UPC evangelising the Amish/Mennonites

[Esaias]

http://www.homemissionsdivision.com/...nistry&CPID=24

http://www.mennoworld.org/2005/10/17...ormis/?print=1

Amish and similar groups are believed to need more in part because they speak a different religious language, said Donald Kraybill, an Elizabethtown (Pa.) College professor who has researched and written extensively about Old Order churches.

“Evangelical assumptions are based on individualism” such as personal salvation and emotional experiences, he said, compared with plain people’s “more collective, more communal understanding of salvation.

“The Old Order groups are very loathe to say they are saved because they feel that is arrogant and haughty and cocky… . Who knows more than God?” Kraybill said.

Instead, they speak of a “living hope” of salvation if they are faithful.

While the UPCI has targeted U.S. Amish and Mennonites, Jehovah’s Witnesses have been focusing on Old Colony Mennonites in Bolivia. The Jehovah’s Witnesses magazine The Watchtower last month published a story about that work, decrying the Mennonites’ lack of “progressive Bible study and public preaching” and beliefs in “unbiblical teachings, such as the Trinity, immortality of the human soul and hellfire.”

The story also suggested that restrictions on automobiles, radio and TV are signs of a lack of spiritual vitality. But Kraybill says those measures, deeply rooted in community and history, help church members maintain faithfulness.

Nevertheless, there is no denying that the Old Order Amish and Old Colony Mennonites have problems. Both groups in recent years have experienced increased public scrutiny of issues such as sexual abuse, drug use and drug trafficking. But that doesn’t mean the church is spiritually bereft.

“I’ve encountered enough people who beat me easily [in biblical understanding],” said Kennert Giesbrecht, editor of Die Mennonitische Post, a Canadian-based German-language newspaper serving colony groups in North and Latin America. “But I’ve also found people with a very limited biblical knowledge.”

The Amish also have that “spectrum of faithfulness,” Kraybill said. “There are fervent Old Order people, and there are lapsed Old Order people. We need to remember there is a lot of diversity out there.”

That is also the case with any religious body. Nevertheless, more than with any mainstream group, Amish and Mennonite troubles seem to draw the attention of churches with a heavy evangelism emphasis.

“Some of these groups really prey,” Kraybill said. “If they smell dysfunctionality, they go in and exploit the weakness of the moment.”

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While the Jehovah’s Witnesses seek converts, Yoder said the UPCI’s Amish/Mennonite Evangelism Network seeks a “middle road” where Old Order lifestyles can be maintained while adopting Pentecostal beliefs.

“It doesn’t matter if people stay in the [Amish or Mennonite] church,” Yoder said. “What I’m saying is, you don’t have to be Pentecostal to be saved.”

But what is needed to be saved, according to the UPCI and based on Acts 2:38-39, is the “baptism of the Holy Spirit,” which is evident by the believer speaking in tongues at the time of his or her water baptism.

“It is much more than belief in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved,” Yoder said.

Yoder grew up in Delaware as the son of a conservative Mennonite pastor. But he became a Pentecostal as a bored and rebellious teenager. “I was just hungry for more and wanted to find out more,” he said.

Yoder today pastors a UPCI congregation in New Jersey in addition to leading the Amish/ Mennonite Evangelism Network.

While the network has two staff members in Indiana and one each in Tennessee and Virginia, most of the work is based on lay volunteers developing relationships with their Old Order neighbors. The network was started about three years ago, Yoder said, by former Amish and Mennonites “who are totally thrilled by their experience” as Pentecostals.

More at the links.