Seminary Training

The Haiti Lutheran Mission Society helps to support the training of men to be pastors in Haiti.  Pastor Doris J. Louis believes that the church in Haiti needs to train up workers from its own congregations to become the next generation of Lutheran pastors in Haiti. 

The seminary is located at First Evangelical Lutheran Church, Petionville, Port-Au-Prince, the mother church of Lutheranism in Haiti. A course curriculum has been developed that covers the same four areas of training received at our Seminaries in the U.S.; Exegetical study of books of the Bible, Systematic theology and doctrine, Historical theology and history of the church, and Practical theology that equips the pastor to do his work. 

It is more cost effective to train pastors in Haiti rather than send them to seminary in the United States.  Therefore Pastors from the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod commit to travel to Haiti to teach various courses.  These pastors must submit their credentials to Pastor Louis who submits them to the Haitian government for approval.  This is necessary for the government to properly recognize the seminary instruction and for the students to receive proper credit. Usually pastors stay for about 7-10 days and teach about 4-5 hours each day.  At the conclusion of the week of instruction, the students are given an exam. Records are kept of which classes the students have taken, the grade received and the instructor who taught the class.

January 12, 2008 was a significant milestone in Seminary training in Haiti.  The seminary graduated its first class, five men who have prepared to be pastors.   Sadly on July 7, 2008 one of these men died suddenly and it was a great shock to the church in Haiti.

If any pastor in the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod might be interested in teaching a course in Haiti, he should contact the Rev. Dave Johnson, coordinator of seminary training, at St Paul Lutheran Church, Jackson, Missouri. 

Phone: 573-243-2236
or email at djohnson@stpauljackson.com