Christian Church of Thomassique

The church in Thomassique has a membership of 800 believers. The primary school of Thomassique has an attendance of 824 children. The secondary has 250 pupils. A total of 1074 children are being educated through the school. We praise the Lord for our past partnership with Christ's Church and the on-going support from Cherry Hills Community Church, both of Highlands Ranch, CO, which has been providing for this great work. Their partnership with the church in Thomassique is a prime example of change that can happen when we have friends willing to hold up our hands. Pastor Jonas remained faithful with nothing for a long time before the Lord send our brothers and sisters from Christ's Church to help. Now the children are getting fed spiritually and academically.

The school at Thomassique is classified as one of the best in the Central plateau. Its success runs high because we have the best-prepared people running it. The principal, Jean Alex Jean Baptiste, is a lawyer who prefers to serve the cause of Christ by helping the children. He has put together the best team of teachers to make sure that the children get the best. The help given by Christ's Church has made that possible. The vice principal, Jean Osse, is a dedicated Christian man who brings the spiritual flavor into the classrooms.

The goal of gvcm is to saturate Haiti with the well-equipped church of Jesus Christ. The church of Thomassique is doing that and has planted another church close to the Dominican Republic Border in the community called Malary. The Believers from the church are developing chains of prayer. They organize prayer meeting with the people of their respective blocks every weekdays starting at 4 AM. What a great way to start one's day. Please pray that Thomassique will be completely won for the Lord. We also want to thank Pastor Todd Carter who bought the land the and our brothers and sisters from Westlink Christian Church in Wichita, KS who funded the construction of the church in Thomassique. Please visit WCC at www.westlink.org.

Thomassique Church Report:

The church in Thomassique is a community located about 135 km from the international airport in Port-au-Prince, the capital city of Haiti. You can get there by bus or truck, but the vehicle must be high-clearance and equipped with four-wheel-drive. The road to Thomassique is nothing that any one can explain: you just have to be prepared for an adventure full of improvisation. It takes from five to six hours to drive a relatively short distance. But once you finally get there you discover it was worth enduring every inch of the road, because you meet some of the most wonderful people of Haiti.

The town is located about 10 miles from the Dominican Republic border. Because of the extensive training with Dominicans, many of the Haitians speak Spanish. Most people in that community make their living through small farming. But the land there, like most places in Haiti, has been depleted due to tree cutting and erosion.

Thomassique has a population of about 7,000 people, but the whole county has about 52,000 people. These figures are not estimates, since the last census dated 20 years ago. Situated in the middle of the central plateau, northeast of Port-au-Prince, Thomassique enjoys a cooler climate from November to February and it has a beautiful landscape. People in Thomassique are known to be xenophiles. It is such a remote place that they are always amazed at the site of newcomers.

Like many other place in Haiti, the negative effects of voodoo have no match. Voodoo is that animistic religion that promotes a devoted cult to the devil and its agents, called "loa". It has played a big role in shaping a negative attitude of many of the Haitian people against the true God. Most leaders of Haiti have adopted that religion and that also permeates their destructive attitude toward their own people.

We believe that the alternatives that were offered to people who were in this situation 2000 years ago are still valid to the people in Haiti in general and Thomassique in particular. That is why GVCM is executing the great commission there by planting, partnering with, and equipping the church in Thomassique.

We have an interesting story to tell about this church. The land the church is built on was one of the many lands Rev. Todd Carter bought with his own money for church and school buildings in Haiti. After the land was purchased, the pastor one day took a group of people and went there to fence the property. On the south side of the building there was voodoo practitioner whose house borders the land. He was so furious that a church was going to be planted there that he came with his machete, threatening the pastor. He told him that if he did not stop what he was doing he would make sure that he and his family are dead. He replied to him that could only happen if the Lord allows it, and that he should be careful to bring judgment upon himself.

One day, the man was working in his shop doing carpentry, in the middle of the day people could see fire coming down from the skies and struck the man and His three children. He was working under a tree and fire went through the tree leaves and none got burnt or removed. His wife was sitting close to him and did not get a scratch. One of the children, a little girl was severely burnt, but did not die. She lives as a great testimony, and is now member of the church with her mother. He and two of his kids died. After that, the people who were on the side of voodoo came and helped finish the fencing of the church. Exodus 14:14. He still moves the stone for His church to prevail.

The vision we have for Thomassique as we execute our plan for aggressive evangelism is to saturate the surrounding communities with churches by the year 2020. Prominent communities around in need of churches are:

• Baranque
• Bouloume
• Boc Banique
• Darlegrand
• MathPeralt
• Los annonne
• Lalomlogrann
• Nan Caste

All these communities are waiting for a church. GVCM is hoping that through the partnership with churches in the States and Canada these communities will have a church. There are elders ready to take position as leaders in those respective community churches. The goal is to double the size of the church in 2004.

The School

Haiti is a country in a very dark tunnel and the only ray of light that can be seen at the end is education. But the main objective of GVCM in launching and educative campaign is to provide a way for the neophyte to investigate the truth against the word of God. In the past children who came out of grade school had to go all the way to Hinch, the most important city in the Central Plateau, for secondary education. They were luck enough to have the opportunity to attend grade school in Thomassique. That did pose a problem for many parents who could note afford to send their kids. As a result a lot of children did not go beyond the grade school level. Now the church manages both a grade and high school. Between the two there are 1074 students. The principal of the high school, Jean Edouard Jean Baptiste, is a graduate in education science and graduated from law in May 2002. The school is among the best in the district and definitely the best in the Thomassique County.

Prayer Requests

• For the people in Thomassique to keep investigating God's truth and allow the transforming power of the Lord to do its job.
• For the Lord to convict friends and Christians to support this great ministry in Thomassique.
• For us to partners for the 1074 school children of Thomassique that we might be able to feed them, give them the school supplies they need, and provide for the teachers.
• For our supporters, that the Lord multiplies 1000 times more what they will have contributed to this ministry.

Special Needs

• A project group to travel to Haiti to help finish the church building.
• More space for the 900 students, far too many for the space that we have. We have the blueprint for a building that could be built for about $3,000.00 if we find a sponsor for the project.
• Wooden benches. The children are sitting on concrete blocks sometimes because of a lack of benches. The church is over packed and there are many times people have to stand during church services.
• Communion trays, choir robes and instruments, especially accordions.
• Install a solar panel system for light estimated to cost about $2,000.00.
• A kitchen to kook food for the children.