They have always fascinated me as well. Many mainline Christians will likely view them as a cult or at least as an extremely fundamentalist sect. That is what I hear anyway. I don't know and believe it is all a matter of semantics.
I wanted to share a bit of what hubby and I very briefly experienced among these people . Several years ago, after my husband and I left our Lutheran church and were very disillusioned about church, faith, etc....traveled up to Berlin, Ohio to spend some time. While Berlin itself is largely a tourist area, I think we were able to experience a bit more than what a casual visitor might see. We made friends with a young Mennonite woman who worked as a housekeeper at the inn where we stayed. We told her of our desire to learn about Amish church without wanting to intrude or exploit the people in any way. She put us in contact with an older husband and wife who were members of the Old Order Amish. I know that the Amish groups vary widely - living according to the rules of their particular order. "Old Order" is supposed to be as fundamentally unchanged as possible. This old couple welcomed us and welcomed our questions. They got permission from their church bishops to allow us to visit their Sunday preaching service and we were even invited to a meal afterwards. I believe this was a rather unique opportunity to be among them in a way that they did not feel invaded. From all that I understand, they avoid visitors because they are so often gawked at, etc. Folks visit the area and try to take pictures.
The home that hosted the service that weekend we attended lived in a beautiful large farmhouse. Our host family explained to us that they met for "church" every other Sunday and took turns meeting in the larger homes of members. The house had been meticulously cleaned and prepared to receive the members on that particular Sunday. They did have indoor plumbing that was worked by the use of a water wheel that had been built next to the house. Maybe a gravity-type thing? The kitchen had refrigeration and power that was run by - I believe an oil or propane source. They explained it to us - I know that there was no electricity. They did have a cellphone also. The rooms were lit with oil lamps. The furniture was simple but attractive. The windows had the green shades and white curtains that were pulled to the side and draped over pegs. The husband liked to do woodwork and the yard was decorated with windmills that he had made. I believe he sold these as a business.
We entered the building (their basement) through separate doors for women and men. Each sex also sat on separate sides of the room on long wooden benches that had no backs.
The service itself was at least 3 hours long. Everything was in German. Dennis and I understand German fairly well and were able to follow along with the singing and preaching which were "High German", but not the conversation. That was something of a mix between German and English - the "Pennsylvania Dutch". They spoke English to us. We had learned that most of the women do not understand High German either - only some of the men. I wondered how the women were supposed to take part in the service and we were told that their husbands were responsible for teaching them what they needed to know. The service began with an hour of hymn singing. Most folks knew the words but I followed along in a hymnal. Every hymn was sung to the same melody - very slow and not really even a melody exactly. Then came the preaching. Three different preachers spoke for maybe 45 minutes each.
Then came the meal. The men set up long tables and then went outside to talk. I helped the women set out dishes, fill glasses with water and lemonade, and set out the meal. There were huge platters of simple foods such as pickles, hard boiled eggs, cheeses, breads, baked sweets and some lunchmeats. The women explained that they usually did not have meats served but that today was "special". We all sat, again - men on one side and women on the other, and enjoyed the meal.
The younger women seemed very happy to have me there and spent most of the time asking ME questionsThey were very curious about how I lived, what I did and if my life was really like things they had heard. I loved talking with them and playing with the many babies. The older women (older than me anyway) stood mostly aside and seemed content watching, smiling and nodding at me. I guess we were quite the curiosity that day. Our host told us that they had never had an "english" visitor at their services before.
We had some time later in the afternoon to talk with our hosts. While they treated us very warmly, their two teenage children seemed rather sullen and unhappy to have us there. I did not really understand that. The son stared at us and grunted out a brief greeting to us when we met him. The older daughter seemed quite curious about us and watched us along with a friend of hers. The parents told us that they were unhappy because this daughter was rejecting the Old Order and attending a New Order. They felt she had become too liberal. From our observation and in speaking with her - she still wore the "plain" clothing and was making plans to leave soon on a mission trip with her new church. I thought it rather odd that she wore her long hair loose at the house - in front of Dennis. She first came out to meet us while wearing only a white nightdress. Likely these are some of the things that hurt her parents - the lack of modesty.
It was a very interesting visit to this part of Ohio. I loved our time there and felt very welcome and cared for. What I saw agreed with much of what I had already learned from my reading. The lifestyle is romanticised a great deal. I know I could never live that way but I have to admire anyone who lives with hardship to uphold their convictions. Well, just a bit about our personal experience - I thought this might be interesting to some of you here. Our visit was a refreshing escape from our usual life.
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Now when I think of it, I imagine it would be a hard life, but it would still be nice to experience a different lifestyle, different people. Do these people tend to follow the Bible more closely than other Christian sects? Some of their beliefs seem similar to my own, but others are just sooo different...and some rather strange.
If they don't use modern toilets, 'what' do they use?? Do they use those 'floor toilets' people have in older homes, in other countries? Or is it something even 'older'? After all...'floor toilets' do flush normally...they're just on the ground.
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