• In just over a year’s time, 1,000+ people filled out a survey to receive information about local plain church, thus expressing potential interest in joining plain Anabaptist groups such as the Beachy Amish-Mennonites, Conservative Mennonites, or Amish.
  
  
• Of religious backgrounds, 21.8% were Baptist, 50% were evangelical, and 28.3% were non- affiliated Christians
  
  
• Top attractions included “serious Christian faith” (69%), “strong community” (69%), and “modesty” (65%)
  
  
• Seekers tend to have either direct experience with plain people and their media (e.g. church periodicals) or indirect exposure through popular representations, such as Amish-themed novels and tourist venues
  
  
• A factor analysis revealed six overarching seeker interests:
  
  

(1) Family Control: Value parental control over child socialization & consolidated social domains around family;
(2) Femininity: Drawn to distinctive gender roles & symbols like head coverings; alternative to mainstream sexualized culture
(3) Personal Conviction: Prioritize Biblical literalism & personal morality
(4) Primitivism: Appreciate simplicity, technology restraint, back-to-earth lifestyle
(5) Stability: Perceive order & stability of groups; some seek help getting life “on track”
(6) Returnees: Want to rejoin childhood faith or connect with Anabaptist ancestry

• Females were the significant majority (69%); young women especially were drawn to plain groups’ countercultural standards around gender and modesty as an alternative to mainstream youth culture