Lifeline in Haiti

Lifeline began work in Grand Goave, Haiti in 1980 with a goal to keep Christ at the CENTER of all ministries and to work with people spiritually and physically.  In 1981, Lifeline’s first Christian church and Christian school were established and opened to evangelize and educate.  Thirty-five people attended the first church service and sixty students enrolled into our first school.  The leaders in our schools and churches are nationals and currently over 250 Haitians are on staff.  (Lifeline works through foreign nationals who serve as teachers, principals, administrators, and ministers).

With Christ as the center of all that is done and evangelism the primary focus, the first part of Lifeline’s goal was to work with people spiritually.  This was accomplished through personal evangelism, church planting, congregational development, edification and Christian schools.  The Lord has been working and Lifeline now oversees 19 Christian church congregations with a combined attendance of around 5,000 people.  In 1987, a Leadership Training Program was established to further educate and equip church leaders.  Bible College professors come from the U.S. and teach and instruct in courses that are relevant to the church leaders’ ministries. 

 The second part of Lifeline’s goal was to minister to people’s physical needs.  Aware of the need for education and health care, our Lovelink Child Sponsorship Program took form in 1981.  Lovelink provides the opportunity to for concerned persons to participate in the education and physical development of a needy child.  Through this ministry, benefits are provided for the children that they otherwise would not receive: a traditional and Christian education, clothing, daily food, books, medical and dental care and much more. In 1995, Cookson Hills Christian Ministries gave the work and facilities they had established to Lifeline.  This included additional churches, schools, a medical/dental clinic and an orphanage that has been renamed Lovelink Children’s Home. Vocational training, band, music, typing, sewing, embroidery and other vocational programs have been integrated into Lifeline’s schools and Children’s Home.   

Lifeline hosted its first work crusade in the summer of 1982. Work Crusades are regularly hosted to Haiti where people can minister in a “hands-on” fashion.  Individuals can engage in mission led activities, such as preaching, teaching, construction, carpentry, painting, gardening, working with children, medical and dental work, nutrition programs, clothing distribution and much more.  Lifeline’s Laborlink Work Crusade Program has grown rapidly and Lifeline now hosts nearly 500 people each year on work teams.

 The medical aspect of Lifeline’s ministry was developed in 1982 with a small-scale clinic and child immunization program.  In 1988 construction for Phase I of the Christian Health Center had begun.  In 1991 the dental wing was fully equipped and operational and a new Health Care Worker Program was instituted.  Phase II of the Health Center was completed in 1996 and medical services are continually expanding.  Today, the Christian Health Center operates every weekday.  It provides an infirmary for ill school students, ministers to several hundred patients each week, includes special programs for pregnant women, nursing mothers, malnourished infants and toddlers and clinics for diabetics, hypertension and obstetrics. Nearly 7000 children and adults are fed daily through Lifeline’s Christian schools, clinic nutrition programs, children’s home and more. Every week day one or more groups of malnourished come to receive grains, peanut butter, canned meats, raisins, baby formula, cereal, milk and much more.  Thanks to the contributions of supporters Stateside, food or funds to purchase food literally keeps these people alive. We believe that by meeting physical, as well as spiritual needs, we can show Christ’s love and light in an effective way.

 In addition to the above ministries, thousand of lives are being touched through our flourishing vocational and nutritional outreach programs.  As of 2004 Lifeline employs more than 300 Haitian nationals who are the backbone of the daily ministries and through them, the work continues round the clock. 

Country of Haiti