A HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF BELIZE

By Mrs. Helen Lacey, 2002

 

The Faithfulness of God in the Emerging Church

using ordinary people to do an extraordinary work for His Glory.

 

The story begins with the faithfulness of a man, named Manuel Beltran, a Mayan Indian who spoke mostly Mayan, an evangelist sent by the Presbytery of Mayab, of the National Presbyterian Church in Mexico. The Church had heard that there were Mayan speaking peoples in the British Colony as Belize was called then. Don Manuel, as he was affectionately called by all, walked the dirt roads of British Honduras with a pack on his

back and a large box in his hands... that box contained a Coleman lamp. The

kind with a mantle and a hand pump, someone had given him money to buy it ... this lamp carried as a treasure, was carefully lit after entering a Mayan home late in the evening... most village homes only had little tins of oil with a wick to give light. .. that lamp then gave light enough for Don Manuel to give the light of the Gospel in that home... a light for the house and a light for darkened hearts... the donor of the lamp probably never realized what that gift of perhaps 30 dollars achieved for God's kingdom... an ordinary gift used in an extraordinary way to give the light of the Gospel here.

 

After many years of trudging these roads among the Mayan peoples here, small groups of people became believers... in Cristo Rey, in Patchakan, in San Jose and San Victor... even in Concepción. These believers began to tell the gospel to their relatives in other villages. . . ordinary folk extending God's  kingdom..

We, the Lacey family, became aware of this field after returning from a five year term in Bolivia South America. . We were looking for a pioneer Presbyterian work... and here it was.

Our work was to build on Don Manuel's work.. to do church planting... following his steps. . We settled in Cristo Rey... where the small group of believers now numbered 15 together with their children.. . . they promised us

a house if we would just stay.. . a thatch hut .how could we refuse an offer

like that......... we stayed.. .later Tom built a family home for we intended to

stay. . . . We were just ordinary people. With very ordinary talents, Our            -.

Spanish was a bit rusty, we could speak no Mayan, but the Lord had opened this field for us... .and we never doubted that this was exactly the place He wanted us. This assurance together with the assurance that the Lord would callout a people for His Name here... .gave us the fortitude and grace to live in very limited circumstances that were ours in a small village called Cristo Rey. ... where Cristo would indeed become Rey..King in many hearts.

 

The Developing Church

The village ministry expanded until we had a full schedule of four services every Sunday, as well as services during the week... plus building our House... and living with very limited space and resources.

The meeting places for the growing congregations were soon much too small, Sunday School classes were held under shade trees, while Tom preached to an ever growing congregation. A building program began

 

The first to be built was in Patchakan, the dedication of the building and the

organization of the church was in April 197 4 with a Commission from the

Presbyterian Church of Mexico present. The Cristo Rey church followed in 1975. Then San Jose, San Pablo, San Narciso. Louisville, Concepción followed with new buildings or additions to the old, often replacing thatch buildings.

 

As we became more aware of the growing needs for future leadership. we were led to form the Presbyterian Day School.in Cristo Rey in 1976, now celebrating its 27th anniversary of the faithfulness of God to supply teachers and funds. Today, all teachers are from our Presbyterian churches, all Mayan, with the exception of the principal Miss Dorothy Meyer.. with us for 22 years.

 

As the congregation grew, Tom began to teach worthy men for leadership as elders and deacons... .as soon as a congregation was organized it was commissioned to become a missionary church and given the responsibility to adopt a nearby village as its mission. This encouraged the church to follow its predecessor Manuel Beltran. These missions places like Concepción, Chan Chen, Louisville, Xiabe, San Victor, San Narciso.

Training Sessions led by Tom, and invited church leaders from our supporting churches, for the growing needs of leadership in this growing church... . were held in November, after the sugarcane harvest each year...

 

While English is the official language used in the schools and in business, the language used in the churches has been Spanish, replacing the ancient Mayan spoken in the first congregations. The hymnbooks used were those used by the Presbyterian churches in Mexico, many hymns translated from the English making them familiar in tune if not in words. The little pump organ given by the home church in Kosciusko, MS was a novelty that has enabled the church to learn many of the hymns and to sing on tune. Mayans love to sing and soon choirs were formed and the joy of singing in the all church gatherings at Good Friday celebrations was an encouragement to other congregations..

 

The Maturing Church

 

After being linked with the Presbyterian Church of Mexico and under its jurisdiction, since the sending of itinerant evangelist, Manuel Beltran to the then British Honduras, the developing church saw the need for its own life and witness in Belize. Ties with the Mexican Church and with the Church of Scotland (now only on paper) were severed and steps were taken to organize a national church in Belize built on the charter of the grant given to the Church of Scotland in 1850, and using the standards of the Presbyterian Church in America PCA ( translated into Spanish). Thus ground was laid for the organization of the Presbyterian Church in Belize,in June 7, 1987.

The organizing pastors were, Rev. Bob Watts St. Andrews, Moises Chan and Rafael Ku, 2 of our own graduates of Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Rev. Roldan Rios and Rev. Thomas Lacey .Soon afterwards Rafael Ku and Moises Chan were ordained in the Presbyterian Church of Belize.

The new denomination consisted of 3 organized churches, with its many missions. . . together more than 10 places where the Gospel was preached every Sunday. This January 2003, El Divino Redentor with Rev. Bill Day in San Narciso become the 6th organized church in the Presbyterian Church in Belize. Other organized churches are: New Life in Orange Walk with Rev. Roldan Rios, Ebenezer in San Jose, St. Andrews, in Belize City, with Rev. Moises Chan, Bethel in Cristo Rey, with supply pastor, Rev. Nilo Rios, Trinity in Patchakan. Ebenezer and Trinity churches are without pastors.

 

Plus mission churches in Chan Chen, Xiabe, Corozal Town; Spanish speaking with Rev.Arturo Mendez, Louisville, San Victor, Concepción, San Pablo, Guinea Grass and Santa Elena in the Cayo Dist. with Rev. Rafael Ku.

 

Today you see a Church maturing in its ministries, the missions however are in urgent need of pastors so they too may develop and grow into organized churches. At present Presbytery has 10 candidates... young men from our churches that God is raising up to take leadership. . . many are already enrolled in study programs from Covenant Seminary, or the Miami International Seminary... meeting in 4 groups within the country. Pray that this program will be successful in filling the needs of the Presbytery in its expanding program.

Mission to the World of the PCA has been supporting the Presbytery in these areas, and has recently reached an all embracing relationship with the Presbyterian Church in Belize. We praise God for this outstretched arm to the Presbytery.

 

The Developing Ministries of the Presbyterian Church in Belize. The Medical Ministry

 

St. Matthew 9:35 tells us that Jesus went about into all the villages, teaching and preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing the sick..

This three-pronged ministry became a goal towards which we set our plans. The preaching of the Gospel, the teaching in the Christian Schools, and the healing ministry through the work of the Clinic.

Though not medically trained, a good knowledge of First Aid stood us in good stead and so the healing ministry began on our porch early on, as Tom would suture machete wounds, give injections (only with prescriptions), dispense vitamins, and other medications. . . and serve as ambulance many times... often at night at some distance to a hospital.

In 1990 the overtaxed Belize Health Ministry granted us permission to build a Clinic on land we had purchased in Patchakan. The construction began in 1990 and on January 17,1992 the Presbyterian Medical Clinic was opened with much praise and thanksgiving to the Lord for all the provisions and help given to open this facility.

Soon after the Clinic was on its way, Rev. Tom Lacey was diagnosed with a brain tumor which eventually took his life in November 1994. After Tom's death, the clinic was closed as no suitable person was found to administer this growing work.

Mission to the World of the PCA, was asked to assume the leadership of this clinic and since 1997, has sent nurses and doctors... today Dr. Wiley Smith is the resident doctor with a staff of nurses from MTW serving the Lord Jesus in caring for the sick. At present we have another doctor to help with the growing outreach of the clinic... though soon leaving. Pray with us for the filling of several positions now opening in the Clinic.

An elder from the Patchakan church has been designated as the chaplain at the clinic, opening every morning with a devotional time and prayer for the waiting patients. Christian films are also shown on the TV in the waiting room area. This year the Clinic has seen 7000 patients, not counting the many seen in the mobile clinics taken to remote villages when staff is available. Many visiting specialist have offered services to the sick, some operating in nearby hospitals, all done in the name of our Great Physician. The dental facilities, given by a donor, are made available to the area schools for the Government dental health program when not busy with regular patients. Dentists are always needed, as dental care is not easily available. The Clinic has been a blessing to many and a witness to that Great Physician our Lord Jesus is given to each patient as many ask for prayer for their needs

 

The School Ministry

 

Another ministry of the church has been the Presbyterian Day Schools to meet the growing needs for future leadership within the denomination.

 

The Presbyterian Day School in Cristo Rey has provided quality Christian education for the past 27 years. More recently built Presbyterian Schools in Conception built with MTW help and New Life Presbyterian School in Orange Walk together have brought the number of students in Presbyterian Schools close to 400. All teachers, most of which are of Mayan descent, are members of local Presbyterian churches, More schools are envisioned as the parents seek Godly instruction for their covenant children. How gratifying it is to see former students now teaching in the schools... .

 

Our next project is to build a High School.. connected with a Bible Institute

to continue the Godly education that is so needed today.            .

Land has been acquired, meetings to formulate policies and procedures have met and formalized the basic concepts, a provisional Board has been functioning for some time as -plans are being made for the building of this High School. Area High Schools are full, as the Government provides this education for the post primary school students. The Presbyterian High School is now waiting for the go ahead from the Ministry of Education to begin the process of selecting teachers and staff

MTW has already rallied teams to work on this project during this summer. What a magnificent project to participate in as we build future leadership for the Presbyterian Church. The Bible Institute as the Theological training part is to further the preparation of pastors for the churches.

Much is to be done, how can you help us as we envision this great opportunity in the developing of the Presbyterian Church ministry in Belize We are confident that the Lord will prosper this venture as more and more the development of the Church will be in the hands of the Belizean pastors. There will be a need for qualified teachers in music and choral work as we seek to develop this as' a specialty, volunteer teachers is most areas of study, to fill in the slack until our own are able to take over their responsibilities for the School. Salaries and funding for operating expenses will be needed, All helping to build God's kingdom here among the Mayans in Belize.