Old Beachy Amish
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The Old Beachy Amish or Old Beachy Amish Mennonites, also called Midwest Beachy Amish Mennonites, are a
Plain In geography, a plain, commonly known as flatland, is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and ...
, car-driving
Beachy Amish The Beachy Amish Mennonites, also known as the Beachy Amish or Beachy Mennonites, are a Conservative Anabaptist tradition of Christianity. Commonalities held by Beachy Amish congregations include adhering to the Dordrecht Confession of Faith ...
group, that preserves the old ways of the Beachy Amish including the
German language German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western Europe, Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and Official language, official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switze ...
. They live in
Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
and
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
. They are part of the Amish Mennonite movement in a broader sense, but they are not an organized denomination.


History

In 1927 the Beachy church emerged from a division in the (Casselman) River
Old Order Amish The Amish (, also or ; ; ), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss and Alsatian origins. As they maintain a degree of separation from surrounding populations, and ho ...
congregation in Somerset County,
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
. Bishop Moses M. Beachy led the new congregation during that time and his name became associated with this faction. The Beachys favored a milder discipline for members whose only offense was transferring membership to other
Anabaptist Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek language, Greek : 're-' and 'baptism'; , earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. ...
churches, specifically the conservative Amish Mennonite congregation that broke away from Moses Beachy's congregation in 1895. Between 1946 and 1977, the majority of the Beachy Amish embraced elements of revivalistic theology. The Old Beachy Amish who wanted to preserve the old ways of Beachy Amish resisted this change and subsequently formed new congregations in the late 1960s by withdrawal from existing Beachy Amish congregation. From around 1970 until the early 1990s, the center of the Old Beachy Amish was in
Paris, Tennessee Paris is a city in and the county seat of Henry County, Tennessee, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 10,316. A replica of the Eiffel Tower stands in the southern part of Paris. History The present site of Par ...
. Mostly in the years 1991 and 1992, there was a massive exodus from the congregation in Paris, because of internal tensions concerning the use of English. By 2000, the Old Beachys had completely left the Paris region.


Belief and practice

As descendants from the
Old Order Amish The Amish (, also or ; ; ), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss and Alsatian origins. As they maintain a degree of separation from surrounding populations, and ho ...
, the Old Beachy Amish are an
Anabaptist Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek language, Greek : 're-' and 'baptism'; , earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. ...
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
group in the tradition of the
Radical Reformation The Radical Reformation represented a response to perceived corruption both in the Catholic Church and in the expanding Magisterial Protestant movement led by Martin Luther and many others. Starting in Germany and Switzerland in the 16th cen ...
of the early 16th century. In contrast to other Beachy Amish they have retained the Pennsylvania German language, which they also use for church service and which is an important factor of their distinctive identity. They have dress standards as strict as or stricter than many Old Order Amish. They use cars, electricity, and telephone but require the cars to be black and do not allow microwaves and answering machines. The use of tape and CD players and computers is tightly restricted. According to Donald Kraybill the Old Beachy Amish are similar in lifestyle to the Old Order Amish.Donald B. Kraybill: ''Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites'', Baltimore 2010, page 238.


Members and congregations

In 2010 there were 747 adherents in six locations:
Casey County, Kentucky Casey County is a county located in the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 15,941. Its county seat is Liberty. The county was formed in 1806 from the western part of Lincoln County and named for Colonel ...
, with 135 adherents,
Webster County, Kentucky Webster County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,017. Its county seat is Dixon and its largest city is Providence. It is the southernmost county in the Evansville, IN–KY Com ...
with 112 adherents,
Graves County, Kentucky Graves County is a county located on the southwest border of the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 36,649. Its county seat is Mayfield. The county was formed in 1824 and was named for Major Benjamin F ...
, with 109 adherents,
Adams County, Illinois Adams County is the westernmost county in the U.S. state of Illinois. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 65,737. Its county seat is Quincy. Adams County is part of the Quincy, IL– MO Micropolitan Statistical Area. His ...
, with 171 adherents, Richland County, Illinois with 123 adherents, and
Saline County, Illinois Saline County is a county in Southern Illinois. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 23,768. The largest city and county seat is Harrisburg. This area of Southern Illinois is known locally as " Little Egypt". Three major towns in Saline ...
with 97 adherents. According to Donald Kraybill the Old Beachy Amish had about 400 baptized members in 2010. According to the
Mennonite World Conference The Mennonite World Conference (MWC) is an international Mennonite Anabaptist Christian denomination. Its headquarters are in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. History The first ''Mennonite World Conference'' was held in Basel in 1925. Its main purpos ...
, there were eight Old Beachy Amish congregations with 790 baptized members in 2018.Mennonite World Conference: Membership USA: ''Old Beachy (Amish Mennonite)''
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See also

*
Subgroups of Amish Over the years, as Amish churches have divided many times over doctrinal disputes, subgroups have developed. The "Old Order Amish", a conservative faction that withdrew in the 1860s from fellowship with the wider body of Amish, are those that hav ...


References


External links


A Beachy Amish Mennonite information website

Pilgrim Ministry: Beachy Amish churches


in the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online {{Amish Anabaptism Mennonitism Sub Christian denominations founded in the United States