Kleine Gemeinde zu Blue Creek, Belize

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The Blue Creek community is spotted in a flat landscape with a few low hills. There are approximately 750 people living there as of 2009, and this number has remained relatively constant since the foundation of the colony in 1958, historically shifting between 500 & 1000 people. This makes Blue Creek the fourth or fifth largest Mennonite colony in Belize and is considered one of the most progressive Mennonite colonies in Belize alongside Spanish Lookout because of their use of agricultural machinery, tractors and harvesters with rubber tires, use of automobiles, computers, air conditioning, television, radio, refrigerators, computer games and mobile phones. Blue Creek enjoys a strong economic position and has significant economic exchange with Belizean society.

The inhabitants are diverse and can be categorized into groups according to church (EMMC [Evangelical Mennonite Mission Conference] or Kleine Gemeinde), origin (Canadian Mennonites or Belizean Mennonites), language (Low German or English) and wealth (rich or poor). The Kleine Gemeinde adherents in Blue Creek use Low German as their main language whereas EMMC Mennonites speak English. The Kleine Gemeinde also dress in traditional clothing such as dresses with flower designs for women and overalls and blouses for men.

Edental is the district of the Blue Creek colony that houses most of the Kleine Gemeinde families.

The name Klein Gemeinde (small church) was formed in 1812, when a division occurred among Russian Mennonites. Napoleon invaded Russia and some Mennonites pledged money in support of the Russian army. The Klein Gemeinde believed that as a non-resistance group they could not contribute money towards an aggressive movement.

Foundation of Blue Creek & the Formation of the Kleine Gemeinde church in Blue Creek

The Blue Creek community was established in 1958 by Old Colony delegates from Mexico, who found the Blue Creek tract of land preferable to others due to its relative isolation in northwest Belize - isolation from the influence of the world. The Mennonite migration from Mexico to Belize was caused mainly by increasingly aggressive attempts by the Mexican government to incorporate Mennonite youth into the Seguro Social, or social security system, which clashed with a Mennonite conviction on remaining separate from the world.

While the colony was originally affiliated with the Altkolonier church, or Old Colony Mennonites as aforementioned, the colony's affiliation has changed as a result of an early split. This split occurred shortly after the immigration of these Mennonites from Mexico, and revolved around issues of technology, namely the use of the rubber tire. The permissiveness of technology is a legacy inherited from when the Mennonites lived in Mexico, where these issues threatened the solidarity of the group towards the end of their stay in Mexico. In order to keep in touch with the Altkolonier position on technology, church leaders in the early Blue Creek colony invoked ostracism and excommunication against members who were partial to non-traditionally accepted forms of technology, such as the rubber tire, that was adopted when members of the colony realized the hilly, difficult terrain wasn't conducive to the use of steel tires or horses.

However, due to the practicality associated with the use of rubber tires, a significant portion of the Blue colony ended up being excommunicated, and a large rift was formed between members of the community. Those of the community that refused to adapt to the difficult environment with the adoption of the rubber tire moved to Shipyard, Bolivia and Paraguay, while the more progressive members chose to stay. Today, Blue Creek is one of the most modern Mennonite colonies in Belize and has a thriving agricultural business.

The EMMC, in response to some of the distress the early colony was expressing over the decision to use rubber tires, sent help to help develop organization and relieve some of the tensions in the community in 1964 with the arrival of Jake and Verna Martens, who helped initiate an EMMC church, the Linda Vista EMMC School and the Blue Creek Medical Centre.

By the 1970s, most of the Old Colony families had moved away, and this is when the Kleine Gemeinde church from Spanish Lookout came to help those that weren't sure how to live in the tension between the Old Colony and EMMC. Thus, the Kleine Gemeinde church in Blue Colony was founded. However, the Kleine Gemeinde church traces its origins in Belize to Spanish Lookout, where delegates of the church first chose to inhabit Spanish Lookout due to the relative scarcity of insects and higher altitude.

Religion

(Because little is in literature concerning key details concerning the Kleine Gemeinde church within Blue Creek, the following information is largely taken from Roessingh's research into the Kleine Gemeinde church within Spanish Lookout, which is expected to be largely representative and similar to the church in Blue Creek)

Key Commitments

At a fundamental level, the Kleine Gemeinde church relies on the basic assumption that brotherhood is the basis of the community and the church. The Bible provides principles, which it is the task of the church to turn into applications. There are boundaries to these applications which take form in the role of rules within the Kleine Gemeinde community, which those outside of the Kleine Gemeinde often describe as overly binding and confining. Those outside the church express a desire for some freedom in making their own decisions. It is the position of the Kleine Gemeinde church that these rules are as they are in order to turn Biblical principles into applications, which are the basis for brotherhood and thus for community. These rules are needed to preserve that brotherhood.

With all this being said, the Kleine Gemeinde church is sympathetic to other churches and this desire for freedom, and maintains an open relationship with other churches. Also, the Kleine Gemeinde realize the desire and need for a change in perspective at times and try, within reason, to accommodate these needs.

Daily life of the Kleine Gemeinde Church

On a given Sunday during church service, men sit on the left and women on the right on long wooden benches. Women wear small back head coverings. The basis for use of head coverings is taken from I Corinthians 11: 5-6. Members see the use of coverings as a way to please God, as they believe God has a special blessing for those who live up to the rules outlined in Scripture.

Hymns are sung without music and in German. The sermons in the Kleine Gemeinde church are well organized.

Relation to Outside World and Colony Dynamics

The Blue Creek Mennonites stay in constant contact with the world outside their community for business and private matters. The main place of interaction between Blue Creek Mennonites and local people is at shops and markets in town. This is the main place of interaction because this is where the Blue Creek Mennonites go to sell their products or buy products not offered within their community. The relative economic success Blue Creek has developed and maintained, in relation to the other Mennonite colonies, makes it one of the colonies with the most interaction with Belizean society.

Because of business interactions with the larger society, an Anabaptist theological commitment of isolation from the world is more loosely followed than other Mennonite colonies in Belize, as these business and economic exchanges and interactions make isolation tough. However, Blue Creek is still isolated, and the degree to which they interact with the larger society is often limited to the economic and business spheres, as the Kleine Gemeinde church has its own school system, clinic and shops. The Blue Creek colony in general has its own bank system as well and their own set of rules and regulations that keep them segregated from the larger society.

To outsiders of the Blue Creek community, distinctions are made only by religion and life style, which is to say that, to outsiders, the distinction between the EMMC church and the Kleine Gemeinde church is hard to make. However, within the community, these distinctions are clear. While the separate churches do interact, as is expected if both live within the same community, there do exist distinctions aside from clothing and language spoken. This distinction is evident in the entrepeneural activities of the two churches. For example, Carribean Chicken originates from a Kleine Gemeinde background and employs mostly Kleine Gemeinde members, whereas Circle R., a rice mill company, comes from an EMMC background and employs mostly EMMC members.

Relevant links and Suggestions for Further Reading

Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online (GAMEO)

An in-depth look at some of the history behind the Kleine Gemeinde and EMMC on GAMEO.

Evangelical Mennonite Mission Conference (EMMC)

http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/E9365ME.html

Kleine Gemeinde

http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/K5446.html/?searchterm=kleine%20gemeinde

Blue Creek

http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/B577.html

Roessingh, Plassil

This book provides an excellent summary and overview of Mennonite colonies within Belize, with an in-depth chapter on several colonies. It provides history, current and past issues, an economic overview, and the general context within which the Anabaptist story is unfolding within Belize.

Roessingh, C. H., Plasil, T., & Visser, P. (2009). Between horse & buggy and four-wheel drive: Change and diversity among Mennonite settlements in Belize, Central America. Amsterdam: VU University Press.

Sawatsky

This book, published in 1971, provides a detailed look at economic issues the early Mennonite settlers of British Honduras faced, as well as other issues. Good source for information on the foundation of Mennonite colonies in British Honduras.

Sawatzky, H. L. (1971). They sought a country: Mennonite colonization in Mexico. With an appendix on Mennonite colonization in British Honduras. Berkeley: University of California.

Pioneer Years in Belize

This book gives a variety of first-hand accounts and reflections on initial Mennonite settlement in British Honduras by the very settlers. Most of the information is provided through story-telling and reflection of actual events. Also included are some short stories.

Koop, G. S. (1991). Pioneer years in Belize. Belize City, Belize, C.A: G.S. Koop