Faith, Resilience, and Hidden Treasures at Wesley Methodist

Built in 1951, Wesley Methodist Church on Albert Street in Belize City stands as a living monument to resilience and faith. Step inside, and you’ll find more than pews and stained glass. Behind one of its stone walls lies a hidden time capsule, and beneath the pulpit rests the remains of the church’s designer, a reminder of the history woven into every corner. Methodism first took root in Belize back in the early 1700s, and this is actually the third church built on this very spot. The first was lost to fire, the second to a hurricane. But through it all, one message has kept this community together: ‘God is Love.’ Tonight, News Five’s Paul Lopez takes us inside Wesley Methodist Church for a closer look at the stories that make it a true Belizean landmark, in this edition of Belize on Reel.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

We’re taking you inside one of Belize City’s most historic landmarks, Wesley Methodist Church on Albert Street. At first glance, it looks like just another old building, but trust me, it’s full of secrets most people don’t know. For starters, check out the cornerstone outside. Engraved on it is the name of the man who governed Belize back in the day, His Excellency Ronald Garvey. But that’s just the beginning. Hidden behind those stone walls is a time capsule sealed more than seventy years ago. Inside are a glass bottle, currency from the era, and even a copy of a newspaper from that time.

And here’s something even more remarkable, beneath the pulpit lie the remains of the church’s designer, Reverend Dr. Claude Cadogan. Talk about history beneath your feet. Look up at the second level and you’ll see pews that are older than the building itself. They date back to the late 1800s, when a massive red brick church stood here. Back then, it was celebrated as the biggest and most beautiful church in Belize, until a hurricane wiped it out in 1931. Brenda Armstrong, a historian and lifelong member of Wesley, shares why this church is more than just bricks and mortar, it’s a living piece of Belizean history.

 

Brenda Armstrong, Historian

“That bigger building came in 1866 and it was really fantastic. It was a sight to see, the red brick building. Everybody knew it as a landmark, on Albert Street, which was at that time, Main Street or I think it was Front Street and Back Street, and then Albert Street. But across the region, it was a real architectural achievement, a landmark.”

 

The hurricane of 1931 leveled the church and left Belize with immense loss. Two thousand lives were lost to that natural disaster. It made landfall on the tenth of September.

 

Brenda Armstrong

“They came out for the parade not knowing or understanding geography too well. There was an unawareness that the eye of a storm is a calm. So everybody had been out. When the rain started they went into shelter, but when the eye passed they came back out because they thought it was over. As a result, we lost over two thousand persons in that 1931 hurricane.’

 

For the next twenty years, worship moved to temporary locations. The existing structure was commissioned in the late 1940’s and completed in 1951. Retired Reverend Charles David Goff is the son of a Methodist minister.

 

Reverend Charles Goff, Retired Methodist Minister

“When they went to drive the piles, they found that there was an underground spring and water was gushing forth. Try as they may they couldn’t stop the water from flowing and someone had the clever idea, let’s use the water to mix cement. They also built the present gallery with its rail which was constructed offsite and brought. When they installed the railing for the gallery, they found that the railing didn’t actually come together and there was a gap. They were thinking about what to do until someone decided to put a panel in between and the panel caused the rails to be joined neatly.”

 

And even the huge cross that hung high above the interior of the church holds historical value. It was designed and created by the late George Gabb with Methodist theology in mind.

 

Reverend Charles Goff

“Who built that cross in such a way that the actual figure of Jesus is not on the cross but still represented through like a silhouette. That is because in keeping with Methodist theology we believe in what is called the empty cross.”

 

Methodism truly began to take root in Belize after Reverend Thomas Wilkson, the country’s first Methodist missionary, arrived in 1825. His mandate was to advance his work among the enslaved, including those in Belize River Valley and along the southern coastline.

 

Brenda Armstrong

“If you look at the photographs and population of the congregation it was a sea of black faces, sea of black and it is almost eerie, because the people who came were gathered from the communities around this spot and just down the street, which is our center is Ebo Town and that is where our people came from.”

 

And the message that drew the enslaved and brings members together even today, is a simple one, God is Love.

 

Reverend Charles Goff

“To acknowledge and accept and appreciate that God is love helps us to recognize that we too who have experienced God’s love, must share God’s love and that is what the mission of the church is all about.”

 

Today, Wesley Methodist Church is more than a historic landmark. It is a testament to perseverance and unity, a reminder to generations that love and faith can withstand even the fiercest disasters. Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.