• A Little History
• A Missionary Perspective
• Photos of Honduras

A Little History

Long before Columbus arrived, the Central American Isthmus was a meeting place for indigenous populations from North and South America. As part of the Maya world the great city of Copán, in western Honduras, was a religious and cultural center of that civilization. It is known for its detailed sculptures and architecture. By the time the Europeans arrived the Mayan civilization had waned and the indigenous population they found was a mixture of Maya descendants and other small groups from the area.

On his fourth and last voyage to the Americas in 1502 Christopher Columbus, still looking for a sea passage to the East, landed on an island he dubbed Isla de los Pinos (Island of Pines or Pine Tree Island). It is known today as Guanaja, one of the Honduran Bay Islands. On August 14 of that year he first set foot on the North American mainland at Punta Castilla in Trujillo Bay. Later Spanish explorers called this area Cabo de Honduras (Cape of Deep Waters) for the relatively deep water off the coast. The name of the country has since been simplified to Honduras.

The first Spanish settlement in Honduras was Triunfo de la Cruz, founded in 1524 by Cristóbal de Olid under orders from Hernán Cortés. It is located near the present day port city of Tela. After nearly 300 years of Spanish rule Central America declared its independence from Spain on September 15, 1821. The intention was to form a republic of five Central American States. Unable to remain united, the federation drifted apart to become five independent republics.

Today, Honduras is striving with the problems common to most developing nations: high unemployment, low wages, rising inflation and interest rates. Progress is being made, however. The development of industrial free trade zones and increasing tourism are bringing more jobs. Recent improvements in highways and airports facilitate movement of exports and tourists. The Honduran people, the country's greatest natural resource, are friendly and peace-loving. Even during the darkest times of guerrilla war and revolution in neighboring countries Honduras remained the peaceful heart of Central America.

A Missionary Perspective

In 1896 the first evangelical missionary arrived in Honduras. We can safely say that the number of evangelical Christians in Honduras was virtually 0.0% at that time. When we arrived in Honduras in February of 1976, eighty years later, between 4 and 5% of the 4.3 million Hondurans considered themselves evangelicals. The rest were divided as 2% unaffiliated or other and 93% Roman Catholic. By the estimates of the Catholic church only between 5 and 6% of their members were really active whereas nearly all evangelical members are active in their churches.

In the following twenty-six years the evangelical church has grown to over 15% of the population, according to recent polls. Meanwhile the population has risen to 6 million. So while the population has increased roughly 30%, the evangelical church has increased by over 300%. In other words, the church has been growing at least ten times faster than the population. This is similar to what is happening in a number of Latin American countries, a move of God that some are calling the "Latin American Reformation".

It's not just numbers. The evangelical church in Honduras is maturing in many ways. One key sign is missions. Not receiving but sending. The Amor Viviente churches that we work with have sent Honduran missionaries to establish churches in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua and several cities in the USA including New Orleans, Miami, New York, Houston and Atlanta. There are also people out with youth service organizations, such as YWAM, in Brazil, Peru, Eastern Europe, Thailand and Hong Kong . A number of other Honduran churches are also hearing and responding to God's call to "go into all the world".

Of course, we are not saying that all this has come about because we came here 29 years ago. Rather, we feel privileged to have been called by God to be a part of His work. We are also excited about the future and look forward to serving God and the church in the years ahead.

Honduras is also a beautiful tropical country. Click on any of these pictures to see a high resolution JPEG.

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