CityRise Stories: Partners in Belize

In Belize during the fall of 2018, Pedro Chan would often lie down on the floor and cry out to God about Ebenezer Church, the congregation he was leading as a first-time pastor.

“What am I going to do with the church?”

“What did I get myself into?”

“I don’t know what to do. I need help. We don’t have anything here. We’re trying to encourage the families to serve, to give. I just need help!”

A few days later, on a scouting trip meant to look for a new missionary partner for our student ministry in Belize, former Missions Pastor Chuck Oak and Student Pastor Tim Yeager pulled up in front of Ebenezer Church located in the small village of Chan Pine Ridge in the Orange Walk district. Taking in the well-manicured lawn and the humble but well taken care of church building, Chuck knew he had found a church that would take any help we could offer and multiply it ten-fold. “This is it. This is the place,” he remarked. Chuck and Tim got out of the car and met Pastor Pedro for the first time.

Since then, CityRise Church has seen an incredible relationship blossom with the people of Chan Pine Ridge, beginning with our first student mission trip in the summer of 2019. Joining together with the leadership of Ebenezer Church, our students provided an incredible VBS experience, reaching 114 kids in a community boasting a population of only 300 people.

With a repeat trip planned for students the following summer, a young adults mission on the schedule for the fall, and several smaller trips planned in the interim, 2020 was looking to be an incredible year for the growing relationship between us and Pedro’s flock in Belize.

In March 2020, as the reality of the pandemic began to impact our plans for missions, we saw trips scratched off the calendar one by one. Facing quarantines and limits on church gatherings of their own, the people of Ebenezer Church had little time to mourn the lost opportunities of hosting American mission groups. With strict regulations on worshiping together, Pedro found himself unprepared for such limitations.

“We were looking forward to your visit and everything that was planned for the entire year. We were very excited. COVID just happened so quick for us. We weren’t ready. We didn’t have equipment to go online.”

Through Facebook friendships with many people in our church family, Pedro knew about the online services we were creating each week in place of our physical gatherings. Since English is the official language of Belize, the people of Chan Pine Ridge could tune into our weekly Online Experience and enjoy a time of worship and an encouraging message from Senior Pastor Roger Patterson.

“We’re thankful to [CityRise Church] and especially what you were doing there—preparing the church for online services. So, when I got in contact with . . . Pastor Chuck and Pastor Roger and we asked if we could join in your online church, that was a huge blessing for us because that allowed us to start planning and seeing what to do.”

With an eagerness to love and lead people, Pedro was not content to sit back and watch our American services for the duration of the pandemic. While his people enjoyed weekly worship online with CityRise Church, Pedro worked and planned a ministry strategy of his own, utilizing door-to-door meetings for prayer and to share resources, and working to create Ebenezer’s own online services.

“All the time we were watching, we were being encouraged . . . Then we were able to acquire some stuff that Pastor Chuck sent for us. A power amplifier to power up the system. We got the selfie stand and a ring light for the stage. We started our own production, and now we have our own channel on YouTube as a church. So, our members subscribe, and every week now we’re able to do that with them.”

“It honestly has been a huge blessing, the partnership that we have with you guys.”
To complement the online strategy, and to circumvent the strict gathering policies set in place by the government of Belize, during the pandemic Pedro went to each of his members’ homes, meeting with them, and seeing to their needs.

“For Sunday school I prepare material—I have a document and spread information through that. Scripture, questions and answers, activities they can do with their families . . . I get into my little car and go to their house and I greet them, see them. If they need prayer or encouragement . . . I am able to do that with them. And I leave the paper and go to the next house. So, on a weekly basis I am still in touch with them.”

As the world emerged from the pandemic, our mission trips resumed, and our students have loved going back each summer to continue to build relationships with the children of Chan Pine Ridge as they grow in the faith. Looking back on how God has provided over the past few years, especially during the pandemic, Pedro and his church’s experience can be summed up by the name of their congregation.

“The name of our church is Ebenezer Church. It’s short and sweet. It means when Samuel was looking back at how far God had brought them . . . God has been with us so far.”
Looking back, Pedro sees how God has been with him and his people, and we are honored to walk with them. We celebrate God’s provision, thank Him for our church family 1,500 miles away, and look back on all He has done with this special partner in Kingdom ministry.