Service Project

Location:

Kalona, IA

Posted:

January 04, 2013

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Resume:

The Kalona Amish: Retention and Defection

Patterns of the 20th century

Erin Miller

Bluffton College

Introduction:

To be Amish today is to live a lifestyle that many would consider impossible.

Instead of cars, Amish use horse and buggy; instead of electricity, they use kerosene

lamps. There are no phones in the home. In many Amish communities, indoor plumbing

is not permitted. Women are required to wear head coverings at all times; all are required

to dress plainly. German, not English, is spoken at home. Military service is frowned

upon, as members are to adhere to the Biblical teachings on nonviolence and

nonresistance. To an outsider, these traditions may seem ridiculous. To the Amish,

however, these rules are viewed as necessary in order to genuinely live out one s

Christian faith. An Amish individual interviewed for this project commented that he both

enjoys the Amish way of life and also truly believes that to live Amish is to best live out

Jesus teachings and commandments.1

As extreme as the Amish appear, they continue to be a strong and thriving

subculture. Despite all the rules mandated by the Amish church, in recent decades the

great majority of those born Amish have chosen to remain in that church for a lifetime.

Even as the number of technological interventions continues to grow, and the temptations

of the world outside the Amish church multiply rapidly, an overwhelming majority of the

Amish remain steadfast in their convictions against the usage of modern technology.

Though the Amish have gone through changes, many of the traditions and rules have

remained the same throughout the existence of the Amish church.

But while the Amish have maintained the same religious traditions for centuries,

there have been times of immense turmoil and tension within the Amish church. It was

during these times that individuals and families frustrated with the Amish decisions

Amish interview #2, personal interview by author, hand-written, Kalona, IA, 23 Dec 2003.

regarding new technology or religious ideas chose to defect from the Amish church. This

paper focuses on the years following World War II, a period of immense change for the

Amish, and examines specifically the Amish settlement in Kalona, IA. During the 1940s

and the decades following, the amount of technology available, especially in rural areas

like Kalona, surged drastically. Experiences of young Amish men serving in Civilian

Public Service Camps also had a profound impact on the Amish as they interacted with

young men from other, related denominations, and simultaneously were challenged to

look at the world beyond the Amish community. In part because of the effects of World

War II on the Amish, the rates of defection from the Amish reached almost 25% in the

Kalona settlement during the late 1940s and 1950s.2

My own family exemplifies well the transition from Amish to Mennonite that

occurred for many families in the Kalona area during the post-World War II era. Both of

my father s parents were raised in Amish homes. My dad s great-great-grandparents,

Joseph and Lydia Shetler, settled in Iowa in 1869. In 1946, when my grandma was 10,

her parents decided to leave the Amish. According to my grandma, it was partly because

her parents and the youngest son traveled to Arizona for a lengthy time and after

returning felt less satisfied. 3 There were also some problems within the Amish church

at that time which contributed to the decision to leave. Family legend is that a triggering

factor was my great-grandpa s horses being too fancy, and according to the Amish

bishops, causing him pride. But rather than get new horses, he chose to switch churches.

Whatever the reasons, in 1946 my Shetler ancestors left the Amish and began attending

Fairview Conservative Mennonite church.

Amish interview #2, personal interview by author, hand-written, Kalona, IA, 23 Dec 2003.

Mary Jane Miller, personal interview by author, tape-recorded, Kalona, IA, 18 June 2003.

My grandfather s parents were some of the later settlers of the Kalona settlement,

not arriving until the 1930s. About ten years after their arrival, my great-grandfather Dan

H. Miller put rubber tires on the family tractor, signifying a departure from the Amish

church. While the Kalona Amish have always accepted tractors, they are to be steel

wheeled.4 Since my great-grandparents had the unfortunate pleasure of living on a mud

road, the required steel tires were a pain, and putting on rubber tires solved many of the

problems related to getting stuck in the Iowa mud. Also, according to my grandpa, his

parents wanted their children to receive more than an 8th grade education. These reasons,

combined with a desire for modern conveniences, caused my Miller great-grandparents,

like my Shetler ancestors, to leave the Amish and join Fairview, a Conservative

Mennonite congregation, in 1943.5

My grandparents, Ed and Mary Jane (Shetler) Miller, left the Conservative

Mennonite church and joined a Mennonite congregation in the 1960s after moving to

Idaho because my grandfather was hired as a teacher in a Mennonite school. The primary

reason for their departure from the Conservative Mennonite church was the lack of a

Conservative church in their new state. However, an added bonus of attending a

Mennonite church was that they could purchase a television, an item forbidden by the

Conservative Mennonites at that time. My grandparents bought a television in order to

watch John F. Kennedy s funeral, and my grandpa developed a strong liking for 60

Minutes. After returning to Iowa, neither of my grandparents had a desire to sell the

television in order to rejoin a Conservative Mennonite church. Instead, they began

attending Kalona Mennonite, where they still attend today.

Amish interview #2, personal interview by author, hand-written, Kalona, IA, 23 Dec 2003.

Edwin D. Miller, personal interview by author, tape-recorded, Kalona, IA, 18 June 2003.

The Shetlers gather for a family reunion every three years, and members of the

family range from the very traditional Beachy Amish to the rather out-of-place looking

Mennonites, like me. Most of the women I am related to wear coverings, and these

coverings vary depending on congregation. When my great-grandma passed away three

years ago, my father and I counted 12 different styles of covering on women attending

her visitation. In some ways, this project stems from a desire to discover why I am not

Amish, and one of the few women not wearing a covering at family gatherings. Like

many in Kalona and the surrounding community, I am a product of many years of

transition and development in the Amish-Mennonite community.

The Amish, though, have a long history of division and transition as a brief

historical overview of the Amish, both as a whole and in the Kalona area, demonstrates.

The Amish as a distinct group emerged in 1693 after a split between leaders of the

Anabaptist movement. The split occurred because of a dispute in doctrine over how

literally the scriptures should be read. Those favoring a more literal interpretation of

scripture were called Amish after Jakob Amman, a Swiss Anabaptist elder and the most

adamant supporter of the tightening of the rules of faith, while those that did not agree

with Amman were dubbed Mennonite after another Anabaptist leader, Menno Simons.6

With the discovery of the New World, many Amish left Europe in search of the

freedom to practice their religion freely. In Europe both Amish and Mennonites were

being persecuted and martyred for their religious beliefs, especially related to adult

baptism and refusal to participate in war.7 An escape from both this discrimination and

famine sweeping across much of Europe became possible with a move to the New World.

Steven M. Nolt, A History of the Amish, (Intercourse, PA: Good Books, 1992), 26-27

John A. Hostetler, Amish Society: 4th Edition, (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993),

50-52

Many took this opportunity, and by the end of the 18th century over five hundred Amish

families were living in America.8 The majority of these Amish resided in Pennsylvania,

in the Lancaster area, which today remains one the largest Amish settlements. As Amish

continued to arrive in America, groups would migrate to new areas where land was cheap

and establish new settlements. By the mid-1800s Amish sects had been established in

many parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland and Indiana.9

The quest for cheap farmland brought Amish from Ohio and Maryland to Iowa in

1845. The Amish who came in search of land also desired to establish a new church in

the west where higher ideals could be established and maintained. 10 The first Amish

setters scratched their names on Linn trees to mark their new property and returned home

to prepare their families for the move.11 In 1846, four Amish families moved to the

Johnson County, Kalona area, becoming some of the first white settlers in the state. In

the next years, migration to the Kalona settlement grew rapidly, and by 1851, these

Amish had established a church with 27 members. In 1853 the first bishop, Jacob

Schwarzendruber, was ordained.12 While the Kalona settlement was not the only Amish

settlement in Iowa to develop from the initial westward trek other settlements were

begun in Lee and Davis counties at a similar time by 1850 a steady stream of arrivals of

Nolt, A History of the Amish, 56

David Luthy, Amish Settlements Across America, (Aylmer, Ontario: Pathway Publishers, 1985), 7-12

Elmer Swartzendruber, compiler. Amish and Mennonite Church Centennial Anniversary. (Mennonite

Historical Society of Iowa, 1953), 53

Elmer Swartzendruber, 8

Katie Yoder Lind, From Hazelbrush to Cornfields: The First One Hundred Years of the Amish-

Mennonites in Johnson, Washington and Iowa Counties of Iowa 1846-1946, (Kalona, IA: Mennonite

Historical Society of Iowa, 1994), 40

new Amish to the Johnson county settlement established it as the largest Amish

settlement in the state.13

The first divisions among this new church were due to size. In 1862, the

congregation had grown too large and split so that the groups were small enough to meet

in homes. The old congregation was known as Sharon, the new, Deer Creek. By 1877

Sharon and Deer Creek had each divided again, creating a total of four Old Order Amish

congregations.14 To avoid size division in the future, the two Deer Creek congregations

built church buildings in the 1890s, a practice very uncommon among the Amish both

then and now. The leadership at Deer Creek was adamant that the building did not

represent a drifting away from the Amish tradition, stating soon after the building was

completed, The church house shall and dare not be the means of granting us more

freedom toward worldliness and we are minded, and promise to strive for simplicity and

uniformity. 15 The Sharon congregations, however, continued to meet in homes and

divide as needed.

Despite the use of buildings, the Deer Creek congregations stuck to their pledge to

remain with the tradition of the Old Order for the next two decades. During these years,

though, a nationwide trend of division among the Amish developed with more liberal

groups taking the name Amish Mennonite and the more conservative groups being

called Old Order Amish. 16 Early into the twentieth century, stemming largely from the

decision of the Deer Creek congregations to allow the telephone, the more progressive

Melvin Gingerich, The Mennonites in Iowa, (Iowa City, IA: State Historical Society of Iowa, 1939),

121

Elmer Swatzendruber, 79-80

William and Verda Swartzendruber, et al, compilers, Upper Deer Creek Conservative Mennonite Church

Centennial Anniversary 1877-1977, (Iowa City, IA: Bowers Printing Service, 1977).

Wellman Mennonite Church History 1906-1986, (1986), 10

Deer Creek congregations both dropped the Old Order from their names. Upper Deer

Creek joined the Conservative Amish Mennonite Conference in 1915 while Lower Deer

Creek left the Old Orders in 1913, joined the Western Amish Mennonite District

Conference in 1917 and became a member of a Mennonite conference in 1921.17

The Sharon churches in the Kalona area remain Amish today. Currently in the

Kalona settlement there are an estimated 1100 Amish church members split into 8 church

districts, making it the largest Amish settlement west of the Mississippi river.18 Those

that have left the Amish church and many of their descendents fill the benches at the

numerous Beachy Amish, New Order Amish, Conservative Mennonite, and Mennonite

congregations in the local community that have developed from the initial Amish

settlement begun in 1846.

These transitions from Amish to Mennonite continue to be played out in the

Kalona Amish-Mennonite community though the rates of Amish defection have dropped

drastically over the last fifty to sixty years. An Amish bishop interviewed for this project

estimated that in the 1950s around 25% of the baptized Amish defected while since the

70s, it has dropped to less than 5% of Amish.19

When the defection rate was high, in the 1940s and 50s, a departure from the

Amish was often triggered by factors directly related to an increased interaction with the

outside world. During these decades Amish attended revival meetings hosted by

Mennonite congregations, served in World War II Civilian Public Service camps

alongside non-Amish young men and performed mission work and outreach into the

outside community. In part because of these interactions, many Amish began to

Melvin Gingerich, Mennonites in Iowa. The Palimpsest 40, no. 5 (May 1959): 204-205

Amish interview #2, personal interview by author, hand-written, Kalona, IA, 23 Dec 2003.

challenge the traditional rules regarding technology and to question tenets of Amish

theology. As dissatisfied Amish began to leave the church there emerged congregations

of New Order Amish, Beachy Amish, and Conservative Mennonites, which served to

provide a less drastic departure for those leaving the Amish. At the same time, such

groups simultaneously challenged the Old Order view of worldliness as new groups

claimed, like the Amish, that they were remaining separate from the world.

The decrease in the defection rate among both the Kalona Amish and other Amish

settlements can be attributed in many ways to an increased seclusion from the world

through the creation of private Amish schools and Amish work places. Isolation from the

outside world allows for more effective socialization as exposure to non-Amish values is

limited. The isolation also has served to create a substantial divide between Amish and

Mennonite, making the transition away from the Amish much more drastic than in the

40s and 50s. Also, because of an increasing pressure to remain Amish, some frustrated

Amish choose to migrate to different settlements rather than leave the Amish church

entirely.

Methodology:

Much of the data for this project was acquired via personal interviews with

individuals and couples. In all, seventeen individuals were interviewed. Most of these

made the decision to leave the Amish after becoming baptized members of the church.

There were several, however, who left while still children as a result of a decision made

by their parents. Most questions centered on the reasons for leaving the Amish, but some

asked interviewees to hypothesize on Amish defection/retention today and why that has

changed.

Also, two Amish agreed to be interviewed for the project. The Amish request

complete anonymity, and are therefore cited as Amish interview #1 and Amish

interview #2. Both of these individuals have been members of the Amish church for

over thirty years. One is a bishop in the Kalona area. The Amish were asked questions

regarding their decision to stay Amish, and why they believe others chose to leave. They

were also asked questions in regards to specific Amish teachings such as Bible studies,

mission work, the use of tractors, and baptism.

The interviews with non-Amish were all tape-recorded and transcribed. The

Amish, however, requested not to be recorded, so the interviews with these two

individuals were hand-written.

Part One: Waves of Defection

To leave the Amish is a very difficult decision as it means leaving the tradition of

one s childhood and often times drawing the scrutiny of an entire community. It is a

decision not taken lightly by those that choose to leave. And, in fact, most Amish remain

in the tradition of their childhood an Amish bishop estimated the current attrition rate to

be less than 5%.20 There were periods in recent history, however, in which many Amish

did feel compelled to leave the church.

Two waves, so to speak, can be seen when looking at the defection rates of the

Kalona Amish settlement. The largest exodus began in the mid-1940s and continued

throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s. According to older residents of the Kalona

community, during this time as many as 25% of baptized members defected.21 One

woman interviewed believed that during a five to ten year period in the 1950s around

60% of baptized Amish left the Amish church.22 The Iowa Amish Directory does not go

into great detail about these departures but states that during this time there was

considerable unrest and much diversity of opinion among the membership which was

evident in the ministry as well as between the ministry and the laity. 23 The only other

significant wave occurred in the late 1970s as the New Order Amish community in

Kalona was established, attracting a group of Old Order families. In the period between

these two waves, and especially since the end of the second, the number of families

leaving has rarely exceeded two a year.

Amish interview #2, personal interview by author, hand-written, Kalona, IA, 23 Dec 2003.

Bernice Miller, personal interview by author, tape-recorded, Kalona, IA, 30 June 2003.

Iowa Amish Directory 1998, (Millersburg, Ohio: Abana Books, 1998), 125.

There were many reasons for the high number of departures in the 1950s. These

reasons, often intertwined, included everything from a simple desire for more

conveniences that are forbidden by the Amish to a desire to do mission work. The

formation of transitional denominations, like the Beachy Amish and Conservative

Mennonites, forced Amish to evaluate the meaning of worldliness and provided an in-

between step for departing Amish. Also, the development of such churches at this time

suggests that the patterns of defection in the Kalona settlement were indicative of a larger

sorting out of Mennonite and Amish identity.

New Developments/Technology

The Amish have always had to deal with the temptations of new technology. In

fact, of the former Amish interviewed, most spoke of a desire to have basic modern

conveniences that are forbidden by Amish doctrine. While variances between ordnung

allow some Amish communities more worldly practices than others, it can be stated that

all Amish are lacking most modern conveniences. The desire to use modern technology

has always been a motivating factor for those leaving the church.

Though all Amish settlements are fairly similar in doctrine, Amish ordnung varies

from group to group. Ordnung is the particular policy for social order by which Amish

abide. These rules establish what is worldly and what is acceptable for a particular

group. The regulations vary between settlements because the rules are determined by the

leadership of each group. To have a more liberal ordnung is to allow more worldly

practices, more conservative, less.24 The Amish in Kalona would be considered fairly

Hostetler, Amish Society 4th edition, 82-83.

liberal in regards to ordnung because of the allowance of conveniences like indoor

plumbing and tractors.

The Kalona ordnung does, however, prohibit the use of a telephone in the home,

and the conflict over the telephone made it the first invention to cause strife within the

Amish community. In 1900 the first telephone line in the area was established, and by

1901 the nearby town of Wellman had established the first local telephone company in

the area.25 As the popularity of the telephone increased and more and more families had

lines installed, the Amish bishops decided to ban the use of the telephone because of its

promotion of gossiping behavior.26

Though the decision to ban the telephone caused some Amish to defect, the

decision of Kalona congregations like Lower Deer Creek not to ban the telephone

triggered dissatisfaction among Amish as well. Already considered fairly liberal because

of its use of a church building, the Amish leadership at Lower Deer Creek did not forbid

its members from using the telephone. In 1914, a conservative faction within the

congregation was unhappy with the lack of a decision against the telephone and

withdrew. This group moved a county north to Buchanan County and established a new

settlement with a very strict ordnung. Today it remains as one of the most conservative

of the Amish settlements, accepting very few modern conveniences. 27 What happened in

the Lower Deer Creek congregation exemplifies the backlash of conservativism that

many liberal churches experience. As more progressive Amish churches look at accepting

technology like the telephone, those against the usage of such items become more and

more adamant in their opposition.

Yoder Lind, 492.

Nolt, A History of the Amish 217.

Nolt, A History of the Amish, 220-221.

After the telephone arrived in the early 1900s the number of convenience

inventions increased dramatically. As the Amish continued to reject the usage of many

of these new items, the numbers of people leaving the Amish continued to increase.

Perhaps the most problematic of these new conveniences was the automobile. The

Amish, recognizing that the automobile would negatively impact family time and time

spent at home, forbid its use.28 According to Melvin Gingerich, author of The

Mennonites in Iowa, There is, however, nothing that the Amishman is deprived of which

tempts him more than does an automobile. 29 And in fact, after the Amish decision to

forbid the owning of cars in the early 1920s, large numbers of Amish in the Kalona

settlement left to join denominations that allowed it.30

Current debates over technology continue today. One of the most recent

controversies has been over the use of cell phones by Old Order Amish. The story in the

Kalona community is told of the young Old Order Amish woman who was talking to her

bishop about the use of the cell phones. The bishop was denouncing its usage, saying it

was not in compliance with the rules of the church. As the young lady was expressing

her agreement with the bishop s remarks, her purse rang.

While the growing divide between Amish and Mennonite leaves the Amish

perhaps somewhat unaware of the technological advances, more recent defectors from the

Amish church still said that the desire for modern conveniences played a role in the

decision to leave. But though the desire for modern technology and the conveniences it

offers is a factor in the decision to leave the Amish church, it is usually only a small part

Nolt, A History of the Amish, 216.

Gingerich, The Mennonites in Iowa, 259.

of the reason for leaving the Amish church. Technology just seems to be an added bonus

to a decision that was made for other reasons.

World War II, Civilian Public Service, and the Changing Mennonite Worldview

In 1952 a group of seven Amish families in Kalona chose to leave and join the

Upper Deer Creek Conservative Mennonite church because they wanted to hold a group

Bible study, a practice questioned by most Amish. One member of this group, David

Yoder, spoke of he and his wife s decision to defect:

During World War II I was drafted and spent some time in CPS [Civilian Public

Service] and we were accustomed to having prayer meetings and midweek meetings at

camp which we weren t used to as Amish. And so when we came home, a group of us

boys decided that we d like to maintain this type of service, and we had permission from

our bishop to do that Before we were married, we were asked to discontinue these sorts

of services we were told in a preparatory service that we stop doing this, and by

stopping we would use our influence against that type of service [or else they could not

take communion], and then the bishop told us that if you don t commune for three times

then you re automatically expelled. And we didn t see any future in the Amish church

so we left. 31

Frustrations with Amish teachings on Bible studies, missions, and evangelism

were typical reasons given for leaving the Amish during this period. These frustrations

were often triggered by experiences in World War II Civilian Public Service camps or

from new insights instilled by traveling Mennonite revivalists. It is impossible to

discount the effect of shifting Mennonite and Amish theology on the Amish in Iowa. In

fact, of the individuals interviewed for this project that left in the first wave of the

1940s and 50s, all mentioned a desire to do missions or hold Bible studies as weighing

into the decision to leave the Amish.

Mennonite and Amish theology before World War II was not necessarily anti-

evangelism, but was more concerned with maintaining separateness from the world.

David and Verna Yoder, personal interview by author, tape-recorded, Kalona, IA, 26 June 2003.

There was, however, skepticism about the Biblical basis for evangelism, with church

leadership emphasizing the lack of scripture bases for mass revival.32 Because of this

skepticism, Amish and Mennonites resisted the revivalism embraced by other

denominations, choosing instead to focus on the necessity of humility.33 Typical Amish

and Mennonite sermons during the late nineteenth century and into the twentieth were

focused on nonconformity, the importance of separation from the world, plain dress, and

humility.34

The years following World War II brought massive change to the Mennonite

church as a whole. Revivalism became an issue in everyday church life, and mission

work a priority. James O. Lehman, author of Mennonite Tent Revivals, refers to this

period in Mennonite history as a quickening. 35 Organizations like Mennonite Central

Committee, which had existed since the 1920s, finally began to flourish. Mennonite

Disaster Service (MDS) was created. Mennonite publications like Christian Living were

produced. Mennonite Youth Fellowship (MYF) began to be commonplace at Mennonite

churches.36 All these were indicative of a shift in Mennonite ideology away from an

emphasis on nonconformity and separation from the world to a new focus on revival,

outreach and missions.37

The catalyst for many of these subtle doctrinal changes within Mennonite

teaching was the experience of Mennonite young people, mostly young men, in Civilian

Dale Dickey, The Tent Evangelism Movement of the Mennonite Church: A Dramatistic Analysis

(Ph.D diss., Bowling Green University, 1980), 34.

Theron Schlabach, The Mennonite Experience in America. Vol. 2, Peace, Faith, Nation: Mennonites

and Amish in Nineteenth-Century America, (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1988), 32.

James Lehman, Mennonite Tent Revivals: Howard Hammer and Myron Augsburger 1952-1962.

(Kitchner, Ontario: Pandora Press, 2002), xix.

Lehman, xvi.

Lehman, xviii.

Lehman, xix-xx.

Public Service (CPS) during World War II. CPS triggered such change in part because it

brought young men from Amish and Mennonite background together and provided an

understanding which tended to weaken the rigid church lines which had been created

over the years. 38 One interviewee hypothesized, The boys had been to CPS camp the

Amish boys in this community, and they found out that there were Christians in other

denominations especially the Mennonites and Conservative Mennonites. When they

came home they weren t satisfied to stay with the Amish. 39 Spending time in Civilian

Public Service thrust together young men of all denominational backgrounds,

highlighting the similarities between the young conscientious objectors rather than the

differences. After being in continual contact for several months, many Amish young men

no doubt had to question the importance of plain dress and horse and buggy to their faith.

In Kalona, the Amish were impacted no differently from Amish elsewhere that

served in CPS camps. A total of 39 young men from the Kalona community were drafted

during World War II, and as conscientious objectors to war, served in CPS camps.40

These young men returned to the Kalona community after a year away from home, many

of them with profoundly altered views on the needs of the world. One stated: When the

CPS boys came back, you just couldn t be the same person after seeing the needs in the

world. You came very much aware that there s more to life than being an Amishman. 41

Returning home, the CPS men brought with them a challenge to hold Bible Studies and to

Dickey, 30.

Bernice Miller, personal interview by author, tape-recorded, Kalona, IA, 30 June 2003.

David Wagler and Roman Raber, The Story of the Amish in Civilian Public Service (With Directory).

(Boonsboro, Maryland: 1986), 106-108 and 128-136.

David and Verna Yoder, personal interview by author, tape-recorded, Kalona, IA, 26 June 2003.

do mission work. In the Kalona area, the returning young men attempted to form Bible

study groups and arranged meetings focused on the subject of Christian missions.42

Also presenting a challenge to the traditional Amish theology was the tent revival

phenomenon. Tent revivals in the Mennonite church reached unparalleled popularity

during the post-World War II era, often preaching to crowds numbering in the thousands.

Led by Mennonite preachers George Brunk and Howard Hammer, the revivals

emphasized the importance of evangelism and worked to encourage congregants to

embrace a life dedicated to service.43 While the Brunk revival never made it to the

Kalona community, Howard Hammer preached there twice, once in 1952, and again in

1954, both times for several weeks. While geared to the Mennonite and Conservative

Mennonite denominations, many Amish did attend the meetings, though Amish

frequently attended in secret, parking their buggies in nearby cornfields.44

Just like the CPS camps, the effect of the Howard Hammer revivals was two-fold.

For one, it brought together Amish, Mennonite, Conservative Mennonite, and outside

denominations and emphasized similarities in Christianity rather than differences

between groups. The importance of wearing plain dress and driving horse and buggy

were increasingly difficult to justify to converts from outside the Mennonite and Amish

community.45

Secondly, the Hammer revivals, like the CPS camps, left many attendees with a

changing worldview. Instead of emphasizing humility, Hammer s sermons urged

involvement in missions work as a central expression of one s faith. The first time

Steve Nolt, The Amish Mission Movement and the Reformulation of Amish Identity in the Twentieth

Century, Mennonite Quarterly Review 75, no. 1 (Jan 2001): 13.

Lehman, 43.

Nolt, Amish Mission Movement, 20.

Lehman, xix-xx.

Howard Hammer came to Iowa, in 1952, there was an evening service in which 47

attendees promised to live a life dedicated to mission work. When he returned to Iowa in

1954, Hammer invited these 47 persons back on stage and found that the majority were

already engaged in the mission field or had planned to enter it soon.46 All that attended

the revivals Mennonites, Amish, and outside denominations were faced with the

relatively new idea that missions work was a necessary part of faith, new ideas that

affected the Amish on a tremendous scale.

The Amish as a whole were forced to deal with the new theological ideas that

CPS camps and traveling revivalists brought to their people. Bible studies and mission

work were areas in which the Amish had previously not had to deal with. Similarly, the

Amish in Kalona did their best to accommodate the new theological ideas of the lay

members of the congregation. For the Kalona Amish, dealing with the desire to hold

private Bible studies without a bishop present and the desire to do mission work far from

home were issues that had never been dealt with before. David Yoder, along with the

other seven families that left because of the Bible study conflict, was the first to bring a

request for Bible studies to the leadership. For several months the Bible studies were

allowed, though the bishops were divided over the issue. It was only after those

supporting Bible studies passed away that Yoder and the others who eventually left the

Amish were asked to discontinue their weekly meetings.47

Along with debating the validity of Bible studies, the Amish did attempt to

accommodate the new desire for missions work. The Amish Mission movement was

founded by Amish convert Russell Maniaci, who saw the Amish witness as the reason for

Lehman, 92.

David and Verna Yoder, personal interview by author, tape-recorded, Kalona, IA, 26 June 2003 .

his adoption of the Amish faith. After joining an Amish church in Indiana, however,

Maniaci struggled with the realization that the Amish seemed to care little about

evangelizing to people like him. In the early 1950s Maniaci assembled a group of over

100 like-minded individuals for the First Amish Mission Conference held on the farm

of a Kalona Amish man, Jonas Gingerich.48 This first meeting dealt with organizational

issues for what would later be dubbed the Amish Mission Movement.

Because of the movement,

Old Order church members organized national mission conferences,

attended and graduated from college, participated in Mennonite voluntary

service programs, distributed mission-oriented literature to thousands of

Amish homes, and funded full-time Amish mission workers from

Mississippi to Ontario. 49

Old Order Amish across the country were experiencing a shift in ideology away from

humility to activism and revival. As the movement gained momentum, however, the

Amish leadership began to challenge whether involvement in the Mission movement was

proper for their members. Common fears of the Amish bishops were that those involved

in missions would become acculturated into typical American life and lose touch with

their Amish-ness. Before long, the energy, enthusiasm and innovation on the part of

advocates were matched by increasing skepticism and resistance on the part of other Old

Orders. 50

As the skepticism and backlash among Amish leadership grew, those who grew

frustrated trying to work within the Amish church often ended up leaving. Some that had

developed a strong belief in the importance of missions work were overwhelmingly

Nolt, The Amish Mission Movement, 16.

Nolt, The Amish Mission Movement, 8.

Nolt, The Amish Mission Movement, 19.

discouraged by the lack of opportunity for such work within the Amish church. Rhoda

Hershberger, who left the Amish in 1954, fit this category:

In my early teens there was an Amish conference, and at that point they

gave an invitation to dedicate your life to missions, and I did I would say

my basic reason [for leaving the Amish] was because I was interested in

missions and there was really no outlet for that interest in the Amish

church. 51

By the 1960s there was hardly any Amish Mission Movement left as the active

participants grew frustrated and joined Mennonite, Conservative Mennonite, or Beachy

Amish churches.52 Even Jonas Gingerich, host of the First Amish Mission Conference,

began attending a Conservative Mennonite church soon after the conference.53

The changing theology of the Mennonite church and the desire of some Amish to

embrace these changes was a divisive issue throughout the 1950s. For the Amish, it was

the first time that issues of evangelism and missions were discussed. As the Amish

struggled to accommodate new ideas, Amish in the 1950s worked for mission

organizations and distributed literature. In the 1960s and following, however, as the

revival movement within the Amish church largely dissipated, such work was unheard

of.54 Nolt is quick to point out that while Mennonite theology and identity was changing

rapidly in the 1950s toward a more outward looking, evangelical faith, Amish identity too

was changing, but in the opposite direction.55

This backlash is seen further in the strict rules now in place regarding Bible

Studies, missions and revival in the Kalona Amish. The Amish I interviewed did not

even understand what I meant by Bible Study the concept was foreign. Similarly, the

Rhoda Hershberger, personal interview by author, tape-recorded, Kalona, IA, 23 June 2003.

Nolt, The Amish Mission Movement, 7.

Nolt, The Amish Mission Movement, 28.

Nolt, The Amish Mission Movement, 33.

Nolt, The Amish Mission Movement, 34.

Kalona Amish today are discouraged from attending any revival meeting sponsored by

any denomination, even from Amish Mennonite background, and mission work is

frowned on. On revivals, the current oppositional stance is upheld by the idea that

revivals are more of an emotional thing, not a heart thing that the heart has really

changed. 56 The Amish today oppose their members doing mission work for fear of

assimilation into and acceptance of a non-Amish lifestyle. An Amish bishop articulated

the fear that missions workers would go out, be confronted with difficult issues and

bring back things that are destructive to the church. 57 Another Amish interviewee

stated that revival, prayer meetings and missions work are no longer acceptable because

the Amish leadership saw what was happening as the congregants were exposed to

new ideas the church was too, and the Amish lost many members.58

New Denominations: Challenging worldliness and providing a middle-ground

Along with new technology and shifting religious ideology, a third factor

contributing to the waves of defection was the development of new denominations that

created a transition between Amish and Mennonite. Mennonite Scholar John A.

Hostetler states, A newly formed or more liberalized group has emerged from the Old

Order Amish about every generation. 59 Liberalized denominations like the Conservative

Mennonites, Beachy Amish, and New Order Amish developed in the Kalona settlement

with the departure of individuals and families from the Amish church and served to span

the gap between Amish and Mennonite. Melvin Gingerich asserts that many Amish

Amish Interview #2, personal interview by author, hand-written, Kalona, IA, 23 Dec. 2003.

Amish Interview #1, personal interview by author, hand-written, Kalona, IA, 22 Dec 2003.

John A. Hostetler, Old Order Amish Survival. Mennonite Quarterly Review 51, no. 4 (Oct. 1977),

354.

individuals have indoctrination so complete that they [are] not able to lose all of

their earlier religious concepts. 60 These in-between denominations, then, while created

to serve the spiritual needs of those leaving the Amish, also provided defecting Amish

with a denominational change perhaps less shocking than Mennonite, and may have

increased defection rates with their creation as unsatisfied Amish could join a

denomination with views only slightly different from the Amish church.

As new denominations gained membership, the definition of worldliness was

often questioned and challenged by some Amish. New groups were able to retain

distinctiveness from the world around them, whether it be through continuing to wear

plain dress or just differing theologically from the mainstream. One defector commented,

Worldliness to the Old Amish viewpoint is conveniences cars, etc and I learned

through going to the Mennonite church that worldliness is a spiritual thing. 61

It is also important to mention that the Kalona Amish do not shun Amish who

leave and join denominations that embrace pacifism as a central teaching. If a person

defects and joins a non-pacifist church, that individual is shunned. This is because the

Amish believe that nonresistance is central to Christianity, so while being Amish is the

way to live most closely to how Jesus instructs, to join another denomination that is

pacifist is to maintain still the central tenet of Christianity. To join a just war

denomination is, for some Amish, almost akin to leaving Christianity entirely.62

Therefore, the development of new denominations that carry on the peace traditions of

the Amish and Mennonites created more options for departing Amish who wished to

leave the church but remain in contact with their Amish relation. Congregations of

Gingerich, The Mennonites in Iowa, 174.

Loren Borntrager, personal interview by author, tape-recorded, Kalona, IA, 20 July 2003.

Amish interview #2, personal interview by author, hand-written, Kalona, IA, 23 Dec 2003.

Beachy Amish, New Order Amish, and Conservative Mennonites are just three of the

many denominations originally stemming from the Old Order Amish that have developed

in the Kalona area.

Conservative Mennonites:

The Conservative Mennonite denomination, along with groups like the Beachy

Amish and the New Order Amish, has drawn a large number of individuals from the Old

Order Amish that were considering leaving but did not want to jump so far as to join the

Mennonite church. While the Conservative Mennonites existed in Iowa long before the

start of the first wave of defection in the 1950s, the presence of the Conservative Amish

Mennonite (CAM) conference provided a transitional step between Amish and

Mennonite for those choosing to leave. One interviewee noted that many Amish

defectors hadn t quite come to the point where they were willing to accept Mennonites;

they were just a bit further than they wanted to go. So they went to the Conservative

church. 63

The Conservative Mennonite denomination developed not out of a church schism,

but because of nuances that had always existed between particular groups of Amish and

Mennonites. From the late 1880s on, though not organized in a conference, there were

churches that adopted some modern conveniences, unlike the Amish, but disagreed with

some teachings of the Mennonites.64 Too accepting of modern technology, specifically

the telephone and the automobile, to be called Old Order, but theologically too

conservative to desire affiliation in a Mennonite conference, churches that fit into this

Bernice Miller, personal interview by author, tape-recorded, Kalona, IA, 30 June 2003.

Ivan J. Miller, History of the Conservative Mennonite Conference. (Grantsville, MD: Ivan J. and Della

Miller, 1985), 44.

category were dubbed Conservative Amish Mennonite by the Mennonite Yearbook.65

In 1910 this small group of churches embraced the label as their own and held their first

conference in Pigeon, Michigan.66 Five years later, in 1915, leadership at Upper Deer

Creek chose to join the newly formed Conservative Amish Mennonite conference and

withdraw from the Old Orders.67 By the mid-1930s Upper Deer Creek Conservative

Mennonite had grown too large, and a new, sister church, Fairview Conservative

Mennonite, was constructed. In 1957 the two congregations had again grown too large,

and a third Conservative Mennonite church, Sunnyside was built.68

A substantial portion of these churches membership was former Old Order

Amish. One reason that the Conservative Mennonite churches drew Old Order Amish

away from the Amish church was their stance on missions. As early as 1928 the

Conservative Amish Mennonite conference had mission outposts in Michigan and New

York.69 In Iowa, Upper Deer Creak Conservative Mennonite sent missions workers to

Maryland to work in a Children s home and started an outreach in nearby Richmond,

IA.70 Evangelists were also frequently brought in by CAM conference churches, and

members were encouraged to attend. For Amish frustrated with the lack of mission

opportunities in the Amish church, the Conservative churches provided the desired outlet

for mission work.

The emergence of the Conservative Mennonite church as a large sector of the

Mennonite community in Kalona is linked to the church s position in between Amish and

Ivan J. Miller, 49.

Gingerich, Mennonites in Iowa, 15.

Kalona: The First Century 1879-1979, (Minneapolis: International Graphics, 1979), 86.

Paul Toews, The Mennonite Experience in America, Vol. 4, Mennonites in American Society 1930-1970

(Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1996), 54.

William & Verda Swartzendruber et al, 23.

Mennonite, and its willingness to alter the concept of worldliness. Avoiding

worldliness to the Conservative Mennonite denomination has lain heavily in abstaining

from involvement in politics, especially discouraging voting, and, of course, participation

in war.71 Physically, worldliness could still be avoided by a woman wearing a head

covering, though a much smaller one than in Beachy and Amish churches. Conveniences

like the television, which could be considered excessive, have not been permitted until

recently. The Conservative Mennonites, therefore, epitomized a group that was striving

to maintain separation from the world while still allowing the use of some basic modern

amenities.

Beachy Amish:

Another group made up almost entirely of Amish defectors is the Beachy Amish.

The first Beachy Amish congregation developed in 1927 in Pennsylvania after a dispute

between two Amish bishops over electricity, cars, and Sunday school triggered the more

conservative members of the group to migrate to other settlements so as not to lose their

good standing with the Amish church. Those that remained were dubbed the Beachys,

after their minister.72 The Beachys accept some modern amenities forbidden by the

Amish church, such as electricity, automobiles (as long as black or dark colored), and the

telephone, but still emphasize the importance of plain dress, with members wearing

clothes varying only slightly from traditional Amish clothing.

The first Beachy Amish congregation in Iowa formed in 1946, at the beginning of

the first wave of defection, as the result of a dispute over rubber tires. County officials

Ivan J. Miller, 59.

Dorothy and Elmer Schwieder, The Beachy Amish in Iowa: A Case Study, Mennonite Quarterly

Review 51, no. 1 (Jan 1977), 42.

banned the use of vehicles with steel lugs on the newly oiled Johnson County roads. One

church district agreed to the use of rubber tires, inciting a negative reaction from the other

congregations.73 As the debate over rubber tires continued, issues such as the use of

telephones, cars, and electricity became central as well, with some members asking, If it

is wrong to own a car or use a telephone then why is it right to hire a car or use a

neighbor s phone? 74 The conflict resulted in seven families leaving the Amish and

forming Iowa s first Beachy Amish congregation.75

The Beachy Amish denomination as a whole grew quickly, in part because of its

ability to draw members from the Old Order congregations who could see from the

Beachys conservative dress their attempts to remain separate from the world, while still

permitting some modern conveniences. Less than ten years after the formation of the

Kalona Beachy church, in 1955, there were 22 Beachy Amish families; by 1977 there

were 41 families and 99 members in the Kalona Beachy church.76 Some, like Bernice

Miller, chose to attend the Beachy Amish church after making the decision to leave the

Amish. She and her family went Beachy because her husband was not quite ready to

completely pull away from the Amish culture. 77 The Beachy congregation s formation

in Iowa gave a place for those not ready to transition all the way to Mennonite after

departing from the Amish.

The Beachy Amish also provided an outlet for the desire to do missions that

triggered some to leave the Old Order congregations. In 1955, concurrent with the wave

Schweider, The Beachy Amish in Iowa, 42.

Schweider, A Peculiar People: Iowa s Old Order Amish, (Ames: The Iowa State University Press, 1975),

130.

Schweider Beachy Amish in Iowa, 42.

Schweider Beachy Amish in Iowa, 43.

Bernice Miller, personal interview by author, tape-recorded, Kalona, IA, 30 June 2003.

of Mennonite evangelism sweeping across the Midwest, the Beachy Amish founded their

own mission organization, the Amish Mennonite Aid.78 Also during the 1950s, the

Beachy church hosted two missions gatherings, one of which was held in Iowa, began to

send Beachy members interested in missions all over the country and the world, and

created its own missions-oriented newsletter.79 According to the Beachy Overseas

Voluntary Service Manual, missions is an important venture for the Christian to

demonstrate a positive witness which testifies to the love and power of God and to the

life of a Christian by helping others to help themselves by providing information,

encouragement, love, tools, and materials. 80 Unlike the Amish, the Beachy church was

willing to integrate an emphasis on outreach into church doctrine. Undoubtedly the

opportunities to do mission work attracted some that were interested in missions but

found no vehicle for that desire in the Amish church at the time.

The Beachy Amish, even more so than the Conservative Mennonites, called into

question the Amish interpretation of worldliness. The Beachys, like the Amish, dress

plainly, have their own schools, and believe in nonresistance, nonconformity and

coverings for women. In contrast to the Amish, however, Beachys drive cars, have

electricity, and meet in church buildings.81 But for the most part, Old Order and Beachy

groups remain indistinguishable to the casual observer (that is, until the Beachy

individual climbs into a car). With the formation of the Beachy Amish church the Old

Order Amish faced, for the first time, a homogenous group in their own midst

Schwieder, Beachy Amish in Iowa, 49.

Elmer S. Yoder, The Beachy Amish Mennonite Fellowship Churches, (Hartville, OH: Diakonia

Ministries, 1987), 214, 220.

Schweider, The Beachy Amish in Iowa, 49.

Schwieder, The Beachy Amish in Iowa, 45-46.

who successfully adopted most of the modern conveniences without themselves

becoming worldly. 82

New Order Amish:

A third denomination that has questioned the Amish interpretation of worldliness

is the New Order Amish. In Iowa, the rapid growth of the Conservative Mennonite

church and the rise of the Beachy Amish church were concurrent with the first period of

defection. The second wave of defection and the last of any significance to this day

corresponded to the creation of a New Order Amish congregation in the Kalona Area. In

the late 1970s, with the founding of a New Order congregation in Iowa, 15 or so families

left the Amish in a period of a few years, most joining the New Order church. Others

chose to migrate to a new settlement to avoid the skirmish that occurred with the

denomination s inception.83

The New Order Amish first developed in the mid-1960s when some Amish in

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania moved to allow tractors and other farm equipment. The

more conservative Amish in the group did not agree, and those favoring more progressive

rules left and were dubbed the New Order Amish. Within the next few years, a similar

division occurred among Amish in Holmes County, OH.84 The New Orders differ from

Old Order Amish only in areas relating to technology. Modern technology like the

telephone, tractors, and indoor plumbing are allowed by some, but not all New Order

Amish congregations. They do, however, remain distinct from other transition groups

Alvin J Beachy, The Rise and Development of the Beachy Amish Mennonite Churches, Mennonite

Quarterly Review 29, no. 2 (April 1955): 140.

Amish Interview #2, personal interview by author, hand-written, Kalona, IA, 23 Dec 2003.

Nolt, A History of the Amish, 266.

like the Beachy Amish by continuing to drive horse and buggy and meet for church in the

home.85

The New Order Amish congregation in Iowa was established in the mid-1970s.

When first established, the only difference between New Orders and Old Orders was the

allowance of New Orders to use rubber tired equipment.86 Now, the New Order Amish

church allows telephones in the home, and women wear shorter strings on their bonnets.87

The church began after a mix-up in determining by lot the next minister for an Old Order

congregation. A minister was chosen by lot, but his name was not one that had been

submitted for ordination rather, another man with the same last name had been. The

church chose to cover-up the incident, but one member, Jonas Miller, brought up the

subject at a council meeting. Miller refused to apologize, and so was not in right standing

with the Old Order church and was kicked out. Those that sympathized with him left the

church and formed a New Order congregation.88

While the transition to the New Order Amish in Lancaster and Holmes counties

was and perhaps still is relatively easy, in the Kalona area the New Orders are shunned,

not because they break the rules regarding pacifism, but because of the manner in which

their church was established it created a division within the church. Since Jonas Miller,

the founder of the church, was not in right standing with the church at the time of his

departure, he remained shunned until his death. Likewise, all those that join the New

Hosteteler, Amish Society Fourth Edition, 284.

Harvey and Ruby Yoder, personal interview by author, tape-recorded, Kalona, IA, 21 June 2003.

Ruth Ann and Clara Shetler, personal interview by author, tape-recorded, Kalona, IA, 7 July 2003.

Orders are automatically placed under the ban.89 This fact most likely accounts for the

lack of growth in the New Order church in Kalona.

Ruth Ann and Clara Shetler, personal interview by author, tape-recorded, Kalona, IA, 7 July 2003.

Part Two: Increasing Retention

In some ways the shunning of the New Order Amish is indicative of the changes

that the Kalona Amish have undergone in the last 40 years. To leave the Amish is no

longer seen as normal or commonplace. Leaving the Amish today is much more

controversial than 40 years ago, and the consequences of doing so much greater. Instead

of being one of many leaving, in

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