by Pastor Jim
Teaching at a Belize Pastor’s Conference
56 pastors and men from all over Belize gathered together on April 5-6, 2019 for the first Pastor’s Conference hosted by Word of Life Belize. They came from Corozal, Orange Walk, San Ignacio, Spanish Lookout, Saint Margaret, Belize City and Belmopan. These men serve in their churches as faithfully as they know how and also work at regular jobs because the churches are not able to support a full time pastor. Some work in the sugar cane industry, some are mechanics, some worked at a half-way house for men, at least one works at the US Embassy, others on farms and schools.
Pastor Jim speaking to the pastors at the conference.
Belize is officially and English speaking country and all the schools must teach in English. In fact, they may not teach in any other language even though there are many Spanish speaking people and also many who grew up speaking English based Creole. All the teaching at the Pastor’s Conference was in English and they responded well to the Bible lessons and leadership training. Discussion in class was in English but when we had them break into small groups for discussion some of the groups were using Spanish and other groups were speaking Creole while others remained with English. It was fascinating to listen to all the groups respond to each other in various languages. The men really engaged with the questions put before them and each time they had to be finally shut down so we could continue with other teaching and instruction. They were hungry to hear the Word of God and then apply the principles of serving as a pastor in their local congregations. The discussions centered on how they could apply what they had been learning.
Our desire in holding this conference was to help the pastors as they serve their churches and to encourage them to continue to grow in their own walk with Christ. I preached about being a pastor from I Peter 5 and then what the church’s role is to be from I Peter 2. Our course I used many other Scriptures in the messages and discussion. We also talked about leadership and I used some of the material we have used here at Fellowship Community Church in our Leadership Training which focuses on Heart, Head and Hand.
I enjoyed getting to know these men and hearing about where they serve and what their churches are like. Several of them told me their stories of how they came to Christ and His working in their life. Some of them had grown up in Christian homes and had that great blessing as they searched for how God was going to use them for His kingdom. Others came from incredibly hard and even violent backgrounds and it was through the faithful ministry of other men that they came to know Jesus as their Savior and Lord. I was reminded again of the incredible grace of God at work in all of our lives and my prayer is that the Gospel of Christ will continue to be proclaimed by these men and their churches.