne (together we can rebuild Darbonne). What Father Samuel sees is that rebuilding Haiti is the work of everyone in the town of Darbonne and beyond. It is only through partnership, both local and global, that Haiti can rebuild and not just survive, but thrive, moving collectively into a new future.


Peace,
Peter Heltzel
Associate Proferssor of Systematic Theology

MICAH INSTITUTE FIRST ADVOCACY TRIP TO HAITI-DAY 1

MICAH INSTITUTE FIRST ADVOCACY TRIP TO HAITI

Day 1: Monday July 19, 2010

The Journey
Today I flew into Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and the experience opened my eyes and heart to the warmth and resilience of the Haitian people. When the plane came down I could see tent cities all over the area surrounding the airport. They say over 2 million Haitians are living in tents. It is so sweltering hot here I can't imagine living in a tent for the past six months, but the Haitian people are courageously forging ahead in the aftermath of disaster.

When Haiti experienced the earthquake my heart was broken. I grieved and wanted to respond. Shortly after the earthquake, Daryl Bloodsaw, New York Theological Seminary’s Student Association President, organized a group of leaders from NYTS, Union Theological Seminary and Drew Theological School to discuss what we could do. Some of us wanted to go immediately, but the consensus was that it was too early and we would only get in the way. I said I would like to lead a small class over to Haiti during the summer. Now that dream is becoming a reality. On this advocacy trip with me is Chloe Breyer, Director of the Interfaith Center of New York and advisory board member of the Micah Institute, Carl F. Nazaire and Kenel Saint. Vil who are seminarians of NYTS.

The Connection
Talking to Carl and Kenel, my two Haitian students in the Deep South made me realize that offering a theology course in Haiti was doable. Carl and Kenel were on the “Going Home” class I teach each Spring with NYTS Dean Rev. Dr. Eleanor Moody-Shepard on prophetic religion and civil rights movement. During our sojourn in the South, I discovered Carl Nazaire was in Haiti during the earthquake. While he felt the shocks and saw people die, his life was spared. God saved his life so he could do something for his country.

NYTS President Dale Irvin expresses prophetic outreach to the earthquake victims as "working to build the realm of God.” Working to rebuild a living and just Haiti is vital to the mission of the global church. We come to Haiti with open eyes and hearts to discern the movement of Gods spirit in the healing and restoration of our neighboring nation.

The Rebuilding
Before I came to Haiti, all I knew was that it was a poor and struggling nation. It is also one of 180 countries that has a role to play in the fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goals—8 goals aimed at ending extreme global poverty by 2015. It is one of the goals of the Micah Institute in partnership with the Micah Challenge to seek to inspire and equip Christians to end extreme poverty. Now, I see a people who are resilient and have a tenacity to rebuild. Rebuilding Haiti will take time and tenacity.

After a long day of driving around Port-au-Prince through rubble and tent towns, at dusk we stopped at a fruit and vegetable stand in Petion-Dille. We were mobbed by six women who tried to sell us tomatoes, avocados, mangos and pineapples. I met a little boy named Henri. He was 14, not in school, and sleeping in a broken down red truck a block from the fruit stand. My heart was broken as I realized street kids like Henri would not be able to go to school, unless schools were created for them.

Our Haiti Partner
This is precisely what our host organization Haiti Partners seeks to do, to build and support schools in Haiti. Since the Micah Institute mission is to educate for justice, we are eager to discern if there are schools and seminaries in Haiti we can partner with. I am looking forward to meeting principals, teachers and students in schools to better understand the current challenges and the pressing needs that they have.

As I end my first day I am glad that we are here and that NYTS remains committed to encountering the full breath of world Christianity, especially in the places of great suffering. We are seeking to train students to be responsive to the needs of the world so in their calling their hearts will sing when they are able to use their gifts at the places of the worlds’ greatest needs.

Peace,

Peter Heltzel

Director, Micah Institute

Associate Professor of Systematic Theology

Micah Institute launched at New York Theological Seminary

In February, the New York Theological Seminary (NYTS) announced the launch of its Micah Institute, which is an initiative aimed at educating churches and religious leaders in the New York Metro Area about global poverty and injustice issues.

To assist with this, the Micah Institute at NYTS has partnered with the Micah Challenge USA Campaign, which is also headquartered at NYTS. This initiative is part of a global Micah Challenge that is geared to achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, which seek to cut extreme poverty in half by the year 2015.