Mennonite & Anabaptist

Mennonite Bakery: A Return Visit (22 Photos)

Mennonite Bakery: A Return Visit (22 Photos)

Last year I made a Christmastime visit to a plain Mennonite bakery in Snyder County, Pennsylvania. Weaver’s Market and Bakery is run by Stauffer aka “Piker” Mennonites, essentially the plainest of horse-and-buggy Mennonites. The group settled here from Lancaster County decades ago. They would be plainer and more traditional than some Amish. I was excited to have a chance to return. Especially since last year…

JPAC Latest Issue Out Now: Michigan Amish, PA Dutch, Old German Baptist Brethren, “Ukrainian Amish”, & More

JPAC Latest Issue Out Now: Michigan Amish, PA Dutch, Old German Baptist Brethren, “Ukrainian Amish”, & More

The Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities has released volume 4, issue 1. In this issue of JPAC, we begin a new series introducing Anabaptist research centers and their holdings and management. We begin with the Ohio Amish Library and the Geauga Amish Historical Library and will feature additional centers in the coming issues. From the fields of legal studies, demography, socio-linguistic scholarship, and ethnographic religious…

Amish & Mennonites Among Victims in $32 Million Fraud Case (UPDATED – “Charity 1” Identified)

Amish & Mennonites Among Victims in $32 Million Fraud Case (UPDATED – “Charity 1” Identified)

In what looks like another affinity fraud scheme targeting Plain Anabaptist people, the Department of Justice is seeking the arrest of a man who collected over $30 million over a decade-long span – telling donors the money was for Bibles and other Christian literature to be distributed in China. Jason Gerald Shenk allegedly got at least some of his money (and perhaps most of it)…

New Edition of The Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities (JPAC #6) Now Available

New Edition of The Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities (JPAC #6) Now Available

A new edition of the The Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities has been released. The Journal is published twice yearly and is available for free online. As the title suggests, it covers all manner of research subjects pertaining to Amish, Plain Mennonites, and other Anabaptist peoples. Check out the latest issue here, or the full archives here. So what’s in the latest edition? This intro,…

Do Amish Live In Mexico? Belize?

Do Amish Live In Mexico? Belize?

From time to time you might see claims that Amish live in Mexico. However, this is not the case. There are no established Amish communities in the country. There was an Amish presence there, however, nearly 100 years ago. Amish lived in Mexico for about six years in the 1920s, having left Ohio due to issues over state school requirements. This is the only community…

Visiting Plain Mennonites (Video)

Visiting Plain Mennonites (Video)

In this video I show you more of my visit to the horse-and-buggy Mennonite community in Buffalo Valley (Union County, PA). You’ve already seen the posts on the Mennonite bakery and market – they appear here too as well. Additional things you’ll see in this video are a visit with to an old cemetery in Buffalo Valley where 19th-century Amish settlers are buried, some snowy…

Visiting a Mennonite Bakery (16 Photos)

Visiting a Mennonite Bakery (16 Photos)

As promised, following the look inside a plain Mennonite market, let’s check out the bakery. As you might recall this was found just next door to the market in the Snyder County, PA Stauffer Mennonite community (Port Trevorton area). We were met by the aroma of what I thought was apple cobbler as we exited the market, and promptly located the bakery entrance. This ended…

Visiting a Mennonite Market (21 Photos)

Visiting a Mennonite Market (21 Photos)

While in Lancaster County I took a trip with a friend and his son to an Old Order (horse-and-buggy) Mennonite community in the Buffalo Valley area of Pennsylvania. It’s about a two and a half hour drive and there had been inclement weather that day, which worsened as we headed further north. We did get a nice visit at the community which I’ll go into…

All Remaining Haiti Missionaries Freed

All Remaining Haiti Missionaries Freed

Good news from Haiti: all remaining missionary hostages – 12 of them – have now been released. From the Associated Press: PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The remaining members of a U.S. missionary group who were kidnapped two months ago in Haiti have been freed, Haitian police and the church group said Thursday. The spokesman for Haiti’s National Police, Gary Desrosiers, confirmed to The Associated Press…

Five Haiti Missionary Hostages Have Now Been Released; 12 Remain Captive

Five Haiti Missionary Hostages Have Now Been Released; 12 Remain Captive

Following up on the Haiti missionary hostage story – some good news, with three hostages being released Sunday, in addition to two released last month: PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A religious group based in Ohio announced Monday that a violent gang in Haiti has released three more hostages, while another 12 remain abducted. The statement from Christian Aid Ministries said the people were released on…