This October marks 60 years since the Seminarie Theologic Baptiste d’Haiti (STBH), now University Cretienne du Nord Haiti (UCNH), was established by Ivah and Harold Heneise. It has been a time of celebration, of looking back and looking forward. Many graduates from this great institution have gone on to establish themselves as pastors doctors business leaders worship leaders and doctoral professors all over the world. I have seen some of these graduates and I am impressed and amazed that so many high quality people specializing in so many different fields could have come from such a humble place as Haut Limbe Haiti. It is impossible to deny that this institution has had a major impact on Haiti and the world.  Founded in 1947 by Ivah and Harold Heneise, missionaries with Baptist Home Mission later called Baptist International Ministries, in the small town of Haut Limbe, the Baptist theological seminary had a few students who graduated several years later. This year 82 students graduated with degrees in theology, business agriculture and fine arts. One of the recent graduates, Kesnel Pierre, is the chief police commissioner in Cap Haitian, the largest city in northern Haiti (see his story in an upcoming newsletter).

UCNH was started in 1947 as the Haitian Baptist Theological Seminary (Seminaire Theologique Baptiste d’Haiti) by Ivah and Harold Heneise. The Heneises were sent to Haiti by the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society to train pastors for the ministry in Haiti. With limited resources the Heneises provided excellent training for Haitian church leaders. Harold and Ivah discovered that most of the Baptist churches in Haiti had no Sunday School programs for children or young people so the started a Sunday School program. They worked to promote youth associations and Christian Day Schools in the local Baptist churches.

In 1995 the Seminary expanded into the North Haiti Christian University under the leadership of Jules and Laurie Casseus to include more areas of study such as business, agriculture and fine arts as well as theology. UCNH has grown steadily despite the political and economic turmoil in Haiti and now serves as a beacon of the gospel in that dark, troubled country.