"English" who join the Amish

[Ernie]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... ancer.html

I found this article interesting. Makes me wonder how many people would join a horse-and-buggy group if they spoke English and used English in preaching.

[Josh]

There was an article about horse and buggy German Baptists a while ago.

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2 ... ation.html

I can’t find the source, but as I understand it this group is ultimately ⅓ seekers. They use English, as all German Baptists do.

[Ken]

My mother has a cousin (my first cousin once removed) who married into the Old Order Amish in PA.

She grew up on a modern Menno farm in the Belleville area and fell in love with/married an Amish boy who lived across the fence in the Amish farm next door. This would have been the 1960s? I'm guessing. They settled into married life on another farm no more than a mile away and are still there but at this point are great grandparents with the sons and grandsons running things.

I think the hardest part was being cut off from all the friends and family she grew up with. It isn't shunning per se. It is just that the social circles don't ever overlap even if you live in the same community. You might still exchange peasantries when you cross paths in the grocery store. But you are no longer part of the same social circle, visiting, having dinner with each other, socializing, etc. And it is mostly a one-way thing.

[temporal1]

There was an article about horse and buggy German Baptists a while ago.

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2 ... ation.html

I can’t find the source, but as I understand it this group is ultimately ⅓ seekers. They use English, as all German Baptists do.

2015. i wonder how they’re getting along?

[Josh]

There was an article about horse and buggy German Baptists a while ago.

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2 ... ation.html

I can’t find the source, but as I understand it this group is ultimately ⅓ seekers. They use English, as all German Baptists do.

2015. i wonder how they’re getting along?

Last I heard (in 2023) they are still powering right along. Of the really conservative groups to join for seekers, I would recommend this group, Old Order River Brethren, Delano type Hoover Mennonites, Unity Amish, and Michigan-circle Amish. Simply because of all the positive reports I have heard from each.

[JayP]

I would agree that if an English convert was going to succeed in an Okd Order setting the River Brethern is the best chance.
And I say that having better friendships with Old Order Mennonite and knowing many OOA.

[steve-in-kville]

Someone tried to do this recently at a local O/O Amish church. It caused a great division among its members. In the end, it didn't work out.

[Josh]

Someone tried to do this recently at a local O/O Amish church. It caused a great division among its members. In the end, it didn't work out.

It is surprisingly common in Ohio. In one case I heard of, they switch to English preaching whenever he showed up and eventually found out he was hoping to learn German and listen to the German preaching.

[steve-in-kville]

Someone tried to do this recently at a local O/O Amish church. It caused a great division among its members. In the end, it didn't work out.

It is surprisingly common in Ohio. In one case I heard of, they switch to English preaching whenever he showed up and eventually found out he was hoping to learn German and listen to the German preaching.

The individual in question was a strange bird. I've known of him for quite some years as he attended a church I was part of. We're pushing 20 years since then I think.

[Josh]

Someone tried to do this recently at a local O/O Amish church. It caused a great division among its members. In the end, it didn't work out.

It is surprisingly common in Ohio. In one case I heard of, they switch to English preaching whenever he showed up and eventually found out he was hoping to learn German and listen to the German preaching.

The individual in question was a strange bird. I've known of him for quite some years as he attended a church I was part of. We're pushing 20 years since then I think.

In fairness, insular Mennonite churches often have a great deal of stress when a seeker finally tries to join. Myself and a good friend accidentally walked into exactly such a situation. (Perhaps we should have noticed that another seeker moved on around the same time.)

A challenge is such seekers often end up trying to become “crusaders” to fix the obvious dysfunction and corruption in front of them, not realising that it is by design…