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IGRC's Honduras Initiative: An invitation to serve...and learn

By Greg Gelzennis
The United Methodist Church has had a significant presence in Honduras following the devastation of Hurricane Mitch in 1998.  Just imagine what would happen in your city, let alone a majority world country such as Honduras, if a hurricane came right over your community and stayed for a week.  That is what happened to Honduras and there are still signs of Mitch to this day.
 
But the Honduran people are very hardworking and resilient and today, after 16 years of “relief” as we traditionally know it, the Honduran Mission is in place and overseeing the growth of 18 United Methodist church plants throughout the country...many in the true spirit of Wesley's Movement.  At the 2012 Annual Conference, the IGRC selected Honduras as the Conference's second initiative and we now have the opportunity to serve with and learn from our brothers and sisters in Honduras.
 
2013 was a busy year for IGRC churches and VIM Teams from the Conference, but there is plenty of room for many more of you to get to experience this exciting Movement first hand:

• Fairview Heights Christ UMC has been working with one of the Mission's first “urban plants” in San Pedro Sula (the second largest city in Honduras);
• Alton Main Street UMC split time with the Mission Headquarters Project in Tegucigalpa and their In Mission Together Partnership Church in El Paraiso (a rural church near the Nicaragua Border) doing construction and Vacation Bible School;
• Sullivan First UMC has continued their work in the northern community of La Ceibita in the areas of medical missions, VBS, women's outreach, sewing and construction;
• Bloomington Wesley UMC actually had two teams – one spending time in Tegucigalpa (the capital city) providing medical services and the other providing construction on the Mission HQ site;
• Our second Conference Team worked this past year providing construction assistance on the Mission HQ site in Tegucigalpa and providing VBS for the children in the surrounding community.  I also know that there were individual members from other IGRC churches that joined the aforementioned teams and provided wonderful assistance and support (increasing our IGRC reach in Honduras) and for that I am very grateful.