Amish Wannabe?

My buddy, Lester, was an Amish preacher when he left that life.

He shared "what I could remember" his list of what he was taught to "be a good Amish person."

What a rare treat to look deep inside the Amish membership requirements. This list isn't exhaustive but, here in Lester's own words:

In order to be an accepted member of the Amish Church - which to me means just a bit more than it does to be a member of the Amish community, although it is in large part the same thing - you must agree to and follow their standard practices and teachings. There are many things standard across all communities. One of these is the adoption of the 18 Articles of the Dordrecht Confession of Faith plus a few more,

Amish Gma

No, it's not Good Morning America as some suggested. Gma (pronounced G-maay) is their word for church. You’ll see a reference to this in Appendix C of my book. Mosie lived with us for a year and during that time he explained many Amish words and traditions to me.

From him and frequent contact with other ex-Amish of the Old or Swartzentruber Order, I learned that obeying the Ordnung (rule book), conforming to tradition, and submission to parents make them worthy of God’s favor and Heaven. His Swartzentruber order considers Englishers hopelessly doomed because they weren’t born Amish.

“So what was your church like?” I asked Mosie one day.

“We go every other Sunday to an Amish home but rotate homes. Sometimes it’s in a barn. The men and boys go in first, and most put their hats under the bench; following them are the women and girls.