The Ministry
The Testimony of Charles Amicy
I was born into a farming family in a small village in northern Haiti. My parents were Roman Catholics so I never heard the gospel, and none of my five siblings was a Christian.
I started attending school for the first time at the age of 13. It was a mission school, and that is where I first heard the gospel proclaimed, but I didn’t receive Christ as my savior and Lord until I was 19 when a Baptist friend invited me to his church. My life was so radically changed that within a year four of my five siblings had accepted Christ also.
At that time, I was in the sixth grade and the Lord gave me a great love for learning. Most village children only go to school through the sixth grade, if they go at all, and so I prayed that the Lord would enable me to graduate from high school. I promised him that if He did, I would study to preach the gospel to others.
When I was 27 I graduated from high school and married my beautiful wife, Antonine, whom I had met in church five years earlier. By that time I had decided to study law because I deeply admired one of my teachers, Josue Pierre, who was a lawyer. But one Sunday a visiting pastor preached in our church on God faithful promises to us and our unfaithful promises to Him. I suddenly remembered my promise to God and enrolled in the Baptist seminary instead. It was a very difficult time for us as we had had our first child and I was teaching in several schools all over Port-au-Prince just to make ends meet. My total salary at that time was about $30/month. Nevertheless, God had a big plan for my life and He sustained us.
While I was attending seminary, Pastor Michel Remy asked me to become his assistant at our church, Bethesda Baptist, and it was through him that Jeff and Ann Klein came into my life. On their second short-term mission trip to Haiti in 1991, Pastor Remy asked them to sponsor me to seminary in the States and they agreed. I began pursuing a visa but was unable to secure one until I graduated from seminary in Haiti in 1995. By that time I had been accepted by the Greenville Presbyterian Theology Seminary in Greenville, SC. It is truly impossible for a poor Haitian villager to go to the United States because U.S Immigration doesn’t want any more illegal Haitians in the country, but God opened all of the doors. At this time I did not speak a word of English, but Ann had invited me to come at the beginning of the summer in order to learn Basic English before starting seminary. Unfortunately, my visa did not come through until one week before seminary began. In late August I said goodbye to my wife and three children and flew on a plane for the first time in my life. Pastor Remy, who was visiting in the States then, met me at the airport and put me on a bus to Savannah, GA, the following morning.
I traveled that long distance with $20 in my pocket but no food or drink in my stomach because I didn’t know how to ask or what ask for. Nor did realize I would need to change buses in Columbia, SC, but the Lord nudged me to show my ticket to the lady at the ticket counter who helped me find the bus to Savannah. I had only met the Kleins once, but they recognized me when I got off the bus and took me home to food and shelter even though I could not express my thanks.
I spent a week with the Kleins and the following Saturday they drove me to Greenville, SC, raining all the way. They took me to the home of an elder at Second Presbyterian and I thought they would stay with me, but shortly they said goodbye and left me with these strangers. I found myself in a strange country, in a strange house, with a strange language and no one to speak either French or Creole with.
The next day my host family took me to church and I noticed immediately that I was the only black face in a sea of white faces. After the service many people wanted to speak to me and ask me questions, and all I could do was use my smile to communicate.
On Monday, my family drove me to the seminary where, again, I was the only black face and the only student who couldn’t speak the language. When I was required to sign up for classes, I chose Ancient Church History, Greek and Hebrew! And so began three months of frustration and loneliness during which time my classmates laughed at me and wondered how I could possibility make it. I couldn’t hear or understand the professors and I didn’t learn a thing. During that time also I met no one who spoke either of my languages. I felt imprisoned, and finally decided it would be best for me to return to Haiti rather than waste more of my financial supporter, Independent Presbyterian’s, money and the seminary’s time. At least I could take care of my family there. I knew the hardship my wife was under trying to raise our three children and work at the same time. But God intervened once again and encouraged me to seek His face so I set aside the following Saturday morning to fast and pray.
During that morning I sang from my French hymnal and read from my Creole Bible, crying out to God. I said, “God, you have brought me here so You must have a plan for me, but I cannot learn. Please send me someone with whom I can speak one of my languages, and give a way to learn English”.
When I went upstairs at noon, my host family told me someone had called me and would call back at 6 pm. When the call came through and they give me the telephone, a man on the other end, Richard Wagner spoke to me in French! He came and picked me up and we spent the next three hours speaking French at a restaurant.
The following day, I received another phone call from another French speaker, the Director of the Language Department of Bob Jones University, Dr. Bruce Byers. Dr Byers invited me to visit the school and have lunch with him which I did. He spent over two hours showing me around and introducing me to his French class and the other professors. When it came time to leave he said to me, “Charles, we would like to help you. We teach English as a second language here and our next session starts in a week. If you will come, I will undertake the expense for you”. I don’t know how God did it, but in less than four months I was able to understand my professors, take good notes, do my homework and make A’s and B’s. He even enabled me to graduate ahead of many of the classmates who had laughed at me.
During my first year of seminary, I became very excited about the Reformed Faith and realize that I could not remain a Baptist. God gave me a desire to introduce the Reformed Faith to Haiti where they have so few educated pastors. He gave me big vision for Haiti and I couldn’t wait to start my ministry. So at the end of my second year when I was to return to Haiti to spend the summer with my family, I resolved to start the ministry. Through odd jobs I had collected $200, and with that money I started for home, stopping by Savannah for a few days when I spent some of it on gifts for my family. When I arrived in Haiti I exchanged my money, moved my family from Port-au-Prince to a tiny house in the small village of Messailler where there were no amenities and began to evangelize. In the mornings we held Vacation Bible School, in the afternoons my wife and I did door-to-door Evangelism explosion, and in the evenings I held services and preached. We did this for two weeks. Because we fed the children at Vacation Bible School, they kept coming, and by the end of the first week we had almost 100. At the end of the two weeks ten children and two adults had accepted Christ as their Savior, and with that small group we started the first Presbyterian Church in Haiti. Today, we have almost 400 members in that church.
In order to keep the church going while I returned to my last year of seminary, God sent me a local Baptist pastor, Jonel Telus, who had no church, and Elvire Laguerre who worked with the women and children. I trained Jonel in the Reformed Faith over the summer and left the church in his hands. He added newly saved souls to the congregation weekly in my absence.
While working with the village children that summer, God gave me a broader vision, for I saw that most of their parents were illiterate and that few of them could afford to attend the nearby government school, so I called a meeting with the parents and thirty came, very excited about the idea. Two teacher friends, Octavius Delfils and Samuel Jean Baptiste got the costs together for me and agreed to hire the necessary teachers. They thought a school could be started for $2,000. At the time I had about $2 left, so I asked the church members to pray that God would provide the money for the school, and on Saturday I returned to Greenville.
The following day I attended church at second Presbyterian and that afternoon my host family held a 50th wedding anniversary reception for a couple from church, John and Margaret Hook. During that reception, the pastor’s wife, Mary Ann Clay, approached me and said, “Charles, while you were in Haiti we were thinking about your needs and praying for you. The Women in the Church have decided to give $2,000 to help with your family’s needs and your books”. I said “thank you so much for your gift, but that money is not for me. It is God’s money and He needs it to start a Christian school in Haiti”. In October 1997, the seminary gave me permission to return to Haiti for a week and start the school. Meanwhile, my wife had opened registration. We wanted to start with no more than 75 students, but on the first day 70 students were enrolled, leaving many parents weeping because there was no more room for their children. We ended up starting with 100 students. Today, that school goes through the tenth grade and has about 500 students. We have started a second school in the second church, a third at the third church and a forth one at the fourth church as well.
The schools are a wonderful evangelization tool because through the Christian teaching, several hundred children have accepted Christ. We require each student to attend church every Sunday with at least one parent, and trough hearing the Word, many parents has also accepted Christ.
I graduated from seminary in 1998 and returned to Haiti as an ordained PCA pastor and also as one of Mission to the World’s few native associate. God has continued to bless the work and as of now we have planted four churches, four Christian schools, a Bible school for training future pastors and church leaders and opened a pharmacy. We are now building an orphanage to host 24 orphans boys who can be leaders in the future. We will plant the sixth church in the next few months in Port au Prince and begin organizing the first Haitian Presbytery.
The growth of the ministry has been very rapid and we ask you to pray with us for two major areas of need:
1. A broader support base to keep up with the growth
2. More sponsors for the school children so the schools can continue to grow
Thank you for the privilege of sharing the ministry with you, and for your prayers and support. May God continue to bless you as you serve Him.
I was born into a farming family in a small village in northern Haiti. My parents were Roman Catholics so I never heard the gospel, and none of my five siblings was a Christian.
I started attending school for the first time at the age of 13. It was a mission school, and that is where I first heard the gospel proclaimed, but I didn’t receive Christ as my savior and Lord until I was 19 when a Baptist friend invited me to his church. My life was so radically changed that within a year four of my five siblings had accepted Christ also.
At that time, I was in the sixth grade and the Lord gave me a great love for learning. Most village children only go to school through the sixth grade, if they go at all, and so I prayed that the Lord would enable me to graduate from high school. I promised him that if He did, I would study to preach the gospel to others.
When I was 27 I graduated from high school and married my beautiful wife, Antonine, whom I had met in church five years earlier. By that time I had decided to study law because I deeply admired one of my teachers, Josue Pierre, who was a lawyer. But one Sunday a visiting pastor preached in our church on God faithful promises to us and our unfaithful promises to Him. I suddenly remembered my promise to God and enrolled in the Baptist seminary instead. It was a very difficult time for us as we had had our first child and I was teaching in several schools all over Port-au-Prince just to make ends meet. My total salary at that time was about $30/month. Nevertheless, God had a big plan for my life and He sustained us.
While I was attending seminary, Pastor Michel Remy asked me to become his assistant at our church, Bethesda Baptist, and it was through him that Jeff and Ann Klein came into my life. On their second short-term mission trip to Haiti in 1991, Pastor Remy asked them to sponsor me to seminary in the States and they agreed. I began pursuing a visa but was unable to secure one until I graduated from seminary in Haiti in 1995. By that time I had been accepted by the Greenville Presbyterian Theology Seminary in Greenville, SC. It is truly impossible for a poor Haitian villager to go to the United States because U.S Immigration doesn’t want any more illegal Haitians in the country, but God opened all of the doors. At this time I did not speak a word of English, but Ann had invited me to come at the beginning of the summer in order to learn Basic English before starting seminary. Unfortunately, my visa did not come through until one week before seminary began. In late August I said goodbye to my wife and three children and flew on a plane for the first time in my life. Pastor Remy, who was visiting in the States then, met me at the airport and put me on a bus to Savannah, GA, the following morning.
I traveled that long distance with $20 in my pocket but no food or drink in my stomach because I didn’t know how to ask or what ask for. Nor did realize I would need to change buses in Columbia, SC, but the Lord nudged me to show my ticket to the lady at the ticket counter who helped me find the bus to Savannah. I had only met the Kleins once, but they recognized me when I got off the bus and took me home to food and shelter even though I could not express my thanks.
I spent a week with the Kleins and the following Saturday they drove me to Greenville, SC, raining all the way. They took me to the home of an elder at Second Presbyterian and I thought they would stay with me, but shortly they said goodbye and left me with these strangers. I found myself in a strange country, in a strange house, with a strange language and no one to speak either French or Creole with.
The next day my host family took me to church and I noticed immediately that I was the only black face in a sea of white faces. After the service many people wanted to speak to me and ask me questions, and all I could do was use my smile to communicate.
On Monday, my family drove me to the seminary where, again, I was the only black face and the only student who couldn’t speak the language. When I was required to sign up for classes, I chose Ancient Church History, Greek and Hebrew! And so began three months of frustration and loneliness during which time my classmates laughed at me and wondered how I could possibility make it. I couldn’t hear or understand the professors and I didn’t learn a thing. During that time also I met no one who spoke either of my languages. I felt imprisoned, and finally decided it would be best for me to return to Haiti rather than waste more of my financial supporter, Independent Presbyterian’s, money and the seminary’s time. At least I could take care of my family there. I knew the hardship my wife was under trying to raise our three children and work at the same time. But God intervened once again and encouraged me to seek His face so I set aside the following Saturday morning to fast and pray.
During that morning I sang from my French hymnal and read from my Creole Bible, crying out to God. I said, “God, you have brought me here so You must have a plan for me, but I cannot learn. Please send me someone with whom I can speak one of my languages, and give a way to learn English”.
When I went upstairs at noon, my host family told me someone had called me and would call back at 6 pm. When the call came through and they give me the telephone, a man on the other end, Richard Wagner spoke to me in French! He came and picked me up and we spent the next three hours speaking French at a restaurant.
The following day, I received another phone call from another French speaker, the Director of the Language Department of Bob Jones University, Dr. Bruce Byers. Dr Byers invited me to visit the school and have lunch with him which I did. He spent over two hours showing me around and introducing me to his French class and the other professors. When it came time to leave he said to me, “Charles, we would like to help you. We teach English as a second language here and our next session starts in a week. If you will come, I will undertake the expense for you”. I don’t know how God did it, but in less than four months I was able to understand my professors, take good notes, do my homework and make A’s and B’s. He even enabled me to graduate ahead of many of the classmates who had laughed at me.
During my first year of seminary, I became very excited about the Reformed Faith and realize that I could not remain a Baptist. God gave me a desire to introduce the Reformed Faith to Haiti where they have so few educated pastors. He gave me big vision for Haiti and I couldn’t wait to start my ministry. So at the end of my second year when I was to return to Haiti to spend the summer with my family, I resolved to start the ministry. Through odd jobs I had collected $200, and with that money I started for home, stopping by Savannah for a few days when I spent some of it on gifts for my family. When I arrived in Haiti I exchanged my money, moved my family from Port-au-Prince to a tiny house in the small village of Messailler where there were no amenities and began to evangelize. In the mornings we held Vacation Bible School, in the afternoons my wife and I did door-to-door Evangelism explosion, and in the evenings I held services and preached. We did this for two weeks. Because we fed the children at Vacation Bible School, they kept coming, and by the end of the first week we had almost 100. At the end of the two weeks ten children and two adults had accepted Christ as their Savior, and with that small group we started the first Presbyterian Church in Haiti. Today, we have almost 400 members in that church.
In order to keep the church going while I returned to my last year of seminary, God sent me a local Baptist pastor, Jonel Telus, who had no church, and Elvire Laguerre who worked with the women and children. I trained Jonel in the Reformed Faith over the summer and left the church in his hands. He added newly saved souls to the congregation weekly in my absence.
While working with the village children that summer, God gave me a broader vision, for I saw that most of their parents were illiterate and that few of them could afford to attend the nearby government school, so I called a meeting with the parents and thirty came, very excited about the idea. Two teacher friends, Octavius Delfils and Samuel Jean Baptiste got the costs together for me and agreed to hire the necessary teachers. They thought a school could be started for $2,000. At the time I had about $2 left, so I asked the church members to pray that God would provide the money for the school, and on Saturday I returned to Greenville.
The following day I attended church at second Presbyterian and that afternoon my host family held a 50th wedding anniversary reception for a couple from church, John and Margaret Hook. During that reception, the pastor’s wife, Mary Ann Clay, approached me and said, “Charles, while you were in Haiti we were thinking about your needs and praying for you. The Women in the Church have decided to give $2,000 to help with your family’s needs and your books”. I said “thank you so much for your gift, but that money is not for me. It is God’s money and He needs it to start a Christian school in Haiti”. In October 1997, the seminary gave me permission to return to Haiti for a week and start the school. Meanwhile, my wife had opened registration. We wanted to start with no more than 75 students, but on the first day 70 students were enrolled, leaving many parents weeping because there was no more room for their children. We ended up starting with 100 students. Today, that school goes through the tenth grade and has about 500 students. We have started a second school in the second church, a third at the third church and a forth one at the fourth church as well.
The schools are a wonderful evangelization tool because through the Christian teaching, several hundred children have accepted Christ. We require each student to attend church every Sunday with at least one parent, and trough hearing the Word, many parents has also accepted Christ.
I graduated from seminary in 1998 and returned to Haiti as an ordained PCA pastor and also as one of Mission to the World’s few native associate. God has continued to bless the work and as of now we have planted four churches, four Christian schools, a Bible school for training future pastors and church leaders and opened a pharmacy. We are now building an orphanage to host 24 orphans boys who can be leaders in the future. We will plant the sixth church in the next few months in Port au Prince and begin organizing the first Haitian Presbytery.
The growth of the ministry has been very rapid and we ask you to pray with us for two major areas of need:
1. A broader support base to keep up with the growth
2. More sponsors for the school children so the schools can continue to grow
Thank you for the privilege of sharing the ministry with you, and for your prayers and support. May God continue to bless you as you serve Him.
The Amicy Family (L to R):
Charles, Antonine, Allen, Alex, Alexandre
How You Can Help
1. Receive our prayer letters. We send out a prayer letter every three months in which we share with our friends and supporters the prayer requests of the ministry. We inform them of the progress of the ministry and also of our needs.
2. Visit us on the field. We encourage you to participate in a mission trip to Haiti. Please encourage your church to do so. We benefit a lot from those mission churches. Among the works they usually do are: evangelism; teaching children, young people, adult and church leaders; VBS; construction; medical clinic; training of women in the church; English language classes; teaching computer classes; teaching sewing skills… Not only you are helping in those areas and more, but also your example of piety and love among the nationals is very encouraging for the church members and promote evangelism among the unbelievers who benefit so much from the services of the teams.
3. Support the ministry financially. Among the ministries that need support are the schools, the orphanage, and construction. We are looking for supporters for our students at the schools and we will need supporters for children in the orphanage as well. We hope to have enough funds to begin to receive children in the orphanage by January 2008. We have also some ongoing construction project that needs funds. We are building the orphanage and the fourth church in Saint-Marc. We hope to be able to start the construction of the fifth church soon.
Thank you very much for being part of God’s ministry in Haiti.
1. Receive our prayer letters. We send out a prayer letter every three months in which we share with our friends and supporters the prayer requests of the ministry. We inform them of the progress of the ministry and also of our needs.
2. Visit us on the field. We encourage you to participate in a mission trip to Haiti. Please encourage your church to do so. We benefit a lot from those mission churches. Among the works they usually do are: evangelism; teaching children, young people, adult and church leaders; VBS; construction; medical clinic; training of women in the church; English language classes; teaching computer classes; teaching sewing skills… Not only you are helping in those areas and more, but also your example of piety and love among the nationals is very encouraging for the church members and promote evangelism among the unbelievers who benefit so much from the services of the teams.
3. Support the ministry financially. Among the ministries that need support are the schools, the orphanage, and construction. We are looking for supporters for our students at the schools and we will need supporters for children in the orphanage as well. We hope to have enough funds to begin to receive children in the orphanage by January 2008. We have also some ongoing construction project that needs funds. We are building the orphanage and the fourth church in Saint-Marc. We hope to be able to start the construction of the fifth church soon.
Thank you very much for being part of God’s ministry in Haiti.