Jamaica. World Factbook Map, 2006

Since 1955 the Jamaica Mennonite Church has continued to develop. In 1957 the first church building was erected and named the Good Tidings Mennonite Church. The first annual conference convened and the church was organized with an executive committee. By 1971 the conference dispensed with the office of bishop and appointed an administrator to work for the executive committee. Pastors are appointed by the executive committee annually prior to conference meetings. Individual congregations take care of their own outreach. Pastors are receiving training at local Bible schools and colleges and refresher seminars conducted by visiting teachers from the United States. Lay leader seminars are also conducted by national people. Its official publication is The Quest. The Virginia Mennonite Conference (Mennonite Church) mission hoard reduced its presence in the late 1970s. In 1988 there is one North American worker relating to the conference.

Mennonite Churches in the West Indies, 1980s, Mennonite Encyclopedia, v. 5, pp. 736-737.

Jamaica Mennonite Central Committee, founded in 1970, is related to Mennonite Central Committee (international), which sponsored Teachers Abroad Program in the 1970s and continued a presence in the country in 1988 working with other agencies in urban settings in education, social work, and medical service (nursing). Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA), together with MCC, founded "Mennonite Ventures" (ca. 1986), which workrf to create employment by finding outlets for farm produce and the processing and sale of locally grown spices (1988). MCC was working closely with the Jamaica Mennonite Church and did not operate any independent projects in 1988. 

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 5, p. 459. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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