The Gulf States Mennonite Fellowship in 1988 had 11 congregations with 517 members in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama. Included were Native American (Indian), Afro-American, Cajun, and Hispanic Mennonites. Early settlements of Mennonites (1920s) were made in Noxubee and Harrison Counties, MS; St. Charles Parish, LA; and Atmore, AL. Although the primary goal of these settlements was inexpensive farm land, in the late 1980s the resulting congregations are increasingly becoming centers for mission outreach. Des Allemands Mennonite Church, St. Charles, LA is the largest of those congregations in southeastern United States that are not composed of people from Germanic Mennonite background. Amor Viviente congregation in New Orleans (a member of GSMF) is a mission work among Hispanic people from Central America begun by mission workers sent by their parent church, Amor Viviente, a Mennonite-affiliated church in Honduras.     

Bibliography

Additional Information

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 5, p. 358. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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