This month I had the privilege of traveling to Haiti with Movement Church’s first ministry team. I thought I would take a moment and unpack my thoughts walking into this trip and our church-to-church partnership with the perspective of a “first timer” because I hope it will help others as they walk this same path.
We are a new church so everything we do is new. We don’t have tradition or experience to rely on. We try to do things with wisdom but we are very green when it comes to things like international missions and group travel. Included on the “things we have never done list” is partner to plant a church in another country. I say this as a compliment to CPR-3 because as we have ventured into new
territory they haven’t let us mess up yet.
The CPR-3 staff has explained in detail the scope of our partnership, answered our questions, calmed our fears, and helped us learn to dream, and care for our village, pastor, and church. They have helped us adapt to the cultural differences, overcome language barriers, and worked hard to make us successful.
We love their strategy of partnership because everything we do including relief, orphan care, and discipleship are linked to a local church that we get to help start. We believe the local church is God’s plan to redeem the world and it’s exciting to watch that happen in an international context.
As far as our trip, I can’t say enough about how refreshing it was to our team and church. CPR-3 regularly hosts groups and trips so they have it down to a science. They worked with our team and helped plan everything from their end as the trip drew closer. They met us the minute we stepped through customs and had everything from our transportation, finances, food, translators, and itinerary ready to execute. The time we spent was maximized so that we could get the best possible experience in Haitian culture, seeing CPR-3’s vision, and building relationships with our pastor and the people in our village.
We believe the local church is God’s plan to redeem the world and it’s exciting to watch that happen in an international context.
The staff and translators were there to walk with us as we talked strategy, shared our faith, and processed what we were seeing and what God was putting on our hearts.
Our week was stress free, seamless, and helped accomplish many milestones to move our partnership forward. If you haven’t been on one of these trips I can say that it is an easy extension of partnership and you will be guided through the process from start to finish.
What I appreciate about CPR-3 is that it is obvious they value our church and our partner church in Haiti and will work to bridge us together and help us be successful.
Mark Artrip is the founding pastor of Movement Church in Hilliard, Oh. Follow him on twitter or check his blog.
Movement Church Group
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