Growing up, I was considered a bi-cultural kid. I spent significant time, during my formative years, in the United States as well as Haiti. Since moving to Haiti in the early 90’s, the impact Western culture has had upon Haiti’s culture is apparent. One could argue whether these changes have been positive or negative, but that is for another post. While various changes are evident, there are some fundamental aspects to the Haitian worldview that remain unmoved. Perhaps, in the years to come, these will shift also as a result of the continued cultural influences of Western philosophy, but the Haitian worldview has yet to acquiesce to Western notions of time or hyper-individualism.

I will touch on differing notions of time in the future, but today I want to focus on the hyper-individuality of North American culture.  This cultural individualism has subconsciously influenced many of my presuppositions concerning faith and life. I wholeheartedly plead guilty to the indictment of exporting this North American Evangelicalism (both the good and bad) to the Haitians I interacted with as I served in Haiti. While my heart and intentions were seemingly pure, this lent itself to the typical missiological problem of answering questions the people you are working with are not asking. Shedding light on the personal moral responsibility of each person is rooted in Scripture and is a move in the right direction. Acting like that is all that matters is the wrong direction.

Michael W. Goheen and Craig G. Bartholomew, in their book, Living at the Crossroads state it like this:

“There is a tendency in North American evangelicalism to view the cross of Christ in a very individualistic way; ‘Jesus died for me.’ In the words of Leslie Newbigin, we ‘privatize this mighty work of grace and talk as if the whole cosmic drama of salvation culminates in the words–For me. For me.‘ But we must not lose the sight of the fact that in the crucifixion God defeats the powers that enslave cultural and social as well as individual life. It certainly is true that Jesus’ death is for us, but this is too narrow a version of the truth. In the biblical drama Jesus dies for the whole world, for every part of human life…” (pg 56)

Something as simple as listening to the prayers in a North American church and a Haitian church will highlight these differences. My experience has been that Haitians pray for their communities and their nation far more than they pray for themselves. Problems in this world typically don’t have pragmatic solutions in this world because to many Haitian people, the root of many problems exists in another world. Haitians (Christian and non Christian alike) hold to Ephesians 6:12 before they even read it. Like most things in the world, this truth can be distorted or properly understood. I have known both types of people in Haiti, but the ones who treasure Christ and cling to him show me this important idea: that the unseen is more real than the seen. This is one of the most cherished lessons I learned growing up in Haiti. It is a difficult lesson to hold on to and live by in such a science based culture such as North America.

While some Haitians might not get the significance of personal responsibility for sin, they do seem to grasp the fact that they are not the center of the universe. So, while we attempt to push them towards Biblical truth and, they can push us toward the same (just in opposite directions), if we will take the time to listen, look, and learn.