Curious Christian

6 responses to “Driscoll in Haiti”

1. 

   grace

   2010-01-22

   Honestly, I think rebuilding church buildings is pretty low on the priority of need in Haiti today. After individual health and safety needs are met, basic structures of medical care, orphanages, and other services must be implemented. The church (the people of God) can continue and be a part of this as the hands that serve.

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2. 

   Jarred

   2010-01-22

   I was going to respectfully disagree (in part) with Grace. I was going to point out that churches themselves can be great structures for disaster relief. I was going to offer the example of how my sister’s church was a major base of operations for for the rebuilding effort in Biloxi Mississippi during the year following hurricane Katrina to underscore my point.
   Then I watched the video. I listened to the two speaker talk about about the church primarily as a place for itself. I heard them compare “rioting Haitians who are desperate” to “Christians full of hope,” as if there was no overlap between the acts of Christians and “everyone else.” And after talking about the desperate need for food and water, they simply mention the church’s opportunity for “evangelism.” (Now, maybe Driscoll has a wider understanding of “evangelism” than just “saving souls,” but nothing in the video made that clear.)
   So I’m finding it hard to disagree with Grace, based on the video alone. The only thing the video gives me rise to say is, “Yes. Work on the buildings to at least recover the bodies inside. Because no one deserves to have a loved one that’s just rotting away in a collapsed building.”

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3. 

   grace

   2010-01-22

   Jarred,
   Yes, I think we basically agree. Supporting the Haitian Christians in their role as sources of hope and service in the face of such overwhelming need is very important. However, for a time, the role of the Haitian church may be to collaborate with other organizations already in place (Red Cross, World Vision, Compassion, etc) to serve the immediate needs.

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4. 

   Matt Stone

   2010-01-22

   Need I point out that World Vision, Compassion, etc, are an outgrowth of the church? So, depending on your understanding of church, this distinction you’re making could be seen as a false dichotomy. As a person who associates the word “church” primarily with people, not places, it actually caught me off guard that you interpreted Driscoll as talking primarily about a construction program. Nothing in the video screamed that at me. Maybe our default assumptions are different? I mean, obviously he saw it as an issue that there were still unrecovered bodies in church buildings, wafting out into the street and all, and presumably rebuilding is part of the longer term agrenda, but when I hear of churches helping churches, I think of communities helping communities. I think of the rich partnering with the poor.

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5. 

   grace

   2010-01-23

   Sorry to have explained myself so poorly. Absolutely these ministries are an outgrowth of the church. In both of my previous comments I was attempting to emphasize the need for the church (all of us) to support the Haitian church (the people, Haitian believers). Perhaps this is also what Mark meant. In his appeal for financial help, he stated, “We need to get money on the ground so that we can help these congregations have ways to rebuild and places to meet,” I assumed that his was intention or goal.

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6. 

   Dan

   2010-01-23

   After listening to Mark Driscoll’s sermons on the internet, and seeing this video, I came to the same conclusions that Jared mentioned. Making distinctions between Christians and non-Christians, and focusing on evangelism while bodies are rotting from a great tragedy to me seems obscene.
   Communities helping communities is a great concept, let’s hope that is what Driscoll is talking about in the name of Christ.
   But let’s note that this is a tragic situation, and any and all help from various groups and forms is needed.

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