Mennonites in Belize

  Below is a variety of church buildings of  some of the Mennonite branches in Belize. Mennonite churches not pictured here are the Old Order as well as Conservative and other Amish-Mennonite congregations.                       Kleine Gemeinde Sometimes during weddings and funerals at KG churches, men and women are allowed to sit together. Beachy  Holdeman Again, men and women are allowed to sit together on special occasions. Old Colony In the following churches below, mixed seating is allowed EMMC Shipyard Blue Creek Spanish Lookout Other Churches Fountain of Life, Spanish Lookout                     Amazing Grace, Spanish Lookout

                        The following is a look at a typical Sunday morning service in a Holdeman Mennonite church. The above  video is a sample of congregational 4-part acapella singing.   9AM. The moderator i.e. charge d'affaires, opens the service with a few words of welcome and announces 3 congregational songs, chosen by random members and non-members. The song leader takes over until the last song is finished and the moderator announces the opening sermon.   9:15AM.  A lay member brings the short introductory sermon, then everyone kneels in prayer, facing forward.   9:30AM  The moderator dismisses everyone to their respective Sunday school classes (do you know who got the idea of Sunday school classes? I don't). Toddlers stay in with their parents while those above 3 sit with both preschoolers and first-graders, the older ones in a separate group, the young teens in another group, et...

                     "Spanish Lookout is a progressive Mennonite community in western Belize." This is the most common phrase used to describe Spanish Lookout by many non-Mennonite Belizeans and foreigners. However, some visit here, see the Kleine Gemeinde ladies with their long dresses and black headcoverings, and go back thinking that all the ladies here dress like that. Others see Old Colony Mennonites from Shipyard walking around and take pictures "of the Mennonites in Spanish Lookout". Still others see horses and buggies from the ultra-conservative Mennonites of Lower Barton Creek traveling on Center Road and write an article with pictures of the "very traditional Mennonites of Spanish Lookout".   But Spanish Lookout is none of that. It is a self-governing Plautdietsch Mennonite colony which is made up of 2 main branches of faith and continues to modernize every year by leaps and bounds. There is the non-cons...