Mennonite Missionaries

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  At some point, except for the Old Colony group, Mennonites from various branches end up with missionary intentions. The ironic thing is that while they try to convert other Mennonite groups to their way of life or more correctly their way of viewing Christian life, other Mennonite groups are busy trying to convert them. For example, the Kleine Gemeinde have a mission outreach in the Old Colony community of Little Belize in the Corozal District. Meanwhile the EMMC (Evangelical Mennonite Mission Church) is trying to win converts from both the Kleine Gemeinde and Old Colony. The Holdeman Mennonites arrived in the 1970's as missionaries to the Kleine Gemeinde and succeeded in winning quite a large number. (the converts left for Canada decades ago) Conservative and Beachy Mennonites seem to be more tolerant of other religions which is surprising due to their conservative beliefs; however they too hope to win over the Holdemans from their "one true church" mentality, the Kleine Gemeinde and Old Colony from their pharisaical beliefs, and the EMMC from their "worldliness". The Old Order (Hoover) Mennonites from south central Belize do not establish missionary outposts but they do accept membership application from other Mennonite churches provided the person is willing to forsake his previous church and dress and live like them. 
  And then there's the pentecostal type, aka charismatic Mennonite groups, who believe in physical action during worship services and prophesying in the spirit, etc. Somewhere in between the EMMC (calm and casual) and the charismatics are the Methodist-type of Mennonite churches who think the Holdemans are deceived, the Old Colony and Kleine Gemeinde are rigid and cold in their traditions, and the pentecostals are going too far with their "wierd" dreams and revelations and prophesies. You get the picture. 
  I've been to many of these different churches and while I enjoyed the services, (depending on how comfortable the seat was), I will not say which impressed me the most. Not long ago I discussed with a liberal Mennonite the interesting way all these groups were trying to convert each other despite the fact that they were all branches of the same tree.
  "Blame Menno Simons", he said simply and chuckled. 
                    
                                         A. Mendoza

Note: While I try to be unique and original in my writing, I will admit that since I have been influenced by John Grisham since the age of 12, my articles might appear rather candid or even sarcastic to some of my readers when I write about issues such as religion or traditions.

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