What would be the 3 biggest “life lessons” the Amish could offer the rest of us? Lancaster County Mennonite pastor Joe Miller shares in a recent article what he feels non-Amish people can learn from the Amish example. “Amish life lessons” or “what we can learn from the Amish” pieces are not uncommon – see these on 4 Amish health habits, 23 ways to “live Amish”,…
“I don’t remember ever having joy growing up.” Emma Gingerich, who grew up in a Swartzentruber Amish community, some years ago appeared on the Megyn Kelly Today show to discuss her background and departure from Amish life. Periodically you see former Amish doing media interviews sharing about their past lives. Typically the stories are negative, and Emma’s fits that bill, but you can understand why….
What should people who want to join the Amish or Mennonites or other Plain Anabaptist church believe? What about their behavior? What kind of commitments should they be ready to make? Nicci Price – who herself is a convert to an Old German Baptist Brethren church – writes in Mennonite World Review about getting regular requests from”seekers” wishing to become Amish or Mennonite. Over the…
“For Thanksgiving my extended Kuhns family came to town and for entertainment the 2 year olds were playing church,” writes Karleen Kuhns. After viewing Karleen’s videos, I realized they were too cute to not share with you. In the first of three videos, one of the boys sings the opening to the Loblied (“Hymn of Praise”, sung as the second hymn in every Amish church…
Ruth Streicher lives in an Amish community on Manitoulin Island in Ontario. Ruth recently shared thoughts on how Amish celebrate Christmas for the Manitoulin Expositor. First, as with most things Amish, Christmas traditions vary: “We celebrate the birth of Christ,” Ruth Streicher of Tehkummah smiled gently when asked about the Amish Christmas traditions. “But there are differences in how families observe Christmas. Some are more conservative…
Don Burke returns today with the final part of an “Amish-ish Wedding.” If you missed the backstory to this event, you can read more and see photos from part 1 (the wedding party and guests) and part 2 (the ceremony). After the wedding ceremony, everyone was encouraged to stay and enjoy a reception with cake and ice cream. There were plenty of hugs and congratulations…
How many social media friends do you have? And how many would you also consider “real-life” friends? I have some who fit both categories. But with hundreds of online connections, it’s literally impossible to keep up, in a meaningful way, with everyone. Jeff Smith, who wrote Becoming Amish on the conversion journey of Bill and Tricia Moser (see posts on the 6 richest aspects and 5 challenges of…
Several years ago, Don Burke befriended an Amish family in the Jamesport, Missouri Amish community. Earlier this year, one of the daughters, raised Amish but not a member of the Amish church, asked Don to take the photos of her upcoming wedding. She wanted the event to have elements of both Amish, and other traditions – as she put it, “a little Old Order Amish, a little New…
Don Burke shares photos today from a special event in Jamesport, Missouri. This is the first of three parts. — Over the course of about four years and several trips to Jamesport, MO, I first become acquainted with and then made good friends with a special Amish family there. During that same time the Amish community has been going through some changes. A New Order…
Can you be Amish – and belong to another church at the same time? Andy and Naomi Weaver believe the answer is yes. In an article at adventistreview.org, “We are Amish. And we are Seventh-Day Adventists“, Andy and Naomi share their journey from a conservative Amish community at West Salem, Ohio, to the Seventh-day Adventist church: One day, about five years ago, Andy, who by now had…