Mennonites and Children
Not all Mennonites have big families, in fact some can't even have their own so they adopt children. Read on.
I can say with confidence that 99.9% of the Mennonites living in Belize are anti-abortion. You might find the odd one that will unashamedly be pro-abortion, but I doubt it.
In the more conservative groups, such as Old Order and Old Colony, families are big. It is completely normal to have up to 13 children, if not more. They take the Bible literally in this area and because of that shun birth control. I personally know a man who has 20 children. I have seen a young couple heading to a gathering with little ones crammed in the back of the buggy. Nothing wrong with big families except that sadly, in many cases the woman's health is not taken into consideration and the older children often receive unusually harsh treatment.
Back when the Kleine Gemeindes had just moved to Belize and were much more conservative, they also had large families. As their community became more progressive, the size of the family decreased. Nowadays the average number of children is 5.(Yet the demand for housemaids has gone up.) Birth control is still a hush-hush subject for the KG but there are some who use it. Some of the younger couples from the EMMC see their KG cousins starting a family barely a year after marriage and seem to have set a new style. Spend 5 to 7 years married, and then start a family.
Holdeman Mennonites, Beachy, and Conservative Mennonites, are from a variety of backgrounds. Some of the older couples, although they knew about herbal birth control methods, have chosen to stick to tradition and have big families such as the Maya from southern Belize. Hispanic and Creole families are usually smaller. The younger generation, as is typical throughout the world, have a more cautious approach towards the quantity of children they want. These 3 groups of Mennonites do not forbid the use of birth control but do take a very hard stand against abortion. In fact, according to their doctrine, a baptized member who is found to have carried out an abortion is excommunicated together with whichever other member was party to it, whether husband, parents, or in-laws. Re-entry to church fellowship is not permitted until the guilty member's spiritual situation has been settled.
Now let's look at the liberal Mennonites. EMMC and other non-conservative churches like the ones in Spanish Lookout and Belmopan might soon be pro-abortion. I say might not because I'm negative or am prejudiced, but because their Biblical views sometimes seem to be based more on their North American counterparts than on the Bible itself. For example, when North American liberal Mennonites began accepting female pastors and leaders, they began doing the same. Anyways, with that aside, couples from this church rarely have more than 5 children. I mentioned before that some go almost a decade before having any children at all. Interestingly, these couples are usually the more affluent ones.
The KG Mennonites are the most known for adoption. Strange that interracial marriage is discouraged (in another article I will explain more on this) yet adopting Hispanic, Maya or black babies is acceptable. I'm certainly glad that orphaned children can have the opportunity to grow up in a Christian environment, yet it is rare that those children will still remain a KG after becoming an adult. Usually they end up in the non-conservative churches or completely leave their Mennonite background.
Other Mennonites who have left their home churches, like ex-members of the KG and Old Order living in Agua Viva, for example, have a similar view as the Holdemans and Conservative Mennonites.
I can say with confidence that 99.9% of the Mennonites living in Belize are anti-abortion. You might find the odd one that will unashamedly be pro-abortion, but I doubt it.
In the more conservative groups, such as Old Order and Old Colony, families are big. It is completely normal to have up to 13 children, if not more. They take the Bible literally in this area and because of that shun birth control. I personally know a man who has 20 children. I have seen a young couple heading to a gathering with little ones crammed in the back of the buggy. Nothing wrong with big families except that sadly, in many cases the woman's health is not taken into consideration and the older children often receive unusually harsh treatment.
Back when the Kleine Gemeindes had just moved to Belize and were much more conservative, they also had large families. As their community became more progressive, the size of the family decreased. Nowadays the average number of children is 5.(Yet the demand for housemaids has gone up.) Birth control is still a hush-hush subject for the KG but there are some who use it. Some of the younger couples from the EMMC see their KG cousins starting a family barely a year after marriage and seem to have set a new style. Spend 5 to 7 years married, and then start a family.
Holdeman Mennonites, Beachy, and Conservative Mennonites, are from a variety of backgrounds. Some of the older couples, although they knew about herbal birth control methods, have chosen to stick to tradition and have big families such as the Maya from southern Belize. Hispanic and Creole families are usually smaller. The younger generation, as is typical throughout the world, have a more cautious approach towards the quantity of children they want. These 3 groups of Mennonites do not forbid the use of birth control but do take a very hard stand against abortion. In fact, according to their doctrine, a baptized member who is found to have carried out an abortion is excommunicated together with whichever other member was party to it, whether husband, parents, or in-laws. Re-entry to church fellowship is not permitted until the guilty member's spiritual situation has been settled.
Now let's look at the liberal Mennonites. EMMC and other non-conservative churches like the ones in Spanish Lookout and Belmopan might soon be pro-abortion. I say might not because I'm negative or am prejudiced, but because their Biblical views sometimes seem to be based more on their North American counterparts than on the Bible itself. For example, when North American liberal Mennonites began accepting female pastors and leaders, they began doing the same. Anyways, with that aside, couples from this church rarely have more than 5 children. I mentioned before that some go almost a decade before having any children at all. Interestingly, these couples are usually the more affluent ones.
The KG Mennonites are the most known for adoption. Strange that interracial marriage is discouraged (in another article I will explain more on this) yet adopting Hispanic, Maya or black babies is acceptable. I'm certainly glad that orphaned children can have the opportunity to grow up in a Christian environment, yet it is rare that those children will still remain a KG after becoming an adult. Usually they end up in the non-conservative churches or completely leave their Mennonite background.
Other Mennonites who have left their home churches, like ex-members of the KG and Old Order living in Agua Viva, for example, have a similar view as the Holdemans and Conservative Mennonites.
