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Haitian Ministry Flourishing in SE Conference
NORTH MIAMI, FL (April 16, 2001) - Fifteen years ago, an Evangelical Covenant church in Miami helped a Haitian pastor find a home for his congregation. Since then, he has helped hundreds find a Covenant church as their home in and near Miami.
Martinez Jovin is slight of stature, but long on faith. He has aided the growth of numerous Haitian churches in the Southeast Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC). A native of Jacmel, Haiti, he is now the conference's Haitian coordinator.
"He's deeply respected as a man of God, a man of integrity," said conference Supt. Kurt Miericke. "He's a shining light in Haiti. He's a godly man with a sincere mission to win people and to care for them." Miericke describes Martinez as a very patient man. "He found something in us, although we've been kind of slow in responding to him," Miericke said.
"So many of the island people are coming to Florida and the United States that we feel it's vital that we're committed to ministering to the whole face of this country," Miericke continued. "Martinez Jovin has been a key element in our ministry to Haitians, both in Haiti and in the United States."
Jovin led 65 pastors to Amsterdam 2000 last summer as a liaison for Billy Graham Ministries. His evangelistic efforts in his own country are considered by many to be phenomenal. The son of a Haitian lay preacher, Jovin has helped establish and grow 10 congregations in Haiti, including a 600-person church in Caberet that he pastors.
In addition to new church plants, Jovin has started seven Christian schools that serve about 1,000 children. The schools include a nutritional program as part of their mission, providing food for the children. He helps Haiti plant trees, too - some 50,000 trees have been planted because of his efforts.
"He constantly partners with others, but he partners to help give people what they need to have," said Rose Cornelious, Southeast Conference mission coordinator. "He's a man who lives ministry - he doesn't talk ministry, he lives it. And he does a lot with a little. That's why it's so easy to go back into Haiti, because of what he does there."
Jovin is a man who put his faith into practice, leading nightly Bible studies at his home by candlelight and providing loans to neighborhood women (through the church) to help them start small businesses. "We focus on women because the man, when he has money, he uses it for another wife," said Martinez. "A woman, when they get money, they feed their children."
Martinez is not alone in his efforts. His wife of 31 years, Immacula, works as a health care professional (she's a registered nurse) and provides wedding dresses for Haitian women, among other things. She and Martinez also have taken in 14 street children.
Jovin became acquainted with the Evangelical Covenant Church in 1986 when he visited Bethany Covenant Church in North Miami. Pastor Walter Anderson and the Anglo congregation welcomed Jovin, allowing him to use church facilities for a Haitian church plant. The Haitian Bethesda Covenant Church meets for worship on Sunday evenings and has an effective ministry for reaching the Creole-speaking population in the area, noted current Bethany Covenant Pastor Andy Anderson. Once a month, the Anglo and Haitian congregations meet for combined worship.
In recent years, another Haitian church plant has started in nearby West Palm Beach. Jovin believes the Haitian community will continue to embrace the Covenant church, especially in South Florida.
"Our church is increasingly becoming more multicultural in its community," Jovin said. "We're in a Caribbean belt way - many are coming to our church from the Caribbean Islands. When they come there and see doors already open, it helps them feel accepted. It helps them see that they'll be received on equal terms," he continued.
"What I am doing is for God . . . in partnership with the Body. When I find a genuine body of Christians (to help), I'm glad. I've found a home in the Covenant. I found them and when I observed, I found real Christians."
The Southeast Conference and the ECC's Department of World Mission are partnering in the development of a Caribbean ministry. Anderson and Miericke believe that Covenant churches can help that process greatly by considering mission trips in Haiti and other countries. Pastor Anderson and his wife, Susan (a registered nurse), were invited by Jovin to visit Haiti in 1995 and saw how practical ministry can transform various communities.
"People were warm and receptive, but the needs are everywhere, from roads with potholes to people on every corner selling something," Anderson said. "We saw indirectly the impact that voodoo has on the country - that is a powerful force there. We saw the public health needs of the people. They (Haitians) often need to know common, simple things like how to wash fruit. They need to know how to care for infants and babies. Simple hygiene needs to be taught. We saw how a mission team could help there.
"There's a lot that can be done in a short-term project," Anderson continued. "While there are
middle and upper classes in Haiti, the majority live in severe poverty. We left with a lot of respect for the integrity of Martinez' ministry. While there is a strong mission presence in Haiti, no one group can do it all in that country. While we can't do it all, we can help - to wed social ministry with evangelism to impact the communities in which the churches are placed."
For more information on Southeast Conference ministries involving the Caribbean, contact Miericke by telephone at 407-977-8009 or by email at Kmiericke@aol.com. Cornelious may be contacted by email at Trcornelious@prodigy.net.
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