For many Christian groups, especially those that came out of the revivalist or evangelical traditions, conversion points to a moment in time when an individual experiences a change of heart and chooses to follow Jesus. Someone giving a testimony might call this a “salvation experience.”
The Amish have always believed that Christians experience salvation in everyday living in the context of their community. Day by day, believers’ lives are transformed into the image of Christ as daily they are faithful to Christ’s commands. Their faithfulness is visible to others because of the way they live in daily choices. Historically, Amish writings stressed the need for new birth, but they were less convinced that an emotional, instantaneous salvation experience was the sign of new birth. Instead, they looked for how new birth is demonstrated over a lifetime.
The Amish view church in terms of being a community whose members are accountable to each other for the personal lifestyle choices that show their new birth in Christ. Baptism is a commitment not only to God but also to fellow believers. The church is a body of believers, not simply a collection of individual believers.
The history of revivalism traces to the Great Awakenings, which surged through America in several waves. Famous preachers such as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield gave sermons, often in the open air to huge crowds. They emphasized the need for the individual to have a dramatic conversion experience. One major wave of the Great Awakening came in the late eighteenth to mid-nineteenth centuries. Methodists, Baptists, German Baptist Brethren, and other groups held revival events to encourage individual conversion. These preachers thought of the Amish as rigid and lacking spiritual warmth, and they began to target the Amish for dramatic conversion.
From the Amish perspective, this emphasis on the individual broke down the accountability to the community that had always characterized the Amish church. If a single conversion experience was all that was needed, why should the church be concerned about pride, wealth or worldly choices? If the individual mattered more than the community, why should the individual be bound to the community at all?
However, many Amish found the new expression of faith attractive, and large numbers converted to other church groups. When one Amish bishop left the church, a sizeable number of his congregation followed. In some areas, defection to other churches emphasizing individual salvation, rather than a communal experience of salvation, gutted the Amish districts.
It seems to me that the history lesson here is that we need both the individual and the community in our experience of discipleship and Christian living. There is danger in emphasizing either one to the exclusion of the other. I sometimes read opinions trying to categorize the Amish as “real Christians” or “not real Christians.” I think the question is a lot more complicated, and the way we answer it depends on the grid of faith experiences each of us brings. All our varied religious traditions show us that we have so much to learn from each other! Thanks be to God that he offers his grace to all of us so that we can offer it to each other.
Olivia Newport’s novels twist through time to find where faith and passions meet. She chases joy in Colorado at the foot of the Rockies, where daylilies grow as tall as she is. Her Amish novels include the Valley of Choice series along with Wonderful Lonesome and Meek and Mild.
One thought on “What Does Conversion Mean to the Amish by Olivia Newport”
Olivia, thank you so much for sharing. What a great blog. Yes, community or our church family plays a role in helping others to develop a stronger relationship with God. We are all saved by God’s grace and mercy. God’s beloved son came to earth to be our living sacrifice for our sins if we’ll seek Him for forgiveness and live a life according to His word and guidance as we seek Him.