Christian Reformed World Ministries in the Dominican Republic

Since 1976, the Christian Reformed Church of North America (CRCNA) has been involved in mission work in the Caribbean island nation of the Dominican Republic.

For travel and other information in English, see DR1.com and the US Consular page.

The Dominican Republic, or "DR" for short, is located in the Caribbean region, sharing the Island of Hispaniola with Haiti, between Cuba and Puerto Rico.

Christian Reformed World Ministries's vision and mission in the Dominican Republic are:

Vision

We envision a healthy, Spirit-transformed Christian Reformed family of ministries in the Dominican Republic, that are used by God to transform lives and communities, resulting in a transformed society characterized by justice, reconciliation, compassion, freedom, economic growth, and stewardship of God’s creation.

Mission

Our mission is to transform lives and communities region-wide via ministry networks and partnerships that express the good news of Christ’s full-orbed kingdom.

That's a tall order. But this is done in many ways, including church development and expansion, Christian education, and community development.

At this time our mission team in the DR consists of three long term missionary families and three partner missionaries.

The Christian Reformed teams of the DR & Haiti together, fall 2007

Take a few moments to look at the Mission Photos.

With so few people, how can we hope to have such a large impact? The key is that we work with national partners. Our main national partner since the mid 1970's has been the national Christian Reformed Church in the Dominican Republic (La Iglesia Cristiana Reformada en la Republica Dominicana ICRRD), which is historically a mainly Haitian immigrant church. It consists of about 180 congregations, with about 115 ordained pastors and over 8,000 participants, throughout the country. The Christian Reformed Church in Haiti consists of about 30 congregations in Haiti, where we have another mission team, and maintain close relations.

The ICRRD's national leadership serves in all the churches and church ministries, and we missionaries work in support of these leaders and ministries. This support has two main aspects: Church Development and Leadership Training, which involve many aspects of the church.

Missionaries serve along side the national pastors in supporting roles.

We are working in a dual culture situation, in a Spanish speaking country but with people that are of Haitian culture and language. This community numbers over a million people, including second and third generation Haitian-Dominicans. Many live in poverty and isolation, on the bottom rung of the economic ladder. Cultural, historical, language and racial differences between Dominicans and Haitians, as well as the illegal immigration status of many, all contibutes to marginalization by the society in general. Haitians form the backbone of the agricultural and construction labor market. Many are connected to the sugar cane industry, and live in isolated bateys(sugar cane plantation villages); many more in poor urban barrios(slum and squatter areas). The life style is very poor,

yet the people of God are joyful in their worship and service to Him.

It is also a joy to see how the Lord has blessed the ministry and we that work here are blessed by the privilege of serving in this way.

The work of Church Development involves helping churches grow in maturity, unity, ministry, outreach and size. We do this by initiating and supporting local, regional and national church ministries, helping pastors and churches work together, providing resources for ministry, and helping churches generate, develop and utilize their own resources. Some specific areas are organizational development(a fancy euphemism for "getting people to work together"), evangelism, preaching, discipling, deaconal training, youth ministry, and construction projects.

The 2005 ICRRD National Assembly, where reports and testimonies are shared and decisions made in unity and mutual support.

The national leaders, such as pastors Ramon Alfonso, Domingo Rodriguez, and Manuel Feliz, along with evangelist Martin Ovil, serve through preaching, teaching and leading as an example to others...

Leadership Training focuses on helping people to grow in grace, knowledge, faith and service. This is done formally through the Reformed Bible Institute, in which pastors and leaders receive academic theological, Biblical and practical training. Also, through evangelism training, Sunday School teacher preparation, as well as the preparation of most of the training and teaching materials, the missionaries are reaching many current and future leaders of the church, most of whom have no other opportunities to study in this way. Leadership training is also done informally, through personal discipling, ministry opportunities, and counseling.

In addition to the main focus on the church, we are also involved in many other activities and ministries. COCREF (Colegios Cristianos Reformados)or Christian Reformed Schools, is the Christian school connected with our ministry. The program operates 21 schools in poor bateys (rural villages) and in barrios (poor urban communities) around the country. It fills an important need for the church and for the general community, as well as for the future of the national, by providing a solid Christian based education for around 5,000 children that otherwise may not have had the opportunity to study. That has been one of the goals of this ministry since the beginning: to offer education in places where little or no other schooling opportunities are available. COCREF is teaching children about God, His creation and their part in it. Another big element is the training of more than 200 teachers, supervisors, and other staff that are the backbone of the school program. They are given intensive teacher training as well as supported in their formal (university) education.

Partnership with various other agencies helps extend the work even farther. Community development is carried out through partners such as "Living Waters", "Casa Caribena", and DESCO. Other partner ministries include university education, bi-lingual Christian school education, Evangelism Explosion Int'l., the Bible League, Liderazgo Juvenil, and the Center for Transforming Mission.