Elmo Stoll

Last updated • 5 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Elmo Stoll (March 5, 1944 – September 2, 1998) was a former Old Order Amish bishop, writer and founder of the "Christian Communities". [1] He was one of the few Amish who "have risen to prominence over the years". [2]

Contents

Life

Elmo Stoll was born in Litchfield, Michigan, son of Peter and Anna Stoll, née Wagler. He was one of eleven children. Elmo still being a small child, his family moved to Piketon, Ohio, and then, in the early 1950, to a new Amish settlement of Aylmer, Ontario. In 1966 and '67 he was a teacher in a Beachy Amish school in Wellesley, Ontario. In 1968 he did not follow his family, who moved to Honduras, but stayed in Ontario, where he worked for Pathway Publishers. On June 4, 1970, he married Elizabeth Miller. He was ordained by lot as an Amish minister on April 14, 1971. He was ordained bishop by lot on October 10, 1984, and as such he forced the members of his church to dress plainer and he also enforced other changes in the direction of stricter plainness and less technology, e.g., he forbade the use of electronic calculators. Moreover, he became an ardent preacher. [3] [4] [5] He also wrote a regular column in the Amish magazine Family Life , until he left the Amish and created the "Christian Communities". [6]

Elmo Stoll helped a young couple, seekers of French-Canadian background, Marc Villeneuve and his wife, to join the Amish community at Aylmer. This young man started to raise questions about several religious practices and was backed by Elmo's sons and more and more by Elmo himself. In December 1989 the ministers of the Aylmer Amish settlement met to discuss five issues, Elmo and his followers had raised: Evangelizing outside the Plain churches, the use of the English language to reach seekers, Christian community of goods (like the Hutterites), the mandatory wearing of hats for men and the question of fellowship with other plain churches. Elmo Stoll was favoring fellowship with the Noah Hoover Mennonites and the Orthodox Mennonites. No decision was made after this meeting. Elmo Stoll then explained his ideas in the Book Let us reason together. [5]

In July 1990 the real crisis came. Elmo, being a bishop of the Ayler community, challenged the Ordnung (set of rules of the community). The other bishops of Aylmer consulted with outside bishops and the decision was made to let Elmo start a new community, separated from the Aylmer community. Elmo and his followers were not excommunicated, but it was not allowed that individuals could freely move between the two communities. [7] So Elmo Stoll and his followers withdrew from the Amish church in Aylmer in September 1990 to organize a plain, horse-and-buggy, English-speaking community in Cookeville, Tennessee, that should be rooted in Anabaptism. Cookeville was chosen because of its proximity to the like-minded Noah Hoover Mennonites in Scottsville, Kentucky [8] [4]

"Christian Communities"

In 1990 Elmo Stoll founded an intentional community in Cookeville, Tennessee, called "Christian Community", that spread to other places. When Elmo Stoll died in 1998, there were five "Christian Communities": Cookeville, Tennessee; Decatur, Tennessee; Holland, Kentucky; Smyrna, Maine; and Woodstock, New Brunswick, Canada. [9] Not only Amish people, but also people with an Old Order Mennonite or an Old German Baptist background, as well as people from non-plain churches, were attracted by the "Christian Communities". After the early death of Elmo Stoll by heart failure, two of the "Christian Communities" disbanded while the one in Holland, Kentucky, and part of the one in Decatur, who moved to Delano, Tennessee, joined the Noah Hoover Mennonites, [6] [10] a very plain horse and buggy Old Order group, that is rather intentionalist minded than traditional. [11] The community in Smyrna, after having lost most of its members without Amish background, developed a fellowship with an Amish community of the Michigan Amish Churches in Manton, Michigan. Some of Elmo Stoll's sons and others with Amish background returned to the Amish community in Aylmer, Ontario. [12]

The Caneyville Christian Community, founded in 2004 by a former bishop of Elmo Stoll's "Christian Communities" and one of his sons, still adheres to Elmo Stoll's vision. [11] [2]

Family

Parts of Elmo Stoll's family, including his elder brother Joseph Stoll, went to Honduras in the late 1960s to establish an Amish settlement there, but most of the Amish settlers returned to North America several years later. Joseph Stoll was one of the two founders of Pathway Publishers [2] and is author of several books. Elmo was the cousin of bestselling author Ira Wagler (Growing Up Amish: A Memoir). [3] A nephew of Elmo, Jerry S. Eicher, is also the writer of several books.

Works

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lobelville, Tennessee</span> City in Tennessee, United States

Lobelville is a city in Perry County, Tennessee, United States that was established as a trading post on the Buffalo River in 1854. The population was 897 at the 2010 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plain people</span> Simple lifestyle Christians

Plain people are Christian groups in the United States, characterized by separation from the world and by simple living, including plain dressing in modest clothing. Many plain people have an Anabaptist background. These denominations are largely of German, Swiss German and Dutch ancestry, though people of diverse backgrounds have been incorporated into them. Conservative Friends are traditional Quakers who are also considered plain people; they come from a variety of different ethnic backgrounds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anabaptist theology</span> Theological tradition reflecting the doctrine of the Anabaptist Churches

Anabaptist theology, also known as Anabaptist doctrine, is a theological tradition reflecting the doctrine of the Anabaptist Churches. The major branches of Anabaptist Christianity agree on core doctrines but have nuances in practice. While the adherence to doctrine is important in Anabaptist Christianity, living righteously is stressed to a greater degree.

Old Order Mennonites form a branch of the Mennonite tradition. Old Order are those Mennonite groups of Swiss German and south German heritage who practice a lifestyle without some elements of modern technology, still drive a horse and buggy rather than cars, wear very conservative and modest dress, and have retained the old forms of worship, baptism and communion.

Amish Mennonites came into existence through reform movements among North American Amish mainly between 1862 and 1878. These Amish moved away from the old Amish traditions and drew near to the Mennonites, becoming Mennonites of Amish origin. Over the decades, most Amish Mennonites groups removed the word "Amish" from the name of their congregations or merged with Mennonite groups.

Peter Hoover is an author familiar to many conservative Christians of Anabaptist and similar heritage in the United States, Canada, Central America, Australia, and western Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Groffdale Conference Mennonite Church</span>

The Groffdale Conference Mennonite Church, also called Wenger Mennonites, is the largest Old Order Mennonite group to use horse-drawn carriages for transportation. Along with the automobile, they reject many modern conveniences, while allowing electricity in their homes and steel-wheeled tractors to till the fields. Initially concentrated in eastern Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, their numbers had grown to 22,305 people resided in eight other states as of 2015. They share the pulpit with the Ontario Mennonite Conference but have some differences in Ordnung.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amish</span> Group of traditionalist Christian church fellowships

The Amish, formally the Old Order Amish, are an ethnoreligious group with Swiss German and Alsatian origins. Consisting of several Anabaptist Christian church fellowships, they are closely related to Mennonites, a separate Anabaptist denomination. The Amish are known for simple living, plain dress, Christian pacifism, and slowness to adopt many conveniences of modern technology, with a view neither to interrupt family time, nor replace face-to-face conversations whenever possible, and a view to maintain self-sufficiency. The Amish value rural life, manual labor, humility and Gelassenheit. As they rarely accept converts, maintain a separate language and culture from surrounding populations, and hold their faith in common, they have been described by scholars as an ethnoreligious group, combining features of an ethnicity and a denomination.

Conservative Mennonites include numerous Conservative Anabaptist groups that identify with the theologically conservative element among Mennonite Anabaptist Christian fellowships, but who are not Old Order groups or mainline denominations.

The Orthodox Mennonites, also called Wellesley Orthodox Mennonites and Huron Orthodox Mennonites, are two groups of traditional Old Order Mennonites in Canada and the US with about 650 baptized members. Even though plain to a very high degree and primitivist concerning technology, they are rather intentionalist minded than ultra traditional. Since 1999 they were joined by several other Old Order Mennonite communities.

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 have most emphasized traditional practices and beliefs. There are many different subgroups of Amish with most belonging, in ascending order of conservatism, to the Beachy Amish, New Order, Old Order, or Swartzentruber Amish groups.

The Noah Hoover Mennonites, called "Old Order Mennonite Church (Hoover)" by the Mennonite World Conference, and sometimes called "Scottsville Mennonites”, are a group of very plain Old Order Mennonites that originally came from the Stauffer Mennonites and later merged with several other groups. Today it is seen as an independent branch of Old Order Mennonites. The group differs from other Old Order Mennonites by having settlements outside the US and Canada and by attracting new members from other groups on a larger scale. They have more restrictions on modern technology than all other Old Order Mennonite groups. They are rather intentionalist minded than ultra traditional.

The "Christian Communities" were Christian intentional communities with an Anabaptist worldview, founded and led by Elmo Stoll, a former Old Order Amish bishop. They were founded in 1990 and disbanded some two years after Stoll's early death in 1998. At the time of Stoll's death there were five "Christian Communities", four in the U.S. and one in Canada. G.C. Waldrep calls them "perhaps the most important "para-Amish" group".

The Caneyville Christian Community was an Anabaptist community, located in Caneyville, Kentucky, living a plain conservative lifestyle, true to the vision of former Old Order Amish bishop Elmo Stoll. G. C. Waldrep classifies them as "para-Amish". Among Anabaptists the community is often simply called "Caneyville".

Believers in Christ is a Plain horse-and-buggy Anabaptist Christian community at Cane Creek, Lobelville, Tennessee, that is rather intentional than traditional. They are sometimes seen as either Amish or Old Order Mennonite. G. C. Waldrep classifies them as "para-Amish". Among Anabaptists the community is often simply called "Lobelville".

Vernon Community in Hestand, Kentucky is home to a Anabaptist Christian community, that was founded in 1996 by Simon Beachy, former leader of the "Believers in Christ" in Lobelville, Tennessee. The Christian community is classified as "para-Amish" by G.C. Waldrep, adhering to plain dress using horse and buggy for transportation.

The Michigan Amish Fellowship is a subgroup or affiliation of Old Order Amish. In 2022 this network of churches consisted of 33 settlements in Michigan, Maine, Missouri, Kentucky, Montana, and Wyoming. Stephen E. Scott described the affiliation which emerged in 1970 in Michigan as "Amish Reformist".

A Seeker is a person likely to join an Old Order Anabaptist community, like the Amish, the Old Order Mennonites, the Hutterites, the Old Order Schwarzenau Brethren or the Old Order River Brethren. Among the 500,000 members of such communities in the United States there are only an estimated 1,200 to 1,300 outsiders who have joined them.

The Old Beachy Amish or Old Beachy Amish Mennonites, also called Midwest Beachy Amish Mennonites, are a Plain, car-driving Beachy Amish group, that preserves the old ways of the Beachy Amish including the German language. They live in Kentucky and Illinois. They are part of the Amish Mennonite movement in a broader sense, but they are not an organized denomination.

References

  1. ↑ Pride 2003, p. 36.
  2. 1 2 3 Kevin Williams, Lovina Eicher: Amish Cooks Across America: Recipes and Traditions from Maine to Montana, Kansas City 2013, page 145.
  3. 1 2 Wagler, Ira (2008-06-06). "The Shepherd at Dawn: The Early Years". www.irawagler.com. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  4. 1 2 Wagler, Ira (2008-08-22). "The Shepherd at Noon: Empire & Exodus". irawagler.com. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
  5. 1 2 Pride 2003 , pp. 38–39
  6. 1 2 Philip Crossan: Community: Looking at the Possibilities, Sugarcreek, OH 2012, page 31.
  7. ↑ Pride 2003, pp. 39–40.
  8. ↑ "Elmo Stoll - Mennonite Archives of Ontario". uwaterloo.ca. 2 May 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  9. ↑ Pride 2003, p. 48.
  10. ↑ Community by Elmo Stoll at anabaptistchurch.org Archived 2015-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
  11. 1 2 Donnermeyer, Joe; Anderson, Cory (2019-10-19). "The Growth of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Communities in Kentucky". Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies. 2 (2): 215–244. doi: 10.18061/1811/63996 . hdl: 1811/63996 . ISSN   2471-6383.
  12. ↑ Pride 2003, p. 46.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.