Right: The Bethel church in Belize

Investigating Belize

Kyle McQuillen
Director of Missions
May 1999

In the 1940s, the United Brethren church assumed oversight of three independent churches in northern Honduras. That is how we ended up in Central America. Long before we arrived, those churches began as an outreach of churches in the country of Belize, which was then known as British Honduras.

Today, we are looking at the possibility of completing an interesting circle. Honduras Conference wants to start an outreach in Belize, where an independent congregation is considering affiliating with us.

In April, several persons made an exploratory trip to Belize. Those persons included myself, as Director of Missions; Missions Commission member Robert Eberly of Greencastle, Pa.; and Honduras Superintendent Francisco Raudales and his wife, Maira.

Helen Villanueva and Floyd Wright

The main contact in Belize is Helen Villanueva, an ordained United Brethren minister who pastored many years in Honduras. She is the adoptive mother of two well-known persons in Honduras Conference--Pastor Benulda Saenz, and Maira Raudales. Helen lives in Belize City, as do many family members. A son manages FMLove, the country's largest commercial radio station, and thanks to her role as former president of the Belize Bible Society (a job now held by a daughter), she has a wealth of contacts in religious, business, and governmental circles.

Helen Villanueva is a remarkable woman with a fascinating background.Floyd Wright and Helen Villanueva

In 1927 Helen's father, an up-and-coming English Methodist minister named James Elliott, was sent to pastor several English-speaking churches in northern Honduras. A few years later, when the English Methodists abandoned their work in Honduras, Elliott's pastor's heart compelled him to stay in La Ceiba with those congregations.

In the 1940s, Elliott developed connections with the United Brethren church in North America, and his three independent churches affiliated with us. We began sending missionaries to serve in Elliott's school. In the 1950s, those congregations (against Elliott's will) withdrew from us. But by then, we had begun a strong work among the Spanish-speaking people.

	Left: A classroom inside the Bethel Assembly church Above: the school principal.

Helen was trained as a nurse, and at one point was even approached by former Missions Director George Fleming about serving at our hospital in Sierra Leone. For several years, Helen worked in remote medical missions clinics in Belize among Mayan Indians. Then she felt God calling her to return to Honduras to help her father. She eventually became pastor of the Puerto Cortes congregation, the only one of the original English Methodist churches which stayed with us. She led them in the transition from an English-speaking church to a Spanish-speaking church, and became a prominent, highly respected minister in Honduras Conference. She was also ordained as a UB minister by Bishop Raymond Waldfogel.

Helen took in a lot of children, adopting some and raising many. One is Maira Raudales, manager of the Bethel Bookstore and wife of the current Honduran superintendent, Francisco Raudales. Another is Benulda Saenz, an ordained UB minister and former district superintendent from San Pedro Sula. Together, Helen and Benulda started the first church in San Pedro Sula, the country's second-largest city. Today, there is a whole district of churches in that city.

In the early 1970s, Helen went to work with the Honduras Bible Society, and later was asked to move to Belize to start a national Bible society there. In those capacities, she traveled throughout Central America, the Caribbean, and occasionally Florida, speaking at Bible conferences and women's conferences.

Floyd Wright, a native of Belize, is a good friend of Helen Villanueva. For the past 30 years or so, he has pastored the independent Bethel Assembly, which years ago was associated with the Assemblies of God. The church runs a Christian elementary school of about 150 students. We talked with him about a future affiliation with the United Brethren church.

The sanctuary of Bethel Assembly church.

We have a good possibility of starting a United Brethren work in either English or Spanish, or both. A lot of North American mission groups minister to the English-speaking people, but a lot of Spanish-speaking people haven't had mission work targeted at them. So our presence, should we go there, would be two-fold: to the English speaking church, but also an outreach to the Spanish.

Which is how our work started in Honduras--English-speaking churches and a school, followed by outreach to the Spanish people.

But it need not stop there.

Belize, interestingly, has a large population of Chinese people going back many generations. Eventually, because of our work in China and among Chinese people in North America, we may find opportunities to work with the many Chinese people of Belize.

Right now, everything is at the exploratory stage. If we go into Belize, it will be primarily an outreach of Honduras Conference, with help from the Missions Commission.

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Facts About Belize

Used to be called British Honduras.
230,000 people
Main language: English.
Second-smallest country, geographically, on the mainland of the Americas (behind El Salvador)
The last British colony in the Americas; became independent in 1981.
60% of the population is Catholic, with Anglicans and Methodists next in line.
Belmopan, a new capital built in the 1960s, has a population of 6,500.
A large Oriental population goes back many generations.
Interestingly, Belize has a large Amish community.