Friends United Meeting is embarking on an expansion of its work in Belize. Learn more in this overview.

1. FUM’s expanding
ministry in Belize

2. Belize is a
small
English-
speaking
country in
Central
America/
Caribbean

3. The
population
is diverse:
Mayan,
English,
Mexican,
and
Garifuna

4. Friends
started
work in
Belize at
the
invitation
of Sadie
Vernon

5. Belize Friends School has been
“Bridging the Gap Between Poverty
and Possibilities” for 21 years

6. Originally a boys-only program,
there are now girls as well as boys
enrolled.

7. Friends School provides a “second-
chance” for students who have
failed in traditional schools

8. Our
school
has a
reputation
for taking
the
hardest
kids, and
turning
their lives
around

9. The school is successful. But we
feel God is calling us to do more.

10. The Belize Discernment & Planning Task
Force worked for a year, seeking God’s will for
the expansion of FUM’s Belize ministries.

11. The
Southside
of Belize
City is
riddled
with
poverty,
gang-
related
crime,
drugs and
weapons
Belize Friends
School
Image credit: amandala.com.bz/news/the-bleeding-heart-of-the-southside/

12. “Ninety-nine
percent of
Belizean
youth have
been
exposed to
violence”

13. Generational poverty fuels cycles of
violence

14. Poor educational attainment keeps
people in poverty

15. Only 45.5% of the population
aged 13-16 are in school.
40% of the labor force has
only a primary-level
education.

16. Irrelevant churches are disconnected
from the people’s condition

17. “Why the church love tek so
much? When you go to church
they go gimme, gimme, gimme!
You don’t hear them saying we
would like to help this or that
youth. Don’t the youth dem need
help?”
“we want the church to be more
involved in our everyday lives,
even in our recreation. It must not
only be about our souls.”

18. In this neighborhood, among
these people God loves, what is
our call as Friends?

19. The FUM
General
Board has
approved
a 4-point
plan

20. 1. gather a worshiping body of
Friends in Belize
2. grow the Belize Friends School
3. facilitate the Southside
community’s transformation from a
place of hopelessness and
violence to a place of hope and
peace
4. identify and develop suitable
facilities to house these programs

21. 1.
Church
planting

22. We are called to gather people into
fellowships where Jesus Christ is
known, loved and obeyed as Teacher
and Lord.

23. A small worship group has
already begun meeting

24. The community yearns for a
relevant spirituality

25. Church planting means making a
credible witness to the Gospel in word
and deed, through “incarnational and
relational evangelism”.

26. 2.
Grow
the
school

27. We are called to expand our
educational ministries

28. The values-based curriculum is much
more than remedial academics. It is
whole-life redemption.

29. One-on-one Christ-centered
instruction speaks to the heart of
each student

30. The government believes that “Friends
School can do it” when a child has been
rejected (academically and behaviorally)
by all other schools

31. We’ve just formed a new sports
league with other alternative schools

32. USFWI sponsors a healthy mid-
morning snack

33. Educational field trips help kids
engage in learning

34. An adult education program has
just begun

35. We’re called to expand, to serve
more youth and adults

36. 3.
Community
ministries

37. We are called facilitate
community transformation.

38. Our
students
need help
developing
healthy
inter-
personal
skills

39. The nascent Alternatives to Violence
Project in Belize needs
encouragement to grow.

40. This
beautiful
place can
become a
beacon of
hope and
peace

41. 4.
A new
space

42. Our
building is
so small,
we can’t
do much
more than
what we’re
currently
doing.

43. We lack
outdoor
space, so
a lot of
school
activities
happen
in the
street

44. We’re clear
about our
call to this
particular
neighbor-
hood.
Should we
rehab?

45. Should we buy land and build?

46. We’ve begun the search for a
church planting pastor

47. Pray for the future of Friends
witness in Belize.

48. Thank you for
your support
for Belize
Friends
Ministries!
101 Quaker Hill Drive
Richmond IN 47374
765 962 7573
info@fum.org
fum.org