Of Process, Practice, and Belief: What Can We Learn about Old Amish Church History and Polity from this Special Issue’s Source Documents

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Anderson, Cory. 2019.

7(2):101-08.

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Research Points

This introduction to a special issue—which includes translations of Amish German documents—provides context for the history and divisions of the “Old Amish Church” from around 1865-1955. These documents represent hopes to preserve the “Old Amish Church project,” which aimed to maintain Old Amish unity. Ultimately, several schisms occurred, ending the project.
In Holmes County, Ohio, stricter groups—namely Sam Yoder (“Swartzentruber”) / Stutzman- Troyer and Andy Weaver (“Dan”)—broke with the larger “South churches”—which maintained institutional continuity—after failed attempts to maintain a unified Old Amish Church through Ordnungs Briefen statements [i.e. shared church rules].
This article’s centerpiece is a flowchart diagram developed from this issue’s historical documents. It illustrates varied ritualized recourses Amish employ to achieve unity which, when fully exhausted, result in schism.
The flowchart demonstrates how individuals can engage decision-making processes and contest agreements in the Amish system. Prior research incorrectly treats “the Amish” as a collective entity when explaining schisms, when this issue’s documents demonstrate contestation by individual members and coalitions of members.
The issues’ historic documents showcase how Amish schisms unfold gradually, not as momentous events. Terminology evolves as members discuss the other sides of a schism, from “disobedient members” to eventually recognizing a full denominational schism.