WHO’S WILLING TO PAY THE PRICE FOR MISSIONS?
A brief history of missions in the Dominican Republic
The Christian who is not willing to pay the price of following Christ will hardly remain firm in the faith. It is in decisive moments that we are tested like gold (1 Peter 1:7) and where our faith will shine brightly, glorifying God. It is because of men and women who were willing and paid the price, losing or abandoning their jobs (the apostles left what they were doing and followed the Messiah), their families, and even their lives, all to take the gospel, the good news of salvation to all nations. Likewise, knowing the sacrifice of these men and women and how far they took the message of hope and eternal life, have you ever wondered, “How did the true (Protestant) gospel come to my country?”
In my case, the Dominican Republic, this country since its colonization in 1492 was founded on the faith of the Catholic Church. Just remember that the queen who financed Christopher Columbus’s voyages was called Isabel the Catholic, hence the Tainos, the native inhabitants of the island, were instructed in this faith. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther, with his 95 theses nailed to the door of Wittenberg Cathedral, initiated the Protestant Reformation, however, it was not until 1594 that the first attempts are known to introduce the Protestant gospel to the island of Hispaniola, the name of the Dominican Republic during the time of Spanish colonization, through merchants in the northern part of the island. This was prevented by the Archbishop of Santo Domingo, who reported the situation to the King of Spain in a letter, resulting in the confiscation of 300 Bibles translated into Spanish, the official language of the island since colonization.
In 1605, Osorio’s devastations occurred, publicly due to the commercial exchanges by the islanders and the merchant ships that approached the island, however, there was another hidden reason, the prevention of Protestant merchants from teaching doctrine and/or delivering literature and Bibles to the inhabitants of the island.
After this, there are no records of new attempts or evidence of any introduction of the gospel to the island. It was in 1822, due to the Haitian occupation, that President Boyer allowed 6,000 free black Protestants from Philadelphia to enter the island, along with Reverend Isaac Miller, a Wesleyan Methodist pastor. In 1836, they built the first chapel in Puerto Plata, but, unfortunately, due to the oppressive situation imposed by the Haitian government, the Protestant mission did not cross the cultural gap between the missionaries and the Dominicans, resulting in the separation and division of the two nations after Dominican independence in 1844, with the Dominican Republic being annexed to Spain again in 1861, imposing Spain’s religious intolerance, resulting in the annulment of freedom of worship, followed by persecution of Protestants and even the burning of temples, this is even evident in a letter sent to Lincoln by the freed blacks to claim the rights that were guaranteed to them at the time of their establishment in the territory.
In 1865, the Dominican Republic was liberated from foreign intervention through the Restoration War, in which both Catholics and Protestants participated for the freedom of the nation, which is why at the end of this war freedom of worship was restored, however, tensions between Protestants and Catholics persisted. However, the following years were beneficial for missionary work, many Protestant groups arrived, on this occasion they did not remain internally in worship services and Bible studies, but crossed the cultural barrier where Dominicans began to firmly believe that the Bible is the word of God, this was a golden age for missions that managed to establish themselves in both the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
In 1889, a mission from the Free Methodist Church arrived on the island in Monte Cristi, via Cape Haitien, founding the first congregation of Creoles. Unfortunately, tensions between Catholics and Protestants persisted and as a result of these confrontations, it is officially recorded in 1900, beginning the new century with the first death of a Protestant at the hands of Catholics, Sister Luisa Paulino being this victim as a result of the hostility of the moment.
In 1916, due to different political situations in the country, the mismanagement of funds and corruption, led the North American government to intervene on the island, in a certain way, as far as the gospel was concerned, this favored the missions since a large part of the North Americans were culturally Evangelical as a result of the Catholic Church never having the strength it took in Latin America. From this historical moment all the work that had been done for centuries began to bear fruit, God’s time is perfect, and the perfect moment came for missionary work and where brave men and women were not afraid for their lives, but put them at the disposal of our Lord to be used as His tools so that the last will of Jesus Christ our savior would be fulfilled.And trusting that the presence of Christ was among them through the Holy Spirit, they managed to open the doors to all evangelical missions to this blessed nation.
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” -Matthew 28:19-20.
In 1922, the first Creole work, the Dominican Evangelical Church, was established, composed of Presbyterian, Methodist, United Brethren, and Moravian missionaries from the Wesleyan work who had remained in the country without attracting attention since 1824. Two years later, in 1924, the Campaigns with Harry Strachan arrived in the country between August and October of that year, bringing with them invited representatives of the Baptist, Presbyterian, United Brethren (Bible Temples) and other denominations. Harry Strachan developed a series of evangelistic campaigns in the Dominican Republic. With an attendance of between 500 and 1000 people per night, maybe now they seem few, but for those years and the historical context, they are impressive numbers for the time, despite the great opposition he preached in Puerto Plata, Moca, Santiago, San Pedro de Macorís, Sánchez (Cotuí) and La Vega.
The congregation of the Bible Temples made contact in 1939 with pastors on the island and in 1941 they built the first congregation in Santo Domingo. In the same year, enjoying a certain freedom of expression and worship, the Bible press was founded, promoted by the Bible Temples, and they began to print material for Bible schools, tracts, and the Luz y Vida newspaper. In 1942, the Assemblies of God arrived and also established their work in Santo Domingo, and in 1946 the first Baptist missionaries Zeral Brown and his wife Doretta, Lyle and María Jessup, Iván Y Grace Augsburguer, arrived in the province of El Seibo and it was not until 1953 in the neighboring province of Hato Mayor that the First Baptist Church was founded in the Dominican Republic.
In 1949, the Dominican Bible Society had been founded, with the support of the American Bible Society, and in 1950 Pastor Julio Postigo managed to have April 23 established as Book Day and for 1951 the first Book Fair to be developed. In 1954, the second Baptist Church was built, this time in Santo Domingo, but, in the same year the government of the tyrant, Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, signed the Concordat with the Catholic Church, giving great power to the traditional church and making it the official religion of the nation. During the years of the regime and after its fall, brave men and women did not stop, but continued to create foundations and evangelical associations, preaching did not cease at any time, after the death of the tyrant in 1964, the initiative of the jubilee worship began, promoted by a group of young people from a radio program, where Ezequiel Molina, Demetrio Montero, Rudy Contreras and Juan Valdez were found, calling this worship “The Battle of Faith” and which continues to this day. In 1965, Evangelismo a Fondo launched the largest joint evangelism initiative of the churches in the Dominican Republic. Approximately 350 churches participated in this initiative, more than 2,000 prayer cells were organized, about 9 retreats were held, and nearly 7,800 believers were trained. 470,000 tracts were distributed, 250,000 portions of Scripture (New Testaments) were shared in print, and 100,000 homes were visited, unfortunately this event was not institutionalized or continued. By 1984, September 27 was established as Bible Day under Law 204-84.
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. Because narrow is the gate and confined is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Matthew 7:13-14
Then there is the following tragedy about the Potters that was written about in a Dominican newspaper, here I quote. “Paul and Nancy Potter were two American Baptist missionaries who arrived in 1966 in Santiago, the second-largest city in the Dominican Republic, where they began a work of medical mission and evangelization. There they performed a series of services in a rented residence, where a type of clinic was established, which caused many Dominicans from the most disadvantaged classes to attend in search of their services.
By 1970, the Potters had two flourishing churches and three mission chapels, so they considered the possibility of having another five churches by the end of their next term. They never reached that goal. Early on the morning of July 7, 1971, the Potters’ ten-year-old son David discovered his parents’ blood-soaked bodies. While the children slept peacefully in their separate rooms, the intruders beat and stabbed their parents to death.
Robbery was initially proven as a motive, then ruled out because the Potters were known to live modestly in a small house. Many considered the possibility that Paul and Nancy had been murdered by anti-American and communist terrorists.A Dominican reporter noted that “Death to the Yankees!” had been scrawled on the back of the missionaries’ car. However, many deduced that this was a strategy to mislead the real culprits of the incident.
Another hypothesis was that a small group of Dominican doctors and pharmacists paid some thugs to murder the couple. However, the information was never confirmed. Since that tragedy, many years have passed without knowing who the material and intellectual perpetrators were.”
The path has been rough, difficult, steep, exhausting, and sacrificial. Yes, that’s how it should be, otherwise it would be a path that leads to destruction. Today we complain about the supposed difficulties we have in taking the gospel even to the houses on our street.. I don’t even want to mention the Christians who are in Muslim and communist countries where not only the preaching of the word, but also the carrying of a Bible can cost the life of whoever is caught with it.
I want you to see the path that those who preceded us and brought us the good news of salvation had to travel. I personally am very thankful for those who sacrificed to bring the gospel to my country. As Christians, we must be willing to pay the price, to evangelize we must pay the price, so that missions can reach all places and people who have not had the blessing that we have, we must pay the price, and when I talk about paying the price I’m not talking about money, if it were so, heaven would only be for the rich. Paying the price is nothing more than giving beyond your limit, sacrificing your family for the work of Christ, sacrificing your job for Christ, sacrificing your economy for Christ, sacrificing your life for Christ.
Remember two basic things that we cannot lose sight of: love the Lord your God above all things, with all your soul, with all your might, and with all your being, and to evidence this faith, you must carry your cross every day and follow Him, that is, you must take your life and put it at His disposal, even if you are at risk of death for Christ, and loving your neighbor as Christ loved us, therefore evangelizing and the carrying out of international missions is imperative, necessary, and urgent.
Written by Victor Dominguez
Translated by Antonio Salgado
Historical data obtained from the following sources:: https://pezmundial.com/2012/10/cronologia-del-protestantismo-en-la-republica-dominicana.html
Please pray for our BCMS workers serving faithfully in hard places. May the Gospel continue to go forth, to God be the glory.
If the Lord so lies on your heart to give back to Him by supporting this ministry, you can easily donate online through PayPal. Click the donate button below to send support of any amount directly to the ministry. This is the fastest option to get funds to the mission field.
Also,
CENTRAL MISSIONARY CLEARINGHOUSE
P.O. Box 219228
Houston, Texas 77218-9228
1-800-CMC-PRAY (1-800-262-7729)
Office: 281-599-7411
Fax: 281-599-7511
The ministry of (CMC) serves hundreds of missionaries, but they ONLY receive the funds for us and in no way have control over how the funds are to be spent or what we are to do as a ministry, which gives room to be sensitive to the Spirit’s leading and the liberty in making needed adjustments.
You may begin sending your support to the BCMS (Antonio Salgado) at any time at the address above. (Checks should be made payable to Central Missionary Clearinghouse or C.M.C.)
You can also now give to the ministry here in the DR online through the new giving solution called “click and give” at the CMC website.
To get started, you just need to click on the link below and register the first time. Just a simple click on the donate button on their page (see link below), and then click the “click and give icon/button”.
https://www.cmcmissions.org/donate
For tax exemption, you must send your donation through Central Missionary Clearinghouse (CMC) at the address above. But the PayPal option is the fastest way to get funds directly to the field.
We do not use a sending agency that gets a percentage of the money donated, so you can be sure that your gift goes directly to the mission field.
Whatever you decide, thank you so much for praying for us. Grace and peace.