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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 Canada and the United States. In 2015 it had some 5,400 baptized members. Most of its Canadian congregations diverged from the others over the latter half of the 20th century and are now called the Evangelical Mennonite Conference. History The Kleine Gemeinde was founded in 1812 by a small group of Mennonites dissatisfied with the state of the existing church in the Molotschna colony settlement of then south Russia (present-day Ukraine). Their first elder was Klaas Reimer. The name ''Kleine Gemeinde'' means Small Church, or congregation. The group changed their name from Kleine Gemeinde to Evangelical Mennonite Church in 1952, and to Evangelical Mennonite Conference in 1959. Klaas Reimer Klaas Reimer (1770–1837), a Mennonite minister ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blue Creek, Orange Walk
Blue Creek, also Blue Creek Colony, is a Mennonite settlement that is also an administrative village in Orange Walk District in Belize. It borders Blue Creek (Belize), Blue Creek river, which forms the border to Mexico. Its inhabitants are Plautdietsch-speaking Russian Mennonites. In 1958 Blue Creek was founded by Old Colony Mennonites from Mennonites in Mexico, Mexico. Disputes about the use of mechanical tools, especially chain saws, soon led conflicts, which resulted in the founding of an Evangelical Mennonite Mission Conference congregation in 1966 there, while others left to Mennonites in Bolivia, 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 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 Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |