Amish Beliefs

This year will mark the 20th anniversary of the Nickel Mines school shootings, in which five Amish girls were killed, and another five wounded (with a sixth girl passing away years later due to long-term effects of her injuries). BBC Radio 4 has done a program looking back at the incident, and including comments from the shooter Charlie Roberts’ wife, and how she endured the…

In today’s guest post, Timothy L. Price (who previously gave us a look at the Amish in the “middle of nowhere”) shares his account of a recent Amish conference in northern Indiana, and his main takeaways from the event.  The 2nd Church Builders Conference in Shipshewana, Indiana was put on by Old Order Amish from Shipshewana, mostly, on March 20th and 21st. As to the…

An interesting story appeared recently about a young woman who has made an unusual faith journey: from a non-Amish Christian family, to joining an Amish community, and most recently to Judaism. Nechama Leapley grew up as Briana Leapley in a non-Amish (aka “English”) Christian home – though in an “Amish-sized” family: she was the oldest of seven children, described as “homeschooled and mostly isolated”. Her…

Several years ago, Amish Cook columnist Gloria Yoder faced one of the toughest tragedies imaginable, when her husband Daniel was killed in an accident. In one of her latest columns, she share a moving account of a gathering of widows she recently attended as she continues to heal. The gathering was held at a Mennonite church in Worthington, Indiana. Gloria herself is a member of…

In an article for Ashland County Pictures, Joe Lyons gives a poignant look at an Amish funeral from an outside observer’s eyes. That’s paired with some beautiful photos of the procession to the cemetery. This procession happened on State Route 96 in Ashland County. The area outside the city of Ashland is home to a sizable Amish settlement. The procession of buggies, vans, and people…

Now, those aren’t in fact the words of the Amish. But they are the words of a non-Amish neighbor who understands the Amish well – as a people who reject government aid. This comes following severe weather damage in Wright County, Missouri – one of over a dozen Missouri counties impacted by storms in March and April. The county is home to two separate Amish…

This is a timely and helpful follow-up to the story of Amish parents forgiving the teenage driver in the accident which killed their three young children. People often wonder – how can the Amish forgive so quickly? Well, it’s maybe not so simple. The Young Center’s Steven Nolt – co-author of the book Amish Grace, on the Amish forgiveness response in the aftermath of the…

How do the Amish create new churches? Jim Halverson sends along a snippet from Amish publication Die Blatt giving an Amish church “District Division” report from Indiana. Note: this would be “divide” in the neutral/positive sense (not a split where different factions of Amish go their different ways). We’ll take a look at that report below. First a bit about the Amish church district. A…

Rosanna was wounded in the school shooting as a first grader – just 6 years old at the time. Many felt her survival was a miracle. From Lancaster Online: An Amish woman who was wounded as a child in the 2006 mass shooting at West Nickel Mines School in Bart Township died Tuesday, according to sources familiar with the circumstances of her death. Rosanna King, 23, died in her Paradise Township…

In our last conversation, Ben Riehl and I did a follow-up on the “Do Amish think they’re the only true Christians?” topic. Specifically, you may have heard some people who have left the Amish, describe being taught that they will be doomed to hell – if they leave the Amish. I wanted to get Ben’s thoughts on this – how accurate is this, where does it…