News
David Mast
| February 10, 2009As an Amish teenager, I always knew there was something that I didn't understand about God, but I didn't know what it was. At age 18, I got baptized; I didn't know why, other than, just because everybody else did it.
Abraham Shrock
| January 21, 2009I'm Abraham. I grew up Amish and the Amish are very strict. It's like they think it's all the good works that lets them enter the gates of Heaven instead of trusting and believing what Jesus Christ did on the Cross. Their rules got me to realize that I have a lot of sin in my life and I got very frustrated, angry and depressed, because I thought I had to work myself into a good enough position in order to be forgiven, and I couldn't do it.
Focus on Faith: The story of an Amish woman
| January 11, 2009Lucinda Streiker-Schmidt grew up on an Amish farm in Indiana and has nothing but fond, loving memories of her childhood. Yet, throughout her early life, Lucinda never stopped questioning the differences between her life and the "outside society." When she got a little older, Lucinda experienced the horrors of abuse, incest, neglect and emotional torment after being forced to marry into another Amish family.
Former Amish man honored for volunteer driving
| November 24, 2008In the first nine months of this year, Ken Hershberger volunteered 422 hours to drive more than 1,200 veterans a total of 15,733 miles to their doctor appointments.
Edwin Hostetler
| November 15, 2008Then, in 1993 I was at my lowest point in life. I didn't want to live anymore and suffered with deep depression; it was awful. Then one day my wife handed me the Bible and told me to read it so I started reading Romans. The light at the end of the tunnel was getting brighter. God was truly working on me and for the first time I started to feel His love. I knew God was talking to me.
Katie Hershberger
| September 14, 2008As most of you know I am former Amish. I was 21 yrs. old when I converted. I felt like I got off the leash. I got into partying and drinking and had no idea where I was heading. I sure had my share of problems. At one point I was like I might as well enjoy life while I can. I couldn't figure out why things were going wrong for me.
Albert and Cindy Miller
| August 30, 2008When Albert & I got married, the first week was so good; this was 13 years ago. Then I began to notice the anger and resentment that Albert had toward the Amish preachers and at times he would direct it toward me. So many years I lived in fear and depression; many a sleepless night, praying to God that He would help me, and to touch Albert's heart, as his heart had grown very hard.
Mary Schlabach
| August 19, 2008I joined the Amish church at the age of 18 and lived the lifestyle until I was 49 years old. For many years I wondered what was wrong with me that I dreaded going to church. The preachers always said one only gets out of church what one puts in.
Jonathan Helmuth
| July 2, 2008I too was raised in an Amish home and married an Amish girl, (Dorothy Stutzman). We had 3 children when we left the Amish and have had 3 more since then. I met the Lord beside my bed, through an old book when I was 16 years old. I had bought this box of old books at an auction and in it were a lot of books on the Christian life, including a couple of Bibles.
Escaping the Amish
| June 24, 2008Those peace-loving bearded folks from Witness? I called Torah, and after just a few minutes, I knew this post had to be written. For those of you who feel trapped because of a job or self-imposed obligations as an entrepreneur, this will put things in perspective. How do you escape your environment if you’re unable to control it? If almost no one on the outside realizes what’s happening?
Daughter to Parents: I Weep for Your Return
| May 6, 2008Dear Father and Mother, You are our dear parents and we don't expect you to listen to us, but we also have a concern for you. Oh, so sad that you left us. How can you go on and forsake...
Special Report: Leaving the Amish Life
| May 2, 2008It's the perfect May day in Elizabethtown, and the Schrock family is out enjoying the breeze. Today, the family's five strong, but seven years ago, Saloma and Isaac were a young dating couple in Senora, Tennessee as part of an Amish community.
The Rumspringa years
| March 20, 2008The definition of Rumspringa is running around. This term refers to young Amish people, anywhere from the age of 16 until they get married. It is the time of dating and getting together with other Amish young people that have not married and it is a chance to get to know one another. This is also the time for the boys to take the girls on dates. In my experience (24 years living as an Amish person) it was not okay for the girls to ask boys on a date, the boys always asked the girls.
Shunned from her Amish family
| March 19, 2008Anna Dee Olson, who lived the Amish lifestyle until age 24, describes her journey from growing up Amish to be shunned by her family for sinning and acting against the Amish faith.
Life with and without the Amish
| March 18, 2008I saw many of the people I grew up with, went to school with, and worshipped with do a lot of wild things on Rumspringa – the time when Amish teens get to live outside traditional Amish society without strict rules. I wasn’t nearly as adventurous as many of my friends, but ironically now live a life as a musician that perhaps many English (non-Amish) would consider wild even by their standards. Though, from what I have seen on television, still relatively tame compared to most musicians.
Coach at loss over wins
| February 14, 2008Part of his childhood was spent without electricity or running water, and his family traveled to town each week by horse and buggy. In fact, the first time Leroy Troyer rode in a car he got sick; he wasn't used to the speed. He grew up Amish in Wilmot, Ohio. There was no television, or time for sports.
Portrait of a young Amish man: a world apart from "Englishness"
| January 22, 2008Jacob Stoltzfus is in his final year of formal education, and it shows. His bright eyes and smile exude the confidence of a pupil who has mastered all that his school has to offer him, a young man who is about to put his childhood behind him and start the rest of his life.
Jonas Yoder
| December 22, 2007My name is Jonas Yoder but I like to be called JD. I left the Amish on January 22, 2007. The reason I left the Amish church is because I did not like all the rules that the church put on me.Amish life was also very boring and lonely at times ----- I had nothing to live for.
How an Amish girl left her community but kept her family
| September 14, 2007Elizabeth Byler remembers a time when she would do anything to lead the life the average American is accustomed to. She felt like a slave to the black, blue or purple dress that made her so hot in the summer, and longed to cut her hair into a cute bob that was then the trend.
Born Amish Then Shunned: How I Reunited with My Amish Family
| August 29, 2007One of five children, I was born in 1979 to an Amish Family. My parents decided to leave the Old Order Community in Central Pennsylvania to make a new life. Upon leaving they took their children with them. When my parents left they were "shunned." Shunning practices vary within each Amish Community. Generally, Old Order Communities tend to shun severely (you don't exist to them), while more modern communities tend to do so with less harshness.
Jonas Swartzentruber
| May 11, 2007I left the Amish on Sept. 11, 2005 because I never liked the man-made rules. Sometimes (I told myself) I was born with English blood.
I knew of Jesus when I was Amish but I never really learned about him until four months after I left the Amish.
Amish Minister: Please Return to the Fold
| January 4, 2007Dear Lester, It's unthinkable and terrible, how can you go to sleep at night. Only because Satan has you in his grip!
My Life as an Amish
| July 10, 2006ONE week ago the tiny Amish community of Nickel Mines lived in peaceful isolation from the evils of the modern world. That innocent idyll was cruelly shattered by crazed gunman Charles Carl Roberts.
Founder of Auntie Anne's Pretzels
| June 24, 2006Founder of Auntie Anne’s Pretzels and Author of Twist of Faith was educated until the 8th grade in a small Amish school in PA. Her close-knit family celebrated a sincere Christian faith and also valued a marketable work ethic with a good eye for business opportunity....
Dr Albert Miller Grew Up Amish
| June 24, 2006When Albert Miller finished college and applied to medical schools across the country, he got his very first rejection letter from the school he wanted to attend. Instead of accepting his fate, Miller called the University of Cincinnati with one simple request. I simply said, "I simply said, I know my application isn't the best you've had, but I have an unusual background. I asked for an interview, and if they felt after that, that I didn't belong there, I could accept that." Miller, now a doctor in Wooster, recalled. Miller was granted an interview and received another letter a short time later.
Daniel Wengerd
| June 12, 2006I was raised Amish, under a strict law and thought as long as I follow the rules as good as I can I could hope to be in Heaven sometime. But their were a lot of things that didn't make sense and always brought me to the Bible. I kept searching and trusting in the words "seek and you will find" till one Wednesday evening, January 2005 I put all my junk mail aside and read the Bible which was unusual cause our practice was to only read the Bible on Sunday.
Sarah Ann Wengerd
| June 12, 2006A few weeks before we left the Amish I had a few scares that I can't get to heaven! But just thought I have to be more strict in the Amish law. But then 4 weeks after we left I realized I can't get to heaven by good works and thought that saved me.
