belize, 1980 - Prolades.com

This controversy not only created a division in the Baptist work in Belize, but also forced
Henderson to resign from the Baptist Missionary Society in July 1845 (which was accepted by the
Society in February 1846), and led to the subsequent departure of Buttfield in 1847 and Kingdon in
1850, the selling of the Society’s property, and the withdrawal of the Society from Belize in 1850.
Henderson, however, with the support of most of his former members, established an independent
Baptist mission. After the departure of Buttfield and Kingdon, Henderson emerged as the
uncontested leader of the Baptist movement and as General Superintendent of the Independent
Belize Baptist Mission, now known as the Baptist Association of Belize. During 1847
Henderson began receiving additional financial and logistical support from the Strict Baptist
Convention in England as a result of his promotional work there with Crowe during most of that
year.
Historical note: Crowe left Belize for England in April 1847 with Alexander Henderson who returned later that
same year after defending himself before the board of directors of the Baptist Missionary Society and visiting
his supporters, but Crowe remained in England to do deputation work for the now independent Belize Baptist
Mission. Crowe’s previous experiences were recorded in The Gospel in Central America, written by Crowe
and published in London in 1850. Sometime thereafter, Crowe returned to Belize and continued to work as a
colporteur with the British and Foreign Bible Society, but he had a falling out with Henderson and was working
independently of him in 1855. Crowe managed to accumulate a large supply of Bibles and New Testaments in
English and Spanish, as well as a modest variety of Christian literature in many European languages, which he
distributed among the multiethnic population of Belize, the Bay Islands, and the northern coast of the Republic
of Honduras during 1855-1856. In early 1856 Crowe began a difficult journey from the Caribbean coast to the
Pacific coast of Honduras that lasted about 15 months. In July 1857, Crowe wrote a letter to the American
Bible Society while in the port of La Unión, El Salvador, and asked for ABS support for establishing a
distribution center on the Pacific coast of Central America. He also requested that the ABS send him
immediately a supply of the Scriptures in Spanish, which he desired to sell at the annual fair held in San
Miguel, El Salvador, later that year. However, we have not found any further mention of Crowe in the historical
records available to us. (Source: Escobar 2000:247-281)
In 1850, Baptist work in British Honduras included two organized churches, at Belize City
and Crooked Tree, seven preaching stations, three-day schools, five Sunday schools, and a total of
about 230 baptized church members (the Belize City church had 191 members). The work in Belize
City was strengthened in 1850 with the construction of the Queen Street Baptist Church, which
was pastored by Henderson from 1850-1879. This church building was the pride of Baptists in
Belize until its destruction in the hurricane of 1931. In 1852, Henderson and his friends reactivated
the old Honduran Auxiliary of the Bible Society to promote the distribution of the Scriptures in
Belize and Guatemala through the use of colporteurs; an attempt was also made to translate parts
of the Bible into Maya for the refugees from Yucatan. The Independent Belize Baptist Mission also
supported Belizean missionary outreach in the Bay Islands of Honduras, through the ministry of Mr.
and Mrs. John Warner who arrived on the island of Ruatán in May 1849.
Henderson continued to provide strong leadership for the Independent Belize Baptist
Mission until the late 1870s. After the death of his wife in 1849, following 16 years of service in
Belize, Henderson devoted himself to visiting the mission stations and training new leadership.
However, Henderson soon remarried and raised four children in Belize City. Many of his later years
were spent preaching and teaching at the Queen Street Baptist Church and Day School. His long
ministry came to an end in 1879, when failing health forced him to retire.
Following Henderson's retirement, lay preachers Isaiah Braddick and Joseph Kelly
provided leadership for the Baptist Mission until the arrival of the Rev. David Waring from England
in 1881. Waring found the work in a general state of decline, but his energy and diligence soon
inspired others to greater dedication and zeal.
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