Our Story

to The church in L’Allemand started with a man, a calling from God, and yams under a tree. Pastor Fontane Sainsurin had been serving as school director at a church in St. Marc several hours away, when he felt God calling him back to the area he had grown up in. He faithfully trusted God’s guidance and in 1986 moved back to La Pointe, an area outside the city of Port-de-Paix. Not knowing what God had in store, Pastor Fontane spent most days walking up the mountain with Bible study books in hand. He didn’t know at the time, but he was passing by the site that would later become the church God was planning.

Up the mountain, Pastor Fontane would sit under a tree near the village of La Croix, read his books, and wait patiently for God’s direction. People (especially local kids) started to become curious about this, and they would come join him. Sometimes they would bring him yams, and sit together under the tree talking about the Bible.

This is how the L’Allemand church began.

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L’Allemand is a small farming community on the peak of a mountain, overlooking the city of Port-de-Paix. Even though the few people that live there are generally separated by farmland, there is still a strong community feel amongst the people. Life is not easy there. Unlike the more modern city below, they have no running water or electricity, unless run by private generators or solar power. There is no hospital in the mountain region, but only in the cities below. Everyone must daily walk to the market in neighboring towns for food and supplies and down the mountain for water from the river or community cistern-like well. Still, there is a genuine happiness and love for life found in the residence. They are very hospitable and welcoming people.

It didn’t take Pastor Fontane long to see the need for God in this community. There was a Catholic church in La Croix and a Christian church in the neighboring area of Goals, but both were a long walk away. The only religious activity in L’Allemand was voodoo. Also there was only one school in all of the neighboring communities, and most of the children couldn’t afford it. Now, Pastor Fontane knew God was calling him to focus on education, both biblically and academically. He started evangelizing in the streets and talking to people about the need for God in their lives. Pastor Fontane was invited to freely use the house of an elderly man in the community, because he believed in the work Pastor Fontane was trying to do. The man said that everything he had belonged to God, so he wanted to use what he had to serve God. That man attended the L’Allemand church until he passed away in 2019, at an age of nearly 110. (With no official birth certificate, we went on his word of his age.)

In 1987, the first formal Sunday morning service was held at the house with 10 people in attendance. Church programs included Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Friday night Bible study. They also built a small two-room thatch roof building in the yard. There, they started a pilot school program with 70 students in 3 grades. School tuition was less than $1 US, and still many students had trouble paying.

In 1988, nearby land was donated by Pastor Fontane’s wife’s cousin because he said he agreed with the doctrine that Pastor Fontane was teaching and felt that the community needed to hear it. A one-room building was constructed with rock walls and a tin roof. Also that year, 4 people accepted the Lord and were baptized. In 1990, the congregation was able to save money and purchase more land next to the church.