For Honduran Bishop, Relationships Drive Thanksgiving Offering, More

The Rt. Rev. Lloyd Allen, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Honduras, has a passion for relationships that advance the gospel. His connections with his fellow bishops, with the clergy he mentors across his homeland and in his diocese’s Companion Diocese relationship with the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida display this in powerful ways.

“As long as we can come together as brothers and sisters in Christ and make a difference in God’s kingdom, I’m here to do that,” he said, referring to Central Florida’s annual Thanksgiving Offering, which goes each year to fund a special project he designates within his diocese.

Allen plans to use funds from this year’s offering to support the construction of a church building for the parish in San Antonio de Masaguara, where the Very Rev. Canon Connie Sanchez serves as dean.  Funds from last year’s offering went to support the building’s foundation.

The church community in San Antonio saved for more than 10 years to have the opportunity to purchase the land for this building, Allen said, adding that “Now, little by little, we are building the church. It’s a common effort that we are putting together.”

“We cannot move toward the ‘mission’ year of our ‘gospel, churches, mission’ cycle without considering our Companion Diocese relationship,” the Rt. Rev. Dr. Justin S. Holcomb said. “As we take time to celebrate God’s goodness, let us remember our beloved brothers and sisters in Honduras and their work to advance the gospel. I encourage each church and individual in our diocese to give generously to this cause.”

Partnerships for the Gospel

Churches and Mission Teams

That common effort is one of several birthed from the longtime Companion Diocese relationship between Honduras and Central Florida, including short-term mission trips from Central Florida churches to Honduras and church-to-church partnerships. This year, the Cathedral Church of St. Luke, Orlando; St. Peter’s, Lake Mary; St. Barnabas, DeLand, and Holy Trinity, Melbourne, have all sent groups to Allen’s diocese, with some members of other churches included. Recently, the Most Rev. Amilcar Caballero, dean of Catedral El Buen Pastor in San Pedro Sul, traveled to Orlando in September to preach and meet with church members at the Cathedral, laying the groundwork for future short-term mission trips to his country.

As is the case with the two cathedrals, Allen hopes to foster more companion church relationships between the two dioceses. He recently helped renew a forgotten relationship between St. Mary of the Angels, Orlando, and its namesake, Santa Maria de los Angeles, Tegucigalpa. “I brought the priests together, and then I just stepped aside to let them get started,” he said. “That’s what I typically do in these situations – just let God do his work.”

Jesus Film

The Cathedral’s mission trip in May also brought Allen a surprising new gospel connection through Mrs. Heather Palumbo, a member of St. Mary of the Angels who served on that trip. Palumbo works in development for Jesus Film Project and was able to connect Allen with leaders from that ministry. In fact, Allen said, “I’m hoping to invite them to come and do a workshop for our clergy next spring. I try to get further information on anything the diocese is doing in terms of evangelism.”

StoryMakers

Allen also points to his diocese’s growing relationship with StoryMakers, which began when he met representatives of the creative studio, which designs resources to teach the Bible to children and youth, at the Diocese of Central Florida’s 2024 Diocesan Convention. StoryMakers now offers its resources in Spanish as well as English.

“Central Florida has committed to partnering with the Diocese of Honduras and with StoryMakers to make those programs available to us, both for our schools and for the Christian education programs in our churches,” Allen said. “I’ve also spoken to my other colleagues in Province IX [Colombia, Dominican Republic, Central Ecuador, Litoral Ecuador, Honduras, Puerto Rico and Venezuela], and one of the dioceses is now involved with StoryMakers. StoryMakers also has a training program in Spanish to train Sunday school teachers, so all of this is coming together perfectly.”

“StoryMakers is honored to come alongside Bishop Lloyd Allen and the Diocese of Honduras, equipping churches with gospel-centered, imaginative resources to help children know that God is with them, for them, and redeeming their stories,” said Executive Director Melina Luna Smith of StoryMakers. “We’re deeply grateful to the Diocese of Central Florida for its generous support in making this connection possible.”

Institute for Christian Studies

Yet another facet of the Central Florida-Honduras relationship is the sharing of the Institute for Christian Studies, Central Florida’s vehicle for leadership training and Christian education. Through its partnership with Thirdmill, ICS now offers its range of online courses in both Spanish and English. “I think I have about 22 of our deacons registered with the Central Florida program for the study of the holy scriptures,” Allen said. “I meet with them once a month to address and continue the curriculum that they’ve studied.”

Vision for the Future

Although Allen is directing any funds collected in this year’s Thanksgiving Offering toward the continuing construction of the church building in San Antonio de Masaguara, he has a large, bright-yellow vision for the future that would also require funds from outside his diocese.

“This doesn’t have to happen overnight, but because we have all these relationships and all these short-term mission teams coming in, I’m also looking for long-term support to be able to buy one or two of those yellow school buses back in the U.S. and ship them to Honduras,” he said. “Such a bus would be useful for the short-term missions, but it would also be very helpful to get diocesan teams from Point A to Point B and across and throughout the diocese. We have our commissions; we have clergy retreats, and since the Diocese of Honduras encompasses the entire country, our clergy sometimes have to travel eight hours to get to our conference center. Having this kind of transportation would facilitate that and keep the clergy from having to pay the entire travel cost.”

“So that’s one of my other goals,” he said. “It’s a lot more costly than some of the others, but I would like to see it begin to take some shape. I pray a lot about these programs and projects before I share them with others. I ask the Lord to guide me in the right way, to give me the right vision for these programs, and then I begin to speak about them, hoping my words will fall on fertile soil.”

Gratitude

Despite his recognition of the continuing needs in his diocese, “I couldn’t ask for more,” Allen said as he anticipates the blessings of the Thanksgiving Offering and the continuation of the Companion Diocese relationship with Central Florida. “I think we have been blessed with so many things in terms of supporting this partnership between Honduras and Central Florida; it has taken on another dimension.

“Fortunately, I’ve been with three bishops in Central Florida now,” he continued. “I started off with Bishop Howe, who opened the diocese, allowing me to come in. Bishop Brewer just sparked that relationship more, and Bishop Holcomb is taking it to another level. We have been blessed with each other’s partnership, and I hope that whenever I turn over the baton to someone else, that relationship will continue.”

Annual Honduras Thanksgiving Offering Donation Options

You may give online through our website with the following steps:

• Go to the main menu at CFDiocese.org (top right) and select “Donate.”
• Click the “Select a fund” dropdown menu.
• Select “Thanksgiving Offering.”
• Fill in the amount and your email address.
• Then click the “Continue” button and follow the prompts.

Checks payable to the Diocese of Central Florida with “2025 Thanksgiving Offering” in the memo may be mailed to the diocesan office at the following address:

Diocese of Central Florida
1017 E. Robinson St.
Orlando, FL 32801