I recently stumbled across the Wikipedia entry for CMC, and I was struck by the first two sentences: “The Conservative Mennonite Conference (CMC) is a Christian body of Conservative Mennonite churches in the Anabaptist tradition. Its members are mostly of Amish descent.” Is that last statement true? Drilling down a bit more, does this mean most CMC constituents have ancestors who were Amish, or that they were personally raised as Amish? The pastor of a large CMC congregation in Holmes County told me that 70-75% of their new church members come from the Amish. That is not surprising in Holmes County. If it’s true more broadly throughout CMC that most new converts come directly from the Amish, is this a trend we should seek to maintain, or one we should pivot away from?
The official results of the 2020 Census show that the resident population of the United States (all 50 states plus Washington, DC) was 331,449,281 as of April 1, 2020, an increase of 7.4% since 2010. Using numbers published by “Amish Studies – The Young Center” from Elizabethtown College, the Amish population in the US has grown from 244,770 to 344,670 over the same time period – an increase of almost 41%. If Amish growth rates stayed steady (something that cannot be sustained indefinitely) while the rest of the US population’s growth rate kept decreasing, Amish would comprise over 1% of the people in the US by the end of the century versus the 0.1% they currently comprise.
Faithfulness requires us to make use of all the opportunities the Lord has entrusted to us – not just the ones with which we feel most comfortable.
Why are the Amish increasing so quickly? Influencing this is large family size (an average of 7 children per family), along with a church retention rate of approximately 80%. Meanwhile slowing birth rates in the rest of the US lead to a rapidly aging population. By the end of the decade, immigration will provide more new people than natural increase (births minus deaths) and by 2034, older adults will outnumber children for the first time in American history. The percentage of the population over 65 is projected to increase from 17% today to 23% by 2060.
To illustrate the opportunities in front of us, let’s think about a farmer who has a 330-acre farm. Close to the farmhouse, there is a one-third acre plot where the family grows vegetables for personal eating. They plant tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and cucumbers in this plot, and spend lots of time tending to the vegetables. Because they spend so much time focusing on the small plot, the harvest is abundant. Of course, it is good to pay close attention to the nearby plot and its produce – unless it comes at the expense of ignoring the rest of the 330-acre farm. Perhaps the larger plot is much harder to work. The soil is in decline, requiring more extensive preparation using expensive equipment, and large investments in hybrid seed and fertilizer. The family might enjoy the fresh produce more than the field corn or soybeans grown in the large fields.
Scripture instructs us: “This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful” (1 Cor. 4:1-2 ESV). What an awesome responsibility we have to be stewards of the mysteries of God, and we are required by him to be faithful to that calling. Faithfulness requires us to make use of all the opportunities the Lord has entrusted to us – not just the ones with which we feel most comfortable. The same passage goes on to state that when Jesus returns, he will judge us by bringing to light things that are now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart.
The Amish in our communities represent a large and growing people group that need to personally encounter the risen Christ. We have a reasonable understanding of their culture and may feel more comfortable sharing Jesus with them than we do with the broader American populace. Nevertheless, we cannot ignore the enormous open door we have to share Jesus to the rest of our country by crossing larger cultural barriers to invite others to new life. The best chance for unchurched people to come to faith may well be within a new church plant, a place without established power structures that often prevent newcomers from feeling like they belong. Good stewardship compels us to farm the entire plot God has entrusted to us – not just the small one that is close to our house.
One Response
I love everything about this article. Well written and thought provoking!