Revival The Missing Link?

[Hoovie]

Here is how the Amish do it...

The main factor behind the growth is simple: Big families and a high “retention rate.”

"A new study estimates the number of Amish has increased nearly 10 percent in the past two years alone, to a total population of 249,000, compared with about 227,000 in 2008."


"They are sort of challenging some of the mainstream assumptions about progress and how you achieve the good life and happiness," said Elizabethtown professor Don Kraybill, the study's director. "They're not merely surviving; they're thriving, and growing at this very rapid rate."


The study focused on all Amish groups that use horse-and-buggy transportation, so it excluded such automobile-driving groups as the Beachy Amish and Mennonites.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100728/...thriving_amish

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2010/...pulation-boom/

[Praxeas]

Originally Posted by Hoovie

Here is how the Amish do it...

The main factor behind the growth is simple: Big families and a high “retention rate.”

"A new study estimates the number of Amish has increased nearly 10 percent in the past two years alone, to a total population of 249,000, compared with about 227,000 in 2008."


"They are sort of challenging some of the mainstream assumptions about progress and how you achieve the good life and happiness," said Elizabethtown professor Don Kraybill, the study's director. "They're not merely surviving; they're thriving, and growing at this very rapid rate."


The study focused on all Amish groups that use horse-and-buggy transportation, so it excluded such automobile-driving groups as the Beachy Amish and Mennonites.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100728/...thriving_amish

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2010/...pulation-boom/

So...the key to revival is to....ahem "get busy"?

[Hoovie]

Originally Posted by Praxeas

So...the key to revival is to....ahem "get busy"?

I think it's worth considering whether Birth Control, while not actually sin, carries with it both intended and unintended consequences - all of which results in a reduction of devout Christianity.

[pelathais]

Originally Posted by Praxeas

So...the key to revival is to....ahem "get busy"?

... AND a "high retention rate." Destroying your young people and belittling their efforts at "revival" will usually drive them away.

Lining them up and inspecting their underwear and sleeping garments before they are allowed to register for camp is another turn off.

Telling them that they cannot trust what their eyes and other senses tell them about the natural world while they are involved in educating themselves about that world will cause a disconnect that will lead to a great "falling away" as well.

I watched a couple of bus loads of "Old Order" looking Amish kids as they were being given a tour of Hollywood Boulevard at night back in February. The Amish leaders of the tour were excitedly pointing out the sites and all.

My sense was that there was an honest presentation of "the other side" and the views and culture outside their own little community. The kids seemed to be in the process of being given an honest look and evaluation of what they could be doing if they chose that life.

[Baron1710]

Originally Posted by Hoovie

I think it's worth considering whether Birth Control, while not actually sin, carries with it both intended and unintended consequences - all of which results in a reduction of devout Christianity.

Hoovie,

Do you think that the high retention rate is due to the hamstringing of such a lifestyle that makes it very difficult to leave?

I am sure being part of a religious community doesn't make you a Christian, some of the retention rate must be due to not knowing anything else and the fear associated with leaving.

[Hoovie]

Originally Posted by Baron1710

Hoovie,

Do you think that the high retention rate is due to the hamstringing of such a lifestyle that makes it very difficult to leave?

I am sure being part of a religious community doesn't make you a Christian, some of the retention rate must be due to not knowing anything else and the fear associated with leaving.

Some of it of course is, and perhaps even more than most denominations, I'll grant you that - but not necessarily most or all the retention is based on that.

I can think of several compelling reasons to go back to the Old Order lifestyle I abandoned 25 years ago.

[Michael]

Are any of these groups WPF?

[Baron1710]

Originally Posted by Hoovie

Some of it of course is, and perhaps even more than most denominations, I'll grant you that - but not necessarily most or all the retention is based on that.

I can think of several compelling reasons to go back to the Old Order lifestyle I abandoned 25 years ago.

But don't you see a problem with the rate of conversions?

100 a year!!

[Hoovie]

Originally Posted by Baron1710

But don't you see a problem with the rate of conversions?

100 a year!!

It's probably 100 total actually.

Is it less desirable to retain 85% than to lose say 75% and fill that void with new converts? Hmmm,... I'll have to think about that.

I really did not post this thread to defend the Amish Christian religion, but rather question whether we are missing a key element in church growth.

[Hoovie]

Here is an Amish that would like to change evangelism.

Part one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lhoz_...eature=related