Editor’s note:
This is the
latest in a series of stories about congregations engaged in significant
outreach
and evangelism ministries, reflecting the General Assembly’s commitment
to
“Grow Christ’s Church Deep and Wide.” ― Jerry L. Van Marter
HOLLYWOOD,
Fla. —
An unlikely partnership between a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregation and
a neighboring Jewish synagogue is helping to save the lives of thousands of
Haitian children.
For the last two years,
First Presbyterian Church here and
Temple Beth-el have teamed up to sponsor and
support an orphanage for
HIV-positive children in Port-Au-Prince through their organization, Hollywood
CARES
(Caribbean Aids Relief Education and Support).
“It’s all been quite amazing,” says FPC Hollywood Pastor Kennedy McGowan. “We
really feel that the Lord led
us and has been with us through this entire
experience. If it hadn’t been so clear that God was orchestrating this,
it might
not have come to fruition. I do not think there has ever been a question as to
whether God was directing us.
It is what God called us to do.”
McGowan, who has served First-Hollywood since April of 2006, called the
partnership with Temple Beth-el an “expression
experience” for the congregation
and for himself personally.
The Hollywood CARES orphanage is one of four that are a part of Project
Papillion, a non-profit organization that
provides assistance to Haiti’s poor
and underprivileged. A total of eight children presently live in the orphanage,
which
provides, food, shelter, medicine, education and an overabundance of love
and nurturing.
The partnership between First Church and Temple Beth-el recently gained a small
amount of national exposure when
television actor Rainn Wilson, a star on the
NBC comedy series “The Office,” paid a visit to the orphanage on a mission trip.
His trip was
documented in USA Today. He was taken aback by they way the church and
synagogue worked together.
Mentioning the church and the synagogue by name, he
called the partnership “God’s work.”
McGowan, a Presbyterian pastor for 20 years, said the seeds of Hollywood CARES
were first sown during a leadership
conference following a plea to help in the
fight against AIDS.
“We sent a team to the Willow Creek Leadership Summit in August of 2006 and they
heard rock singer and human rights
activist Bono challenge those in attendance
to start doing something to help fight the AIDS epidemic around the world,
” said
McGowan. “I think that’s what really lit the fire. The church’s leadership was
strongly in support of the idea.”
McGowan said the church was uncertain as to which direction to go at first. At
the time, most of the focus on the fight
against AIDS was on Africa. About the
same time, an article was published in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel
regarding
the spread of HIV in Haiti and it caught the attention of several
members of the congregation.
Church leaders
soon decided that Haiti was where their mission should be directed. Pastor
McGowan calls it “one of many
‘God moments’ that have taken place during this
project.”
A church member who had friends that attended Temple Beth-El, a Jewish synagogue
in Hollywood, asked McGowan if he
thought the church might be interested in
teaming up with the synagogue for the work in Haiti. He called Rabbi Allen Tuff
of
Temple Beth-el and approached him with the idea of a partnership.
“I asked the rabbi what he thought about the idea and if he thought this was God
bringing us together,” said McGowan.
“He said he wasn’t sure, but that he was
open to the idea.”
A second church member suggested contacting Aaron Jackson, the director of a
human rights organization based in
Hollywood called
Planting Peace. Jackson and his organization had founded Project Papillion
in 2004 with John Louis Dieubon,
a Pentecostal pastor from Haiti. Church leaders
met with Jackson and a trip to Haiti was arranged for the beginning of the year.
A small contingent of members of First Presbyterian and Temple Beth-El joined
Jackson and a reporter/photographer team
from the Sun-Sentinel on the trip to
Port-Au-Prince.
“To call it an eye-opening experience would be an understatement,” said McGowan.
“Everyone was so moved by the poverty
in which these people, particularly the
children, were living in. We knew right away that God was calling us to do our
part.”
Upon their return, the church and synagogue agreed on the need for an orphanage
for HIV-positive children for Project Papillion.
Hollywood CARES was chosen as
the name of the partnership.
“We knew it would take $12,000 to run the orphanage for a year,” said McGowan.
“We talked and decided to commit
ourselves to raising $24,000 — enough for two
years — and began with a special Easter offering.”
It took only a short few months before the church and synagogue combined to
raise nearly $35,000. A church member,
whom McGowan said chose to remain
anonymous, agreed to match what was raised.
The efforts of Hollywood CARES have expanded well beyond the one orphanage over
the last three years. The partnership
helps support other orphanages in Project
Papillion and has help purchase over 300,000 de-worming pills for starving
Haitians.
“Without their help, there are many kids who would not be alive today,” said
Planting Peace founder and director Aaron
Jackson. “They have helped raise the
bar in all the homes. What they do for one child, they do for all.”
Jackson said Hollywood CARES has been of invaluable support in its “Stomp The
Worms” de-worming project, which
provides de-worming medications to poverty
stricken areas of the world.
“It is an amazing partnership,” said Jackson. “I have never seen two distinctly
different churches work together with such
unity. Religion is never really
brought up. They understand it’s looking beyond who believes what. It’s about
helping those
who are in need.”
This past February, Temple Beth-el was honored with an Irving J. Fain Award for
Outstanding Synagogue Social Action
Programming for its part in Hollywood CARES.
The award is presented by the Commission on Social Action of Reform
Judaism and
is given to congregations that “exemplify the passion for social justice that is
at the very foundation of Reform
Judaism. These outstanding congregations bring
hope and healing to their communities through their efforts to fulfill the
Jewish mandate ‘l’taken et haolam’ — to repair our broken world.”'
McGowan said the role of Hollywood CARES is primarily funding, but the church
does try to send a group to visit the
orphanage two or three times a year. It
held Vacation Bible School for Haitian children this summer.
Asked if he was ever confronted or ever heard of any opposition within the FPC
Hollywood congregation in regards to
the partnership with the synagogue, McGowan
says no.
“There was no
real verbal backlash at the begging nor am I aware of any strong dissension,” he
said. “There were some
who were not completely sold on the idea, but they
nevertheless saw the need and the importance of the work.”
McGowan said there is some interaction between the church and Temple Beth-el
aside from their work of Hollywood CARES.
He said that he occasionally goes to
the synagogue and that the rabbi sometimes attends worship services at the
church.
Church and synagogue members do sometimes attend the others’ events.
McGowan said a joint trip to Israel is in the planning
stages.
The pastor still marvels at how the project has broken down barriers and forced
some to look past theological differences
for the greater good.
“Think about it for a second — a reformed church, a Jewish synagogue and a
Pentecostal pastor — all working together
to save the lives of Haitian
children,” said McGowan.
“People talk
about working and thinking outside the box. This makes you think that maybe
there is no box.”
What it all comes down to, says McGowan, is respect for one another as human
beings and Children of God
“There is a great sense of mutual respect for one another between the church and
the synagogue,” said McGowan.
“We all have experienced encounters with God in
some form or fashion. We may have different perspectives, but
that doesn’t mean
we can’t work together.”
Bob Sloan is a Presbyterian free-lance writer based in South Carolina.