Do the Amish Recruit? Why or Why Not?
Thursday, July 15, 2021
For almost any thriving group, it seems one of the goals is to grow—to gain new members, to get bigger and bigger for it carry on its legacy. Today, why don’t we consider this topic as it pertains to the Amish—as it pertains to how they grow. Do they use any methods to do so? Do they recruit, or evangelize, to use a religious term? Let’s think about this concept. Considering the importance of this particular concept, I think we will see for the Amish that they do in fact grow, but probably not in the way that most groups do, or how they do. It’s quite interesting to say the least.
If we think of the Amish from the perspective of being a church, we would likely imagine they probably go out and evangelize to try to gain more and more members. But any basic understanding of the Amish will quickly realize this one fact, and that is that most groups of Amish people, simply put, do not. Why would this be? Most English churches practice evangelism based on the sole fact that they believe it is commanded from Jesus when he was here on the earth. It’s referred to as The Great Commission. So, this is carried out through speeches in front of groups of people, whatever the size, or through one-on-one communication, or conversations.
I have always wanted a clear-cut answer on the Amish people’s interpretation of The Great Commission, knowing all I personally know about theology and a lot about the evangelical sect of Christianity. To this day, I haven’t really found one. I’ve heard Amish say that they do in fact model the the righteous way of living according to the Bible by what they do. We might say they publicly display themselves as the salt of the earth, to use some Biblical terminology. Surely this is true in a lot of cases. They do live humbly. Love is given to one another. Great forgiveness they are known for, no matter what the offense, no matter how heinous. An example of this is the school shooting that occurred in Pennsylvania over a decade ago.
What are some good ways, specifically, that the Amish model noteworthy behavior in their conduct. Their dress is plain. Might be considered by some something to be admired. I don’t know. I think it shows that they are a disciplined individuals for sure. That’s obvious. We could note their barn-raisings, and how they help each other in that specific area when there is a disaster. A barn burns down. A day or two later, a bunch of them in that community show up to rebuild it. The women even serve the men food and drink while they work. Shows a lot of love. I mean, think about it. To be willing to stop whatever you are doing personally, show up to rebuild another’s barn for a long, hard day’s work, spend all that time doing it, and then go home at the end of day, says something.
So, it is these kinds of things that the world sees. It’s these characteristics and actions that bear witness to the truth that they are different, that certainly, they are loving people. We can come to that conclusion. There aren’t many other people groups like them in their behaviors, are there? I mean, we can contemplate on other groups, call many to mind, but I believe that most don’t match this level. More likely, we are liable to call ‘individuals’ to mind that we think are great—those who, in our estimation, have done good in one way or another. That’s what we bring to mind, as English. But notice that you really can’t bring any specific Amish persons to mind in this area of doing good, can you? And that is a testimony to the collective nature, to their working together as a group and not individually.
In their inner-workings as a community, a church, then, why don’t they recruit more to come to their group? Well, one thing we could note, which may seem obvious to some, is that they don’t have to. After all, the average Amish family has seven children. That being the case, their numbers are naturally growing, considering that most continue in the group, which they do. I have read, from more than one source, that the Amish are doubling in size every twenty years. Pretty incredible. In understanding that, they naturally grow themselves without the need to go out and try to get new individuals to join. As an aside, depending on what you read, the retention rate among the Amish seems to be around 85% to 90%. Pretty impressive I must say. So, roughly speaking, only approximately one in ten children will leave the group.
Even if that number were to drop to four or five children per family, they would still be growing naturally. That’s taking into account the average English couple in the United States bears two to three children. So, their numbers would still grow. Accordingly, it seems that it will be quite a long time before we would ever see a dramatic change in this population growth among the Amish. Even if their numbers start to drop over the years to come due perhaps to say, a change in view with new generations about how many children to have, it would still take a long, long time for those numbers to drop to the point where recruiting would become really important. Say, maybe a hundred fifty to two hundred years (just a random estimation—sorta).
Just to note here, if you want specific numbers on Amish populations, a resourceful place to get that information online is at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown College, http://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/statistics/statistics-population-2020/
One could argue then, that the recruiting comes from within. What I mean is that the whole process of raising their children, sending them off the Amish schoolhouses, surrounding them with like-minded peers, is the process of recruiting. It is the process of raising their children in such a way that they stay within the group, within the faith. It is true that the Amish believe one needs to be Amish to enter into Heaven. Now, I don’t think that is an absolute universal belief among everyone, but it seems to be in most the cases I have seen where this is discussed. That’s the great fear for them. Leave the Amish way, and then one is doomed. If one where to die, they would end up in Hell. They would be tormented forever in not following the true way that God approves of.
Therefore, this keeping the young in the faith is fear-based. That’s for sure. It would be interesting to see how many Amish people are currently Amish due to fear. Hopefully, if we were able to know, we would find that a lot of Amish have stayed that way because they actually want to be, because they really believe in it, and not because they are afraid of going to Hell someday if they leave the faith. Personally, I believe we would find both kinds of people within the group. I suppose we would find some who are living that way because they reason they have to, and others who in point of fact want to because they believe it is the best.
If the Amish did go out and evangelize, and let’s keep in mind that there have been a few groups who have done that (I remember reading of one in Jerry Eicher’s autobiography), what would that look like? What would they have to offer? Would they approach it in such a way that they would tell people that if you don’t become Amish, if you don’t make the transformation from the English world (really, the world) to the Amish world, that you are doomed to Hell. Well, a lot of them certainly believe that. If they believe that, why would they not share that concern with the English? Conceivably it is that because they are under the impression they are the ‘chosen’ ones, like the Nation of Israel in the Old Testament of the Bible, and therefore they really aren’t required to do that. After all, I don’t think Israel ever really did, and don’t seem to recruit to this day.
But if it were done, how would it be done? How would the Amish do it? Well, I guess they would have to either give speeches at gatherings or do it one-on-one, right? Stand on street corners and preach from the Bible. Witness the truth to their English neighbors whom they do business with, whom they pass by on the street, or perhaps in a restaurant. It would be interesting to see, and interesting to see what the response might be. Seems a tuff sell, though. Give up your car. Give up your family (unless a whole family joins). Give up your individualism. Ah, there it is. That’s down to the root. Interestingly enough, it does sound similar to some of the things Jesus said while he walked the earth. To paraphrase, didn’t he say to sell your possessions and give to the poor? I also remember a verse or two about forsaking family members to be worthy of him.
The 1800s way, though, come on, we might say. Why do we need to live in a frozen period of the past, say 1885? Is there some kind of temporal junction in the space-time continuum that makes the practices of 1885 the most Biblical? Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Getting a little Back to the Future here, and certainly I am just having fun. The Amish would probably answer that actually this is the most advanced time period before things got out of hand, before the Industrial Revolution led things in such a direction as to pull people away from God by the advancement in technology. The automobile, the telephone, electricity, etc. I mean, it is a compelling argument, at least from their standpoint. It passes reason and logic. It’s just a hard pill for us who have never lived that way to swallow.
How would we give all the modern conveniences up? And, not to mention we would have to learn their language, learn the Dutch. But that’s getting off point. Setting aside that which is (to me) obviously the hardest of all feats, next would be the horse and buggy, right? Though, that would become easier and easier to use with time. It’s just that we wouldn’t be going any place fast. We wouldn’t be visiting our blood-family members who lived a couple hours away very often. That’s be too hard to do. Give up electricity? With the allowance of battery powered flashlights and propane this and that, could be done I think. I didn’t have central air conditioning in my upbringing until I was 10 years old, so I know what it is like to live without that. It’s not too bad. Propane takes care of the washer and dryer. Not that I would ever touch that anyway being a male in the new society. Dishwasher, well, I know what it’s like not to have that either.
Then there is the clothing. Let’s not forget that. Ah, not nearly as comfortable we might say. No more shorts. No more lounging around (well, maybe we could get away with it home. Maybe).
I am trying to remember the experiment that was laid out to us in Jerry Eicher’s book (which is called ‘My Amish Childhood: A true Story of Faith, Family, and the Simple Life&rsquo
. I’ve read it twice, I should remember. It’s only been a little over a year since that last time. Seems like his settlement down there actually recruited a significant amount of people, that people wanted to be like them. I do remember him seeming to recall that his group was perceived as rich. And that makes sense. Wearing those clothes, having all the animals, nice houses—they probably were wealthier than everyone else. Interesting how that works, isn’t it? Ever think about that? The Amish ways are based on American society, and where it is at technologically and otherwise. I mean, the use of the horse and buggy is in rebellion to the car. The use of candles, gas lighting, and flashlights, well, that’s in rebellion to electricity. The plain dress, well, that’s the counter that English dress.
So, what if everyone in America decided they weren’t going to use cars anymore? Too much of a carbon footprint. Cars are outlawed let’s say. So, now, the carriages of the Amish are better than walking and our bicycles. They can carry more people. Now we have a problem. The Amish are more sophisticated than we are. And that’s what happened in Honduras.
Nevertheless, the Honduras experiment of sharing the Amish way, of recruiting, is a good example that some Amish do in fact see the need to evangelize. I’m sure there are other examples we could point to. Let’s also remember that the most liberal group who is still technically considered Amish by encyclopedic definition are The Beachy Amish, and they do evangelize. But they are significantly different in that they use electricity and cars. Some people wouldn’t even consider them true Amish, but rather Mennonite. We might say they are Amish-Mennonite, which actually they are also called by definition.
To recruit or not to recruit then, that is the question. I still want my answer as to why most Amish do not evangelize, and I say that not in a judgmental way, I just really want to understand their logic and reasoning behind it. Perhaps someone out there knows that answer. Possibly next time I am talking to an Amish man I will ask him. I should have done so already. I wonder if they are typically asked that? I kinda doubt it.
- Daniel Litton
To comment on this post, tap here to go to the comments page.
If we think of the Amish from the perspective of being a church, we would likely imagine they probably go out and evangelize to try to gain more and more members. But any basic understanding of the Amish will quickly realize this one fact, and that is that most groups of Amish people, simply put, do not. Why would this be? Most English churches practice evangelism based on the sole fact that they believe it is commanded from Jesus when he was here on the earth. It’s referred to as The Great Commission. So, this is carried out through speeches in front of groups of people, whatever the size, or through one-on-one communication, or conversations.
I have always wanted a clear-cut answer on the Amish people’s interpretation of The Great Commission, knowing all I personally know about theology and a lot about the evangelical sect of Christianity. To this day, I haven’t really found one. I’ve heard Amish say that they do in fact model the the righteous way of living according to the Bible by what they do. We might say they publicly display themselves as the salt of the earth, to use some Biblical terminology. Surely this is true in a lot of cases. They do live humbly. Love is given to one another. Great forgiveness they are known for, no matter what the offense, no matter how heinous. An example of this is the school shooting that occurred in Pennsylvania over a decade ago.
What are some good ways, specifically, that the Amish model noteworthy behavior in their conduct. Their dress is plain. Might be considered by some something to be admired. I don’t know. I think it shows that they are a disciplined individuals for sure. That’s obvious. We could note their barn-raisings, and how they help each other in that specific area when there is a disaster. A barn burns down. A day or two later, a bunch of them in that community show up to rebuild it. The women even serve the men food and drink while they work. Shows a lot of love. I mean, think about it. To be willing to stop whatever you are doing personally, show up to rebuild another’s barn for a long, hard day’s work, spend all that time doing it, and then go home at the end of day, says something.
So, it is these kinds of things that the world sees. It’s these characteristics and actions that bear witness to the truth that they are different, that certainly, they are loving people. We can come to that conclusion. There aren’t many other people groups like them in their behaviors, are there? I mean, we can contemplate on other groups, call many to mind, but I believe that most don’t match this level. More likely, we are liable to call ‘individuals’ to mind that we think are great—those who, in our estimation, have done good in one way or another. That’s what we bring to mind, as English. But notice that you really can’t bring any specific Amish persons to mind in this area of doing good, can you? And that is a testimony to the collective nature, to their working together as a group and not individually.
In their inner-workings as a community, a church, then, why don’t they recruit more to come to their group? Well, one thing we could note, which may seem obvious to some, is that they don’t have to. After all, the average Amish family has seven children. That being the case, their numbers are naturally growing, considering that most continue in the group, which they do. I have read, from more than one source, that the Amish are doubling in size every twenty years. Pretty incredible. In understanding that, they naturally grow themselves without the need to go out and try to get new individuals to join. As an aside, depending on what you read, the retention rate among the Amish seems to be around 85% to 90%. Pretty impressive I must say. So, roughly speaking, only approximately one in ten children will leave the group.
Even if that number were to drop to four or five children per family, they would still be growing naturally. That’s taking into account the average English couple in the United States bears two to three children. So, their numbers would still grow. Accordingly, it seems that it will be quite a long time before we would ever see a dramatic change in this population growth among the Amish. Even if their numbers start to drop over the years to come due perhaps to say, a change in view with new generations about how many children to have, it would still take a long, long time for those numbers to drop to the point where recruiting would become really important. Say, maybe a hundred fifty to two hundred years (just a random estimation—sorta).
Just to note here, if you want specific numbers on Amish populations, a resourceful place to get that information online is at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown College, http://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/statistics/statistics-population-2020/
One could argue then, that the recruiting comes from within. What I mean is that the whole process of raising their children, sending them off the Amish schoolhouses, surrounding them with like-minded peers, is the process of recruiting. It is the process of raising their children in such a way that they stay within the group, within the faith. It is true that the Amish believe one needs to be Amish to enter into Heaven. Now, I don’t think that is an absolute universal belief among everyone, but it seems to be in most the cases I have seen where this is discussed. That’s the great fear for them. Leave the Amish way, and then one is doomed. If one where to die, they would end up in Hell. They would be tormented forever in not following the true way that God approves of.
Therefore, this keeping the young in the faith is fear-based. That’s for sure. It would be interesting to see how many Amish people are currently Amish due to fear. Hopefully, if we were able to know, we would find that a lot of Amish have stayed that way because they actually want to be, because they really believe in it, and not because they are afraid of going to Hell someday if they leave the faith. Personally, I believe we would find both kinds of people within the group. I suppose we would find some who are living that way because they reason they have to, and others who in point of fact want to because they believe it is the best.
If the Amish did go out and evangelize, and let’s keep in mind that there have been a few groups who have done that (I remember reading of one in Jerry Eicher’s autobiography), what would that look like? What would they have to offer? Would they approach it in such a way that they would tell people that if you don’t become Amish, if you don’t make the transformation from the English world (really, the world) to the Amish world, that you are doomed to Hell. Well, a lot of them certainly believe that. If they believe that, why would they not share that concern with the English? Conceivably it is that because they are under the impression they are the ‘chosen’ ones, like the Nation of Israel in the Old Testament of the Bible, and therefore they really aren’t required to do that. After all, I don’t think Israel ever really did, and don’t seem to recruit to this day.
But if it were done, how would it be done? How would the Amish do it? Well, I guess they would have to either give speeches at gatherings or do it one-on-one, right? Stand on street corners and preach from the Bible. Witness the truth to their English neighbors whom they do business with, whom they pass by on the street, or perhaps in a restaurant. It would be interesting to see, and interesting to see what the response might be. Seems a tuff sell, though. Give up your car. Give up your family (unless a whole family joins). Give up your individualism. Ah, there it is. That’s down to the root. Interestingly enough, it does sound similar to some of the things Jesus said while he walked the earth. To paraphrase, didn’t he say to sell your possessions and give to the poor? I also remember a verse or two about forsaking family members to be worthy of him.
The 1800s way, though, come on, we might say. Why do we need to live in a frozen period of the past, say 1885? Is there some kind of temporal junction in the space-time continuum that makes the practices of 1885 the most Biblical? Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Getting a little Back to the Future here, and certainly I am just having fun. The Amish would probably answer that actually this is the most advanced time period before things got out of hand, before the Industrial Revolution led things in such a direction as to pull people away from God by the advancement in technology. The automobile, the telephone, electricity, etc. I mean, it is a compelling argument, at least from their standpoint. It passes reason and logic. It’s just a hard pill for us who have never lived that way to swallow.
How would we give all the modern conveniences up? And, not to mention we would have to learn their language, learn the Dutch. But that’s getting off point. Setting aside that which is (to me) obviously the hardest of all feats, next would be the horse and buggy, right? Though, that would become easier and easier to use with time. It’s just that we wouldn’t be going any place fast. We wouldn’t be visiting our blood-family members who lived a couple hours away very often. That’s be too hard to do. Give up electricity? With the allowance of battery powered flashlights and propane this and that, could be done I think. I didn’t have central air conditioning in my upbringing until I was 10 years old, so I know what it is like to live without that. It’s not too bad. Propane takes care of the washer and dryer. Not that I would ever touch that anyway being a male in the new society. Dishwasher, well, I know what it’s like not to have that either.
Then there is the clothing. Let’s not forget that. Ah, not nearly as comfortable we might say. No more shorts. No more lounging around (well, maybe we could get away with it home. Maybe).
I am trying to remember the experiment that was laid out to us in Jerry Eicher’s book (which is called ‘My Amish Childhood: A true Story of Faith, Family, and the Simple Life&rsquo
. I’ve read it twice, I should remember. It’s only been a little over a year since that last time. Seems like his settlement down there actually recruited a significant amount of people, that people wanted to be like them. I do remember him seeming to recall that his group was perceived as rich. And that makes sense. Wearing those clothes, having all the animals, nice houses—they probably were wealthier than everyone else. Interesting how that works, isn’t it? Ever think about that? The Amish ways are based on American society, and where it is at technologically and otherwise. I mean, the use of the horse and buggy is in rebellion to the car. The use of candles, gas lighting, and flashlights, well, that’s in rebellion to electricity. The plain dress, well, that’s the counter that English dress.So, what if everyone in America decided they weren’t going to use cars anymore? Too much of a carbon footprint. Cars are outlawed let’s say. So, now, the carriages of the Amish are better than walking and our bicycles. They can carry more people. Now we have a problem. The Amish are more sophisticated than we are. And that’s what happened in Honduras.
Nevertheless, the Honduras experiment of sharing the Amish way, of recruiting, is a good example that some Amish do in fact see the need to evangelize. I’m sure there are other examples we could point to. Let’s also remember that the most liberal group who is still technically considered Amish by encyclopedic definition are The Beachy Amish, and they do evangelize. But they are significantly different in that they use electricity and cars. Some people wouldn’t even consider them true Amish, but rather Mennonite. We might say they are Amish-Mennonite, which actually they are also called by definition.
To recruit or not to recruit then, that is the question. I still want my answer as to why most Amish do not evangelize, and I say that not in a judgmental way, I just really want to understand their logic and reasoning behind it. Perhaps someone out there knows that answer. Possibly next time I am talking to an Amish man I will ask him. I should have done so already. I wonder if they are typically asked that? I kinda doubt it.
- Daniel Litton
To comment on this post, tap here to go to the comments page.