Mennonites in Belize
Mennonites in Belize form different religious bodies and come from different ethnic backgrounds. There are groups of Mennonites living in Belize who are quite traditional and conservative (e. g. in Shipyard and Upper Barton Creek), while others have modernized to various degrees (e. g. in Spanish Lookout and Blue Creek).
| Mennonite children selling peanuts to tourists near Lamanai in Belize. | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 10,865 ethnic Mennonites 11,658 (by religion) (2010) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Orange Walk District, Cayo District, Corozal District | |
| Religions | |
| Mennonitism, a part of Anabaptism | |
| Scriptures | |
| The Bible, the Complete Writings of Menno Simons | |
| Languages | |
| Plautdietsch, Standard German, English, Belizean Creole, Belizean Spanish, Pennsylvania German |
There were 4,961 members as of 2014, but the total number including children and young unbaptized adults was around 12,000. Of these some 10,000 were ethnic Mennonites, most of them Russian Mennonites, who speak Plautdietsch, a Low German dialect. There are also some hundreds of Pennsylvania German speaking Old Order Mennonites in Belize. In addition to this, there were another 2,000 mostly Kriol and Mestizo Belizeans who had converted to Mennonitism.
The so-called Holdeman Mennonites and the Beachy Amish are groups originally of German descent that also welcome people of other ethnic background to join their congregations.