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The Beginning

In 1997  my wife Guermanie and I were married and moved to the section of Cap-Haitien known as Madeline because we felt the Lord calling us to start a church. We met with about 10 people in the beginning and began teaching the Word of God and the church grew quickly. Then the Lord provided us some land for a church building and through His miraculous provision we were able to build this beautiful chapel.

Growth of the Church

The church continued to grow as we faithfully exposited the Word of God and today we have over 500 people attending our services each week. Bethesda Church is the largest church in Madeline and we have many strong believers who help us with our various ministries. In spite of our size, we only have about 15 people who have jobs and are able to tithe to support the church so it is difficult to have sufficient funds to support the pastor and the church expenses.

Weddings

In Haiti we teach the importance of marriage as a foundation for society to provide children with the stability that comes from having a mother and father to raise them in the church. Many bible-centered weddings are conducted at the same time in order to save money for the couples. We have wedding dresses available for brides who cannot afford to buy their own and it is much less costly to feed a large group at once than paying for individual wedding meals for each couple. In 2016 we married 34 couples at the same time as shown in this picture.

Baptisms

We see many people come to faith in Christ and we frequently have public baptisms to allow them a chance to give testimony to their new faith and to follow the teaching of the Bible: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." 

Pastoral Conferences

Bethesda Church hosts pastoral conferences for other pastors in the area. Pastor Julio invited Jim Gardner, Ph.D. in 2014 to teach Haitian pastors and church leaders how to pray effectively to overcome negative feelings such as grief, anger, and shame so that believers can enjoy God's peace and have strong marriages. In this picture Pastor Julio is holding a copy of Dr. Gardner's book "Trading Pain for Peace."  Pastors and Bible teachers who would like to teach at one of these pastor's conferences should contact Pastor Julio by email at jngillesjulio@rocketmail.com.

Set Free Prayer Ministry

Our first priority is to preach the gospel and lead people to salvation and obedience to Christ. But we also want believers to be set free from any emotional bondage that will interfere with their marriages, their walk with the Lord, and their fruitfulness as a believer. We use literature provide by Dr. Gardner to share with other pastors how to help those struggling with feelings of grief, anger, shame and fear so they can experience God's peace and share it with others.

Vacation Bible Schools

In addition to reaching children through Bethesda School we also provide Vacation Bible Schools several times per year to children in the neighborhood. We have seen many children saved through VBS and then they begin attending our church.