Amish Beliefs

Reuben and Wilma Mast belong to a New Order Amish church in Ava, Illinois. They live with their 10 children on a farm in this settlement of three church districts. Isaac Smith of The Southern Illinoisan visited the Mast farm on several occasions this spring and summer. His article shares extensive comments from Reuben on Amish life […]

Continue Reading 5 Insights From Illinois Amishman Reuben Mast

“The main thing I miss is my family. That’s the only thing I’d like to go back for.” John Shrock was one of several people featured in our recent 3 stories of leaving the Amish post. The now 25-year-old man grew up in a Wisconsin Amish community before leaving at age 17. Now he’s helping […]

Continue Reading Amish Exile John Shrock Helps Teen Who Left Same Community

What’s it like to attend Amish church as an outsider? In previous posts, we followed Don and Pam Burke as they made their first trips to the Amish in Ohio and in Pennsylvania. In this third post in the series, Don and Pam take us along to a Lancaster County Amish church service*. If you’ve […]

Continue Reading A First Visit To The Amish: Attending Amish Church (9 Photos)

We’ve seen three stories in the media in just the past several days, of people who were born and raised Amish – but ended up leaving the church under widely differing circumstances. First a note: when we speak about “leaving the Amish”, this can mean more than one thing (at least the way it is […]

Continue Reading Leaving The Amish: 3 Stories

With Easter close at hand, Amish Cook columnist Gloria Yoder recalls Easter traditions, and reflects on the meaning of Christ in her life: When I was a young girl, our Amish youth group would go Easter caroling early in the morning. Long before the first crack of dawn, a team of workhorses was hitched to […]

Continue Reading Amish Cook Gloria Yoder: Easter Traditions & Reflections

Is there such a thing as an “Amish Latter-day Saint”? The video below tells the emotional tales of three Amish families who joined the LDS church. This recently-released film recalls a similar story on “Amish Seventh-Day Adventists“. This formulation – Amish + another denomination – is always attention-getting. Especially if you consider “Amish” to be […]

Continue Reading Amish Latter-Day Saints? (Video)

Amish are well-known for living by guidelines and rules governing technology, dress, and other aspects of daily life. But Amish churches are not all the same. Some are more traditional, and others more progressive. Some do things one way, and others do things another way. So how do Amish know the dos and don’ts specific […]

Continue Reading 6 Examples of Amish Ordnung Rules

This weekend the Guardian featured an extensive article on the Amish, under the heading “‘Our faith will be lost if we adopt technology’: can the Amish resist the modern world?” Writer Ian Birrell visited a community in New York and spoke with several Amish and Amish-raised people. The main topic is the growth of the Amish […]

Continue Reading A Visit To The Weavers: Candid Amish Thoughts on Technology, Family & More

This morning I spotted this poem on the wall at my Amish friends’ home here in Lancaster County. I asked if I could share it with you. I thought it might be nice food for thought on a Sunday. It’s called “When Tomorrow Starts Without Me.” She hand-copied it from another source. I took a […]

Continue Reading “When Tomorrow Starts Without Me”

An Amish family has made news by forgiving a hit-and-run driver in Wisconsin. It’s far from the first example of this by the Amish – and we’ve often seen it in much more serious cases (see below). The financial burden is clearly in the family’s thoughts. But it’s also remarkable how warm their sentiments are […]

Continue Reading Wisconsin Amish Family Forgives Hit-And-Run Driver