Mennonite & Anabaptist

Lancaster County is (I believe) the only place* where you’ll see both gray-topped and black-topped buggies in the same community. Black is easily the most common color for Amish buggies overall. But the Amish in this best-known of all Plain communities actually drive the gray version. Lancaster County Amish buggies So who is holding the […]

Continue Reading Lancaster County: Gray Buggy or Black Buggy?

Members of a Missouri Mennonite community have forgiven the teenaged driver who struck a buggy July 11th, resulting in the death of a 7-year-old boy. From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Meanwhile, some men in the Mennonite community have met with the boy to forgive him for killing 7-year-old Mervin Shirk. “They wanted him to know […]

Continue Reading Mennonites Forgive Driver Who Killed 7-Year-Old Boy

Did you know that Amish, Mennonites and related churches have a hotline that connects them 24 hours a day, 6.5 days a week? Atlas Obscura looks at the story of the Amish and Mennonite Conference Line, which was founded in 2006 by a man named Gary (last name omitted in the article). This is a […]

Continue Reading A Closer Look at the Amish & Mennonite Conference Line

Have you ever heard about the Amish in Mexico? It’s quite a remarkable story. No, there are no Mexican Amish communities (at least not anymore). But thanks to their outreach to a group of spiritual kin, the Amish have had a regular presence in Mexico for the last two decades. Old Colony Mennonites are an […]

Continue Reading Over 200 Amish Have Taught in Mexico Since 2000

Do Amish live in Australia? One family is being described as such in a major profile in the Sydney Morning Herald. The McCallums live in the countryside of the Australian island of Tasmania. Gregory and Bethany, ages 41 and 42 respectively, have eight children, and live in a way that resembles the Amish – dressing […]

Continue Reading Amish In Australia?

To me, the Harvey hurricane and flooding disaster feels like it was ages ago, but it’s only been about five months. Of course, for those still dealing with the aftermath, the hurricane’s catastrophic effects are clear and present every day. Harvey displaced over 30,000 people and left $125 billion in damage, a figure comparable to […]

Continue Reading 600 Amish & Mennonites Help Rebuild Houston After Harvey

An awful story from yesterday morning: EVERGREEN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Michigan State Police say three children were killed and six other people were critically injured when a pickup truck crashed into a buggy Sunday morning. It happened at 8:34 a.m. on Condensary Road at Wood Road in Evergreen Township, southeast of Sheridan. Police say […]

Continue Reading Three Children Killed In Michigan Buggy Crash

Do you know any Yoders? If so, you might want to congratulate them on a big anniversary. It’s been three centuries since the first Anabaptist Yoder set foot in North America. Shipshewana, IN will be home to a special edition of the Yoder Reunion event: The 2017 National Yoder Reunion will take place Sept. 20 to 23, and it […]

Continue Reading Yoders Celebrate 300 Years In North America

The theme of the latest edition of the Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies is the field of Amish Studies itself. Articles in the latest edition critique the field and previous works, with the main entry being “Seventy-Five Years of Amish Studies, 1942 to 2017: A Critical Review of Scholarship Trends.” I haven’t delved much into […]

Continue Reading JAPAS Spring 2017 Issue Now Available

Who are the Old Colony Mennonites? Broadly speaking this religious group shares some things in common with the Amish, including plain dress, use of German dialect, and Anabaptist heritage. Today they are found in Latin America (Mexico, Belize, Bolivia, Paraguay), several Canadian provinces, and two US states. You can find a nice overview of the […]

Continue Reading Old Colony Mennonites Featured in Latest Issue of JAPAS