THEOLDORDERAMISH:TOREMAIN IN THE

FAITH ORTOLEAVE¹

Thomas J. Meyers^*

The Amish continue to amaze the non-Amish world with their
capacity to retain a distinct cultural identity. Rather than conforming
to the values of modern society, they have insisted that being "in the
world and not of the world" is the best adaptation of the New
Testament model of Christian community. Their conscious effort to be
different from the fallen world by consciously drawing symbolic
boundaries between themselves and the society around them continues
to mystify and intrigue. Questions frequently posed by non-Amish
include: What keeps Amish people from being seduced by the modern
world? And for those who leave, what factors lead to the decision to
defect? This paper will examine some of the push and pull forces that
influence Amish youth in their decisions regarding church membership.
Factors to be examined include father's occupation, marriage and
family dynamics, gender, urbanization, variations in degree of severity
of Ordnung, and attendance at an Amish school.

Data Sources

The researcher obtained qualitative data for this paper in
interviews with Amish informants in the Old Order Amish settlement
of northeastern Indiana. That settlement borders the State of Michigan
and is spread from about the middle of Elkhart County to just east of

the center of LaGrange County, a distance of about 35 miles.²The

statistical data were taken from the 1980³and 1988⁴editions of the
Elkhart-LaGrange settlement directories.

1_{*Thomas J. Meyers is Professor of Sociology at Goshen College.}
. This paper was presented at the American Sociological Association meetings on
August 20, 1992, in Pittsburgh, Pa. The project was supported by a Goshen College Faculty
Research Grant. The author thanks Donald B. Kraybill and J. Howard Kauffman for
helpful comments on earlier drafts.

2_{. A few families live across the southern border ofLaGrange County in northern}
Noble County.

3. Eli E. Gingerich, comp., Indiana Amish Directory(Middlebury, Ind., 1980). 4. Jerry E. Miller, comp., Indiana Amish Directory(Middlebury, Ind., 1988).