Conservative Mennonite Fellowship, Guatemala
The Conservative Mennonite Fellowship mission board sent Jacob and Martha Coblentz as their first missionaries to Guatemala in 1964. Chimaltenango, a rural town an hour west of Guatemala City, became the center of operations, and over the next 10 years more than 50 persons coming from North America served in numerous Cachiquel and Quiche Indian villages in the central highlands north and west of Chimaltenango. Various small animal, agriculture, and rural health projects were established. In 1983 missionary John Mast of Michigan was shot to death by unidentified armed men in Palama, where he lived and worked. The first converts were baptized in 1968. By 1987 there were 130 members in three congregations. Small Christian schools were operated for the church families and neighbors. Three ordained ministers and a deacon assisted the missionary men in pastoral work. Contacts made in Guatemala related to this mission resulted in work by the Messianic Mission Board (Eastern Pennsylvania Mennonite Church) in the western department of Quetzaltenango.
In 2003 there were five congregations with 128 members.
Bibliography
Mennonite World Handbook Supplement . Strasbourg, France, and Lombard, IL: Mennonite World Conference, 1984 :73.
Mennonite Yearbook and Directory. Scottdale, PA: Mennonite Publishing House, 1988-89: 156, 164.
Mennonite World Conference website.
| Author(s) | Amzie Yoder |
|---|---|
| Sam Steiner | |
| Date Published | October 2005 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Yoder, Amzie and Sam Steiner. "Conservative Mennonite Fellowship, Guatemala." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. October 2005. Web. 16 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Conservative_Mennonite_Fellowship,_Guatemala&oldid=86918.
APA style
Yoder, Amzie and Sam Steiner. (October 2005). Conservative Mennonite Fellowship, Guatemala. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 16 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Conservative_Mennonite_Fellowship,_Guatemala&oldid=86918.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 5, p. 193. All rights reserved.
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