New Order Tobe Amish

Last updated

The New Order Tobe Amish, or often only New Order Tobe, are a small subgroup of Amish that belongs to the New Order Amish. In 1967, they split from the Tobe Amish, who in 1940 had split from the Troyer Amish, a very conservative group. [1] They live in Ohio. They share an unusual mix of conservative and progressive traits. In contrast to other New Order Amish groups, they have a relative high retention rate of their young people that is comparable to the retention rate of Old Order Amish. [2]

Contents

History

The New Order Tobe have their roots in the most conservative Amish subgroup, the Swartzentruber Amish, who split from the Old Order mainstream in 1917. In 1931/32 the somewhat less conservative Troyer Amish split from the Swartzentrubers and in 1940 the Tobe Church split from the Troyers. In 1967, the New Order Tobe split from the Tobe Church. In only 50 years there were four splits, the first from the mainstream forming an extremely conservative group and then three splits in a more liberal direction. [1]

Belief and practice

In general, New Order Amish churches do not only use much more modern conveniences like electricity and tractors for field work, they also have a different spirituality compared to the Old Orders. New Orders do not only have Sunday Schools and more Bible study, they also have a more evangelical view of Christianity. Not so the New Order Tobe, who have much more technology but no different spirituality from the Old Orders. [3]

The New Order Tobe have electricity and telephones in the home and tractors for field work. They do not hold Sunday school during the “off” Sunday and they are quite conservative in dress. They have only blue curtains in their windows and do allow tobacco. They do not practice "Bann und Meidung" (excommunication and shunning).

Population and congregations

The New Order Tobe are a relatively small subgroup of the Amish. In 2008, they had four church districts near Danville, Ohio, which is in the greater Holmes County Amish settlement, [4] and in 2011, they had 5 church districts. [5] According to Kraybill et al., the defection rate of their young people is only 19.6 percent which is very low for New Orders. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nebraska Amish</span>

The Nebraska Amish, also called Old Schoolers, are a relatively small affiliation of the Amish. They are the most conservative subgroup of Amish, indicated not only by their use of technology but also by their particular style of dress. They emerged in 1881 as a conservative split from the Byler Amish, who themselves emerged as the first conservative splinter group from the Amish mainstream in 1849.

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.

The New Order Amish are a subgroup of Amish that split away from the Old Order Amish in the 1960s for a variety of reasons, which included a desire for "clean" youth courting standards, meaning they do not condone the practice of bundling during courtship. Tobacco and alcohol are also not allowed. They also wished to incorporate more evangelical elements into the church, including Sunday school and mission work. Some scholars see the group best characterized as a subgroup of Old Order Amish, despite the name.

The Troyer Amish or Stutzman-Troyer Amish are a conservative subgroup of Old Order Amish.

<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 a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss German and Alsatian origins. They are closely related to Mennonite churches, 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.

The Swartzentruber Amish are the best-known and one of the largest and most conservative subgroups of Old Order Amish. Swartzentruber Amish are considered a subgroup of the Old Order Amish, although they do not fellowship or intermarry with more liberal Old Order Amish. They speak Pennsylvania German as their mother tongue as well as English.

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 Andy Weaver Amish, locally also called "Dan Church", "Dan Amish" or "Danners", are a conservative subgroup of Old Order Amish. They are more conservative than average Old Order Amish.

The Michigan Amish Fellowship is a subgroup or affiliation of Old Order Amish. In 2022 his 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".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lancaster Amish affiliation</span> Subgroup of Amish

The Lancaster Amish affiliation is the largest affiliation among the Old Order Amish and as such a subgroup of Amish. Its origin and largest settlement is Lancaster County in Pennsylvania. The settlement in Lancaster County, founded in 1760 near Churchtown is the oldest Amish settlement that is still in existence.

The Buchanan Amish affiliation is a subgroup of Amish that was formed in 1914 in Buchanan County, Iowa. It is among the most conservative in the entire Amish world. It is the fourth largest of all Amish affiliations, having almost as many church districts as the Holmes Old Order Amish affiliation. Geographically it is more dispersed than any other Amish affiliation.

The Holmes Old Order Amish affiliation is a subgroup of Amish, that is almost only present at the Holmes-Wayne Amish settlement in Ohio. With 140 church districts there in 2009 it is the main and dominant Amish affiliation there, even though there were 61 another church districts of 10 other affiliations in the settlement. It is third in numbers of adherents of all Amish affiliation.

The Elkhart-LaGrange Amish affiliation is the second largest Old Order Amish affiliation and as such a subgroup of Amish. Its origin and main settlement lie in Elkhart and LaGrange counties in Indiana. While the Amish of Holmes County, Ohio, and adjacent counties split into several different affiliations in the last 100 years, the Elkhart-LaGrange affiliation remained united, but with a considerable internal diversity. The Elkhart-LaGrange affiliation had 177 church districts in 2011.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Byler Amish</span>

The Byler Amish, also called Alt Gemee, are a small conservative subgroup of the Amish. They are known for the yellow color of their buggies, which earned them the nickname "yellow-toppers" and for wearing only one suspender. They are the oldest Old Order Amish affiliation that separated for doctrinal and not for geographical reasons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Order Anabaptism</span> Branch of Anabaptist Christianity

Old Order Anabaptism encompasses those groups which have preserved the old ways of Anabaptist Christian religion and lifestyle.

The Tobe Amish, also called Tobe Hochstetler Amish, Old Order Tobe Amish or just Old Order Tobe to distinguish them from the New Order Tobe Amish, are a small subgroup of the Old Order Amish, that emerged in 1940 through a split from the Troyer Amish. They live in Ohio.

The New Order Amish Fellowship or New New Order Amish, most commonly called New Order Christian Fellowship, is the most progressive affiliation among the New Order Amish. Because some scholars see the New Order Amish just as a subgroup of the Old Order Amish, the New Order Christian Fellowship is thus the most progressive affiliation among the Old Order Amish. In spirituality, they are close to Beachy Amish. Their use of horse and buggy transportation and their preservation of the German language distinguishes them from the Beachys, except for the Old Beachy Amish who have also retained the German language but drive cars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ohio's Amish Country</span> Anabaptist communities in Ohio

The Ohio Amish Country, also known simply as the Amish Country, is the second-largest community of Amish in the world, with in 2021 an estimated 80,240 members according to the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College. Ohio's largest Amish settlement is centered around Holmes County and in 2021 included an estimated 37,770 children and adults, the second largest in the world and the highest concentration of Amish in any US county; the Amish make up half the population of Holmes County, with members of other closely-related Anabaptist Christian denominations, such as the Mennonites, residing there as well. The second largest community in Ohio is centered around Geauga County.

References

  1. 1 2 Tobe Amish: An Order Divided at amishcountryinsider.com.
  2. 1 2 Donald B. Kraybill, Karen M. Johnson-Weiner and Steven M. Nolt: The Amish, Baltimore, MD, 2013, page 163.
  3. ↑ Charles Hurst and David McConnell: An Amish Paradox. Diversity and Change in the World's Largest Amish Community, Baltimore, MD, 2010, page 310.
  4. ↑ Charles Hurst and David McConnell: An Amish Paradox. Diversity and Change in the World's Largest Amish Community, Baltimore, MD, 2010, page 299.
  5. ↑ Donald B. Kraybill, Karen M. Johnson-Weiner and Steven M. Nolt: The Amish, Baltimore, MD, 2013, page 139.
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.