Community, Family, and Church in the Amish Culture (2024)

The Amish have a strong sense of community. They have their own norms, traditions, and ways of life. Because they are a more insular community there are often assumptions made about the Amish. Many of these are misconceptions of the truth about a community that has changed little yet continues to be strong. Approximately 80,000 members of the Amish community live in Ohio. That is the second-largest population of Old World Amish in the world.

Do the Amish Go to Church?

Yes. Typically, the Amish attend church every other week. Unlike other religions that have specific buildings dedicated to prayer and church services, the Amish hold Sunday services within a member’s home. The hosts will spend the week before the service preparing food and cleaning. The service lasts three hours and everyone stays afterwards to visit and eat together. Church services held in homes is a way that the Amish so how strongly religion is tied to everyday life. As an added benefit, the entire community gets together as a whole group 26 times each year. They say that it takes a village to raise a child. In this case, it takes a whole community to add strength and wisdom to that community.

What Is the Role of Amish Women in Their Community?

Women are responsible for the home, garden, and children. Remembering that the home is the center of Amish life, the role that a woman holds is highly respected. While men serve as the spiritual leader of the home, women are the true household managers. They harvest from the garden and store what they can in root cellars for the winter months. They spend time canning other items from the garden.

The woman is an equal member of the family and that detail is highlighted during Amish wedding ceremonies. During many non-Amish weddings, a woman is “given” away by her father in order to become someone’s wife. In Amish custom, the new bride and groom enter the wedding ceremony together signifying their shared unity. The equality extends into home ownership. Amish farms are co-owned by the husband and wife. While some outsiders see Amish life as oppressive, a deeper dive can show levels of equality and freedom.

Do the Amish Use Tractors on Their Farms?

It depends. Around ten percent of Amish adults make a living via farming. In order to be competitive and economical with non-Amish farmers, some Amish communities have allowed the use of tractors and other farm equipment.

Other Amish communities have kept to traditional methods that have served them well for hundreds of years. They utilize crop rotation methods to maintain soil fertility and prevent erosion. Men can be seen walking behind a plow that is hooked to a team of horses. They keep their farms to a manageable size for the workload of the family and their horses. Percheron and Belgian draft horses are the most common breeds used in the fields. Those breeds are hardworking, strong, and docile.

How do the Amish manage life without electricity?

A large part of Amish culture is the concept of self-sufficiency. That idea extends to maintaining separation from the world which is why the Amish do not use electricity. Linking into electrical lines would form a connection which violates their interpretation of the Bible’s teachings. According to their belief system, they should not conform to the world.

The modern world has so many inventions that make life easier so how do the Amish live without those conveniences or modify them to fit within their lifestyle? The Amish can still take a hot shower, they simply hook up their hot water tank to a gas or propane fueled energy source. While some use those energy sources to power washing machines, laundry day can become an all-day event for other families who use traditional washboards. The planet has already created natural clothes dryers in the form of sunlight and wind that can be harnessed through an outdoor clothesline. Some families erect windmills to gather energy from a natural, God-made source.

Ultimately, the decision to not adopt electricity as an energy source has shielded the Amish from television, radio, and the Internet. The lifestyle is more conducive to family time. Just imagine never fighting over the TV remote or spending more time with your spouse instead of sitting in separate parts of the house watching different shows. Better yet, imagine a meal without anyone every glancing at their cell phone.