The Amish Mission Movement of the 1950S and Its Effects on the Amish Community of Partridge, Kansas

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies Volume 7 Issue 1 Special issue: The Beachy Amish- Article 13 Mennonite Churches 2019 Souls, Cars, and Division: The Amish Mission Movement of the 1950s and Its Effects on the Amish Community of Partridge, Kansas Peter D. Miller Follow this and additional works at: https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/amishstudies Part of the History Commons Please take a moment to share how this work helps you through this survey. Your feedback will be important as we plan further development of our repository. Recommended Citation Miller, Peter D. 2019. "Souls, Cars, and Division: The Amish Mission Movement of the 1950s and Its Effects on the Amish Community of Partridge, Kansas." Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies 7(1):32-43. This Original Research Article is brought to you for free and open access by IdeaExchange@UAkron, the institutional repository of The University of Akron in Akron, Ohio, USA. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies by an authorized administrator of IdeaExchange@UAkron. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Souls, Cars, and Division: The Amish Mission Movement of the 1950s and Its Effects on the Amish Community of Partridge, Kansas PETER D. MIlleR Bethel College* North Newton, KS Abstract: Though often perceived as static, Amish identity is subject to change. The mid-twentieth century was a period of notable change. The recent experience of World War II, American religious revival movements, and economic pressures all placed pressure upon Amish communities to adapt. This paper highlights the experience of the Amish community of Partridge, Kansas, where these pressures and widespread interest in mission work eventually led to a church division in the 1950s. This paper explores the contributing factors to that split and examines the reactions on both sides to the division. Keywords: Amish; Mennonite; Amish-Mennonite; religious identity; Kansas; Anabaptist; revival movements *Affiliation at time of the paper’s initial development (2008) INTRODUCTION sion movement that stirred a revival within the church and introduced faith and worship prac- “Can this new movement continue in the tices of other Christian groups. This mission Amish Church? Can a split be avoided? If not, movement had far-reaching impacts on Amish how will the new movement affect the conserva- structures and ways of life and resulted in the tive block of the church?”1 In 1956, Harvey Graber development of national mission conferences, was not alone in his concern for the future of the a growing interest in service work, a new at- Amish Church. During the 1950s, the Old Order titude toward higher education, and the codifi- Amish Church encountered one of the most pow- cation of church beliefs and right practice. erful forces of change in its 250-year history. This The Old Order Amish church of Partridge, threat came from within the Church and divided Kansas, experienced a split in 1958 due to is- families and communities. The threat, in short, sues stemming from the national missions was mission work. movement. The causes of the split were com- During the mid-twentieth century, the Old Or- plex—from changing personal desires, to the der Amish Church experienced a grassroots mis- issue of car ownership, to the new economic realities of the 1950s. Nonetheless, mission work functioned as the major wedge in the 1 Harvey Graber, “Spiritual Awakening in the Old Order church split. The new church, with a focus on Amish Church” (unpublished paper, Mennonite Historical mission and service, soon joined the Beachy Library, Goshen, Ind., 1956), 25. Address correspondence to: Peter D. Miller: [email protected] Recommended citation: Miller, Peter D. 2019. “Souls, Cars, and Division: The Amish Mission Movement of the 1950s and Its Effects on the Amish Community of Partridge, Kansas.” Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies 7(1):32-43. Publication type: Original research, open access (may be freely distributed). JAPAS is published by the Amish & Plain Anabaptist Studies Association (www.amishstudies.org) and the University of Akron.. The Amish Mission Movement in Partridge, KS—Miller 33 Amish-Mennonites. Although its size was severe- stantly examine my work and minimize this ten- ly diminished, the remaining Old Order Amish dency toward polarity. church, unlike other communities that experienced similar splits, reacted with moderation instead of PRIOR CHURCH DIVISIONS further entrenching itself in conservatism. In the following account, I have worked to The Old Order/Amish-Mennonite schism of avoid the two most common errors in scholar- the mid-nineteenth century set the stage for the ship about the Amish; what the Library Journal Partridge division nearly 90 years later. On June identifies as “the overly sentimental approach of 9, 1862, the first of a series of annual ministers’ much popular writing and the anti-Amish bias of meetings (Diener Versammlungen) was held at a the rest” (Nolt 2003). This tendency to be either farm in Smithville, Ohio to discuss the future of extremely critical or to idealize the Amish typi- the Amish Church. Among other issues in focus cally results in popular portrayals of them as wild were Sunday school, the use of meeting houses, party-animals in disguise, or wise, gentle relics and even technological advances in agriculture. of a bygone era. The Diener Versammlungen occasioned the first This dichotomy between mistrust and fond- church-wide discussions of expected behavior or ness also trickles into scholarly research. I be- “Ordnung.”2 Previously, Ordnung was lived, not lieve this is a direct result of the traditional Amish taught. Suddenly, the Church found itself articu- understanding of church and community—either lating what it meant to be Amish. These meetings you are Amish or you are not. Therefore, any crystallized the differences between the conser- source for a study of the Amish is either in or vatives and the progressives over many issues, out of the community. There is never a dispas- including clothing, education, and holding public sionate observer occupying the middle ground. I office (Nolt 2003, 160). Eventually, many pro- recognize that this could be said about most sub- gressives broke off and joined the “Old” Men- jects. But, in my opinion, the difference between nonites (later known as the Mennonite Church). Amish and not-Amish is so great the dichotomy The remaining Amish Church became known as between sentimentality and anti-Amish bias is Old Order Amish because of their commitment to more pronounced. historical values and practices.3 Given that kind of challenge, how can one With Old Order and Amish-Mennonite streams study a split in the Amish Church? Any source now running parallel in the Amish tradition, the with a firsthand knowledge of the events also Amish-Mennonites became an obvious church made a decision and judgment of the community for dissatisfied Old Orders to join. This was espe- when they chose to remain Amish or leave the cially true of two Amish-Mennonite groups that church. Furthermore, how should I deal with my formed later, the Conservative Amish-Mennonite own tension regarding these issues? After all, I Conference (1910) and the Beachy Amish-Men- am the first generation of my family not to be born into the Amish Church. As a Partridge resi- dent and a descendant of some of the actors in 2 “The Amish blueprint for expected behavior, called the this church division, my interest in this topic is Ordnung, regulates private, public, and ceremonial life. Ordnung does not translate readily into English. Sometimes not simply academic. My personal connections rendered as “ordinance” or “discipline,” the Ordnung is to this community afforded me opportunities to best thought of as an ordering of the whole way of life--a conduct interviews and read personal diaries that code of conduct which the church maintains by tradition might have proven inaccessible to other research- rather than by systematic or explicit rules. A member noted: ers. But because I am not a member of either the “The order is not written down. The people just know it, Amish or Beachy Church, I, too, remain an out- that’s all.” Rather than a packet or rules to memorize, the Ordnung is the “understood” set of expectations for be- sider. I grappled with this tension as I researched, havior… The Ordnung evolved gradually over the decades read, and interviewed people about the church as the church sought to strike a delicate balance between division of the 1950s. Eventually, I realized that tradition and change. Interpretation of the Ordnung varies these questions never go away. But by acknowl- somewhat from congregation to congregation.” Kraybill edging them throughout my research, I can con- (2001), 112. 3 Further descriptions of the Diener Versammlungen are seen in Yoder (1991), 137-52. 34 Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies, Volume 7, Issue 1, Spring 2019 nonites (1927), both of whom were stricter in ownership, and relaxed dress standards.7 Despite practice than the other Amish-Mennonites. In the a general consensus about the cause for the split, spectrum of Anabaptism, Amish-Mennonites fit Clara Miller, a charter member of the Conserva- somewhere between the Mennonite Church and tive Church, explained that spiritual consider- the Old Order Amish Church. ations also figured into the decision: The Beachy Amish-Mennonites took their name from Moses M. Beachy, an early twentieth A group of us could not feel that we were do- century bishop in the Old Order Amish Church ing all that could be done to teach and instruct our children. We felt the children should take of Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Beachy be- part more and should have Sunday school and lieved the Meidung should be used sparingly— church every Sunday the year around.

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