by Robert Cleghorn

Preface 

The great missionary apostle of the early Christian Church, in one of his letters, reminds us that we have “gifts differing.” I am so fully conscious that my gift is not the writing of books that I would have much preferred that someone more gifted in such matters; undertake the task of writing this “Short History of Baptist Missionary Work I British Honduras.” My sole reason for this attempt is because of several earnest requests made by different friends of the Mission, who, like myself, feel that it might be good to have such a history for the purposes of record, but more particularly for the information of the younger people of the Baptist Denomination. These would other wise have no means of knowing the story of their own Church, and its many struggles in the days long gone by. As far back as the year 1850 a book entitled The Gospel in Central America was written by the Rev. Fredrik Crowe, messenger of he Belize Baptist Church, and it appears that at the time it had a fairly wide circulation. Mr. Crowe‟s book contained, among other interested things, an account of Baptist Missionary work in British Honduras from the year 1822, when the Mission was founded, to 1850, when his book was published. Mr. Crowe‟s Gospel in Central America has long since become well-nigh extinct, and, to the best of our knowledge, few, if any, of the present generation possess a copy. With reference to this short history, I desire to acknowledge my indebtedness for information regarding the first sixty-seven years, both to Mr. Crowe‟s book and to records left by some of my predecessors – chiefly the Rev. Alexander Henderson. For the history between the years 1889 and 1939, I have had to rely largely on my own personal knowledge and experience, having, during those fifty years, been associated with the Belize Baptist Church as one of its ministers. If, by any oversight, I have failed to mention any important event of the past, or any person or persons that should have had any honourable mention, will my kind readers remember that the omission has not been deliberate, for when one has to rely on his own memory, such errors are likely to happen?
May I also cherish to hope that this booklet, written in my fiftieth year of my ministry in British Honduras, will serve as a memento of our late Jubilee celebration, and continue to be looked upon as a token of the very happy and cordial relations that have for so long a time existed between the people of this country and myself?

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Key words: Baptist church, social history, religion in Belize, missionaries

Suggested APA Reference: Cleghorn, R., (1939). A short history of Baptist Missionary work in British Honduras 1822-1939. London:
The Kingsgate Press.