A prominent reason I am proud to be a part of the CPR-3 team is because of the organization’s emphasis on the local church. It’s no new development that the local church is the vehicle that God has chosen to use to bring the lost to Himself. The emphasis that Christ followers should have in nurturing her (the church), serving her, and being an active part of her should be abundantly seen.
CPR-3 works to partner North American churches with Haitian churches. Partnership fosters relationships and empowers the local Haitian church to reach their own people. I really love that CPR-3 wants to give North American churches a missions trip experience and couple that experience with resourcing and empowering the Haitian church to be the Church. It’s an experience that doesn’t hinder long term sustainability but rather creates it and that’s a beautiful thing.
Just as we as consumers and Christ followers should be responsibly conscious of what brands, companies, and non-profits we support financially, we should also be responsible to realize the implications of missions experiences. Is this experience hindering the local economy in the long run for my short term pat on the back? Is this experience empowering the local church to thrive (both mine and the church on the ground in another country/state/etc.)? What will happen after I leave? Is this model sustainable? Does this experience clearly work to advance the Gospel or is it humanitarian aid? …Are we asking ourselves these questions?
A friend of mine who is the pastor of a church in Hilliard, OH which partners with a church in Haiti through CPR-3 went on a Movement Trip to Haiti recently. I’ve personally seen Mark’s love for his local church and how that has transferred to also see the local church in Haiti thrive. Mark wrote a blog entry for CPR-3 on why he thinks partnership matters and why Movement Church decided to partner. After his first trip to Haiti to start the partnership, meet their partnering pastor, and dream about how God is going to use the two churches in each others’ ministries, Mark wrote this blog entry at markartrip.com. I asked him if I could repost some of it here as I think it’s a real look at the excitement of partnership. (see below)
Partnership is not one sided – it’s not North American churches just handing money and resources to Haitians. It’s a collaborative effort to see the Gospel flourish both in North America and in Haiti and that’s something to be excited about!
If you would like more information about partnering with CPR-3 and a church in Haiti, let us know by emailing info@cpr-3.com.
From Mark Artrip’s blog:
CPR-3 PARTNERSHIP
I love the concept of partnership. We are partnering with a pastor in Haiti who will plant a church and bring relief to his area. I wrote a blog entry here about why I was excited about this partnership and why it was a fit philosophically for us as a church. I love this concept because we aren’t just putting a Band-Aid on problems but we are strategically taking the gospel (spiritual relief) and physical relief to an area through a church. The local church is God’s plan to redeem the world so we want to always have our efforts anchored there.
PASTOR PATRICK ALEXIS
A personal highlight of the trip for me was getting meet our partner pastor Patrick Alexis. We had received a profile of him and connected on Facebook before we got there, but its always magic to meet someone in person. I felt like I was meeting a long lost brother. As a church planter I know what it going through his mind. It was so cool to talk about our own insecurity, the way Satan attacks us and God’s faithfulness and provision. Patrick has a great story of how God has saved him and called him to ministry and our team loved spending time with him. Most of the time we used a translator, but his English is not terrible so we had some great one on one moments connecting and hanging out. I got to attend his Sunday prayer (launch team) meeting that he has started for his church. It was only there 3rd meeting ever but the meeting I got to go to and speak at had 35 people in attendance. I had never spoke through a translator but it was so powerful to be with believers outside the United States and see the scope of the universal church.
NEXT CHAPTER
This was our first visit to Haiti and as Patrick plants a church and we come alongside him I am excited to send back other groups of people to encourage him and support his efforts. We want to send a medical group next. God has put us very close to a clinic that CPR-3 has partnered with that would make it very easy to do a top notch clinic right in Total. We also have several medical professionals in our church from nurses, nurse practioners, dentists, and doctors that I think God has positioned us for great impact. We are also looking to send down our band as music is a huge part of Haitian culture and the church and they would be able to do some great things by way of large events to help gather for the church.
Erin Cooper is the Creative Director for CPR-3 and also works as the Assistant Coordinator for Momentum Youth Conference. You can reach her at erincooper@cpr-3.com