Blue Creek, also Blue Creek Colony, is a

Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radi ...

settlement that is also an administrative

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

Orange Walk District Orange Walk District is a district in the northwest of the nation of Belize, with its district capital in Orange Walk Town. Main settlements The Orange Walk District, with an area of 1,829 square miles (4,636 square km), is located north-northw ...

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

. It borders Blue Creek river, which forms the border to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. Its inhabitants are Plautdietsch-speaking

Russian Mennonites The Russian Mennonites (german: Russlandmennoniten it. "Russia Mennonites", i.e., Mennonites of or from the Russian Empire occasionally Ukrainian Mennonites) are a group of Mennonites who are descendants of Dutch Anabaptists who settled for ab ...

. In 1958 Blue Creek was founded by

Old Colony Mennonites The name Old Colony Mennonites (German: ''Altkolonier-Mennoniten'') is used to describe that part of the Russian Mennonite movement that is descended from colonists who migrated from the Chortitza Colony in Russia (itself originally of Prussian o ...

from

. Disputes about the use of mechanical tools, especially

chain saw A chainsaw (or chain saw) is a portable gasoline-, electric-, or battery-powered saw that cuts with a set of teeth attached to a rotating chain driven along a guide bar. It is used in activities such as tree felling, limbing, bucking, pruning, ...

s, soon led conflicts, which resulted in the founding of an Evangelical Mennonite Mission Conference congregation in 1966 there, while others left to Bolivia, Mexico and Canada. In the end also the leaders of the Old Colony church left, forcing members to decide whether they would leave with them or join other groups. In 1978 families of the

Kleine Gemeinde Kleine Gemeinde is a Mennonite denomination founded in 1812 by Klaas Reimer in the Russian Empire. The current group primarily consists of Plautdietsch-speaking Russian Mennonites in Belize, Mexico and Bolivia, as well as a small presence in Canad ...

congregation from Spanish Lookout population moved to Blue Creek, to form a congregation there. Today about half of population is in the modern Evangelical Mennonite Mission Church, which is part of the Evangelical Mennonite Mission Conference, while the other half is in the more conservative

. Since about 1980 the population of Blue Creek is around 100 families. According to the 2010 census, Blue Creek had a population of 407 people in 111 households.Belize Population and Housing Census - Country Report 2010

External links

Anabaptistwiki: Kleine Gemeinde zu Blue Creek

References

Kleine Gemeinde Mennonitism in Belize Mexican Belizean Old Colony Mennonites Populated places in Orange Walk District Russian Mennonite diaspora in Belize {{Belize-geo-stub

See also

External links

References