I want to share just three of the things I have learned from the Amish.
I worked for a year framing houses with a Beachy Amish Crew, and I also worked a year in a barn-building shop with Schwartzentruber Amish. Additionally, I have Amish neighbors and friends, I have performed magic at an Amish Christmas party and I attend church with Amish-Mennonites.
Over the last 25 years, I have learned a lot more than three things. I’ve learned humility, I’ve learned how to be more generous, I’ve learned how to live what the Bible teaches and so much more.
How did the Amish religion start?
Amish and the Mennonites both stem from the Anabaptist movement which was part of the radical Reformation from the Roman Catholic Church in the mid-1500’s. They we’re part of the Catholic Church, then they broke off from the Catholic Church
In the late 1600’s, a group of believers in Alsace, led by Jacob Ammon, split from the mainstream of Mennonites. The doctrine of both groups is the same as far as salvation, but how they practice their faith has some differences. Jacob Ammon and his followers felt that the Mennonites were going too soft on church discipline and that is what left to the split.
What have I learned?
The first thing I learned is that they like to talk and laugh. There is a common misconception that they’re all super quiet.
Some are, but most are great conversationalists. They talk politely and tend to speak softly. They’re regular folk. They laugh and talk and have great senses of humor
They wear bonnets; the black ones usually for church on Sunday. Everybody wears them to church, but then their school kids have to wear them to go to school.
The white ones, they are supposed to wear all the time when they go away.
The Amish do not like to be gawked at but do not mind sharing information about their life culture or religion, when coming from a genuine place of interest. They also will not pose for photos because they consider posing for photos to be vain.
The adults that have been baptized and have joined the church, do not wish to be photographed although if you ask the parents first, they’ll often allow you to photograph their children who have not been baptized.
More and more Amish have cellphones and are taking pictures and video. Some groups do allow posed pictures now.
The second thing I learned is there is a major misconception about Amish and technology.
Some people think that they can’t use any technology. Now they are actually very thoughtful about the types of technology that they do use. For example, some of them have phones that the community shares. It’s usually a little booth and that’s the telephone that they use for their business and that the neighbors all use if they need to make a phone call or if they need if there’s an emergency.
Usually they don’t have a phone in their pocket or next to them all the time or a phone in their house because they want to be strategic about the times that they’re using that technology.
it has become fairly common for all but the strictest communities to have electricity, phones, and internet in their businesses. many of my Old Order Amish friends have Facebook pages for their businesses and websites.
The Amish speak Pennsylvania Dutch. It’s not a written language You’ll hear this as you were out and about it’s comprised mostly of a low german mixed with some English.
Misconception number three. Are they happy living the way they do?
After spending some time with them, it just becomes very apparent that they want to live as they do. No one’s forcing them to. They enjoy being Amish. They enjoy being different from the English. They enjoy choosing that as their way to focus their lives on things that they think are really important.
There’s a lot of love in their community. They are very supportive of one another. They support each other as family members and as a community. They are all just friendly and kind and generally very accepting.
All-in-all, the Amish aren’t much different than their English neighbors.
