Mennonites in Belize

   It is now officially set. Farmer's Trading Center, the country's biggest supermarket and distributor combined, will be holding it's annual sale day on October 27th, the last Saturday of the month. Lots to see and do, many cultures and nationalities are present, all sorts of food to buy.  

 Hurricane season is in full swing. Rarely though, that a major hurricane will actually hit Belize. The last hurricane to land in the country was Hurricane Earl in 2016 as a Category1. It swept through the central corridor at night. The only Mennonite community to be directly affected was Spanish Lookout. Nothing catastrophic as far as lives and houses but the corn crop was ruined. Some fallen trees and downed power lines could be seen in Spanish Lookout because the storm lost its strength after hitting the coast. No lives were lost. We don't know yet what this year will bring.   Hurricane season is from June to November.

         A Look at the Holdeman's Baptism     I'm writing about this interesting topic because they are the only Mennonite church who believe in and hold to the doctrine of rebaptizing before joining their church. Why rebaptize if the Bible says "one baptism"? Well, according to them, it also says, "one Lord, one faith, one Father". Therefore for an applicant to join, he needs to be spiritually led to believe the way they do so that he can honestly and sincerely say he now believes in "one Lord, one faith" with them.   That brings in the topic of "the one true church". However, let me be clear. I'm not here to point out which Mennonite church or group has the right doctrine and only way to be saved. I'm writing about the Mennonites in Belize and describing their lifestyle and beliefs.   Since they believe that they are "the true church" as far as doctrinal views and other Biblical principles, baptism is one of their s...

  Like I mentioned in a post earlier in this blog, the majority of Mennonite stores and companies are owned by the German-speaking Mennonites. The big and modern enterprises are owned and managed mostly by Kleine Gemeinde and liberal Mennonites.   Anyways, some of these big businesses use the 21st of September, Independence Day, to take their staff out for some fun and games.   Two semi-private Mennonite-run schools also hold a student's parade, usually the day before the 21st or the last school day before the 21st. Patriotic flags, banners, and music in a Mennonite community would have been unheard of not too long ago. Conservatism is releasing its hold on the KG Mennonites. Many vehicles have little national flags waving from the mirrors or antenna.   The communities that still remain closed to patriotism and national festivities are those of the Old Colony in the north and the Old Order in central and south Belize. Beachy and Holdeman Mennonites look on patriot...

  The Old Colony men can be easily identified from their Old Order neighbors because they don't wear beards and mustaches. It's wrong for them to do so.   On the other hand, the Old Order Mennonites believe that all married men must let their beard grow unhindered, resulting in bushy haystacks. Mustaches are kept more in line, for obvious reasons.   Most Kleine Gemeinde or KG males are beardless and mustacheless too, more out of tradition than anything spiritual or Biblical because there are some who grow mustache and beard (and keep it neat and trimmed), but mostly the ones at the liberal end.    The Holdeman's doctrine requires all born-again baptized members to grow a beard and mustache as well as to be responsible to keep it trimmed and orderly. A few go against the doctrine and either grow bushy beards or none at all.   Beachy and Conservative Mennonites are a diverse, widely scattered group independent of a central government. Therefore the ones ...

  Who are these Mennonites who DON'T dress according to tradition and doctrine? Well, they're scattered all over the Mennonite colonies, mainly Spanish Lookout and Blue Creek and have also sprinkled themselves throughout the country. Made up of a mixed group of ex-KG, ex-Holdeman, ex-Beachy, ex-Old Colony, ex-Old Order, ex-everything, these non-conservative, "non-religious" ones go to whichever church they believe is the best one for their family without caring if it's a Plattdeutsche church or Creole church. Some of them don't even care about going to church at all. Consequently there is no dress code, no regulations on fashion and jewelry, no written or verbal agreement on anything specific.   However, there are some that tend to look askance at the conservative dress code of their other Mennonite neighbours to the point of ridicule, calling them "religious", "old-fashioned", and "rules written by humans and not God". Seems lik...