Members often initiate private confession, going to a church leader to confess violations of biblical teaching (theft, fornication, lying) or of the
Ordnung
(owning a computer, filing a lawsuit, flying in an airplane). Depending on the nature of the transgression, the church official may offer loving counsel and close the matter. In other cases, he may require the individual to make a public confession, either sitting or kneeling before the entire church. The church will “subpoena” the wayward who do not come forward voluntarily, and ask them to appear before the
Gmay
to confess or at least explain their behavior, noted one Amish man.
Although bishops, ministers, and deacons oversee the process, discipline involves the entire
Gmay
during the occasional Members Meetings that follow Sunday-morning services. After the benediction, the bishop dismisses all the children and unbaptized teens, leaving sixty or so adult members. Then the work of community discipline and pardon begins.
Drawing on Matthew 18:15-20, the Amish see this task as one of the church’s key responsibilities. In some ways, this authority parallels that of a Roman Catholic priest, who can pardon a repentant parishioner of sin, but the Amish believe that Matthew 18 authorizes the entire church to make decisions about membership that are binding on earth and endorsed in heaven.The sacred nature of the church’s decision making is underscored in verse 20 where Jesus says, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” This authority of the
gathered church
, meeting in the presence of Christ, provides divine sanction for all the decisions related to membership, the
Ordnung
, and other matters.
Decisions Endorsed in Heaven
Although Amish people view Members Meetings with solemn respect, they are also aware of their church’s fallibility. They realize the church consists of people who are prone to sin, yet who sincerely seek to embody the will of God on earth. Violations of biblical teaching and the
Ordnung
are seen as sinful, but not because the
Ordnung
is an exact replication of divine will. Transgressions are sinful because, to the Amish, they signal self-centeredness and rebelliousness—in short, a disobedient heart. Aware that the Amish way is difficult for others to understand, Amos, a minister, explained, “I know it doesn’t make sense to outsiders; they think, ‘What’s the matter with a car?’ Well, nothing. It’s the giving up part. That’s what’s important.”
Giving up things not explicitly forbidden in the Bible surprises some Christians. Indeed, many outsiders would see some of what the Amish consider sins as signs of free thinking, not self-centeredness; of healthy individuality, not defiance. Such a difference points to the deep divide between Amish beliefs and mainstream values. For most Amish, it is not that important what the
Ordnung
prohibits, or even if the prohibitions were to change next year.The obedience or disobedience revealed by a person’s attitude toward the church is the issue, not the details of a rule. “Remember . . . the way to heaven is paved with obedience, and the way to hell is paved with disobedience,” says one minister, who had himself been subject to discipline earlier in his life.
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In the Members Meeting, the contrite one comes forward and confesses, “I have sinned. I earnestly beg God and the church for sincere patience with me, and from now on I will carry more concern and care with the Lord’s help.”
9
The bishop might then ask some questions about the offense, after which the offender may seek to explain his or her actions or may simply sob in remorse. After confessing, the person leaves the room; the bishop suggests a remedy and asks each member if he or she agrees. The vote by the members is usually unanimous.
The tearful confessions, frank discussions, and binding decisions in Members Meetings are strictly confidential, and members are forbidden from talking about them. Ministers urge church members to forgive and forget, or more precisely, to pardon and leave it in the past. In the words of an Amish historian, “A confessed sin may never be held against a person again—it is dead and buried.” In fact, if a member does leak information, he or she could be disciplined for gossip.
After the vote, the offender returns to hear the verdict. He or she may be reinstated immediately or perhaps suspended from membership for six weeks, the typical punishment. If suspended, the offender meets with the ministers for admonition and attends church, but during the first sermon sits in a front row, bent over, with face in hands as a sign of remorse. After six weeks, the disciplined person is restored to membership.
m
The Return of the Prodigal
The rite of restoration revolves around Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son, the story of a son who shames his wealthy father by demanding his inheritance and then squandering it. After coming to his senses, he returns home, hoping merely to be taken into his father’s house as a slave. Instead, he is welcomed back as a beloved child (Luke 15:11-32). In the same spirit, those who have been expelled, either for a short time or for a number of years, are restored to membership in the
Gmay
if they are contrite and willing to confess their errors.
Services of restoration in Amish churches occur in Members Meetings. Some include a prayer from
Christenpflicht
, “On Behalf of Those Who Have Fallen Away,” which is followed by a reading of the prodigal son story. Then the bishop speaks: “If you, fallen brother or sister, stand in hope that the Heavenly Father has thus far drawn near to you and is again merciful to you, then you may in God’s name kneel down.” In the midst of the gathered church, surrounded by family, friends, and neighbors, the penitent one answers questions posed by the bishop:
“Do you recognize and confess that you have earned this discipline and that it has rightfully been dealt out to you?
“Do you also sincerely request patience from God and the church?
“Do you promise that you hereafter desire to live more carefully with the Lord’s help, and to walk in His commandments, and help to apply them and to counsel and labor in the church in all points as you promised at the time of your baptism?”
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Hearing affirmative answers, the bishop announces, “In the name of the Lord and of the church, you are offered my hand, arise.” The kiss of peace, the symbol that earlier had sealed the rite of baptism, is then offered to the individual.
Confession and discipline often bring healing both to individuals and to the church community. One member described a young married couple who were suspended because of their premarital sexual behavior. “They asked to be expelled, and so there was this six-week period of repentance.When they were reinstated as members it was such a sensational thing, and everybody felt that this couple really . . . was sorry for what they had done and wanted to lead a better life. Everybody felt so good about it. It was really a healthy thing for the church. It was really a good feeling.”
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Although confession and restoration reaffirm the values of humility and submission, they are not always successful in changing behaviors, particularly those involving alcohol abuse or sexual compulsion. Repeat offenders may find themselves confessing before the
Gmay
over and over again, but unable to break addictions the church deems sinful. Some Amish churches, though not all, are open to professional mental health counseling. Such counseling in tandem with the church’s rites of discipline can be a therapeutic and healing combination.
Delivering People to Satan
Occasionally a church member will directly or persistently flout the authority of the church, rejecting discipline and calls for confession. These situations, though rare, are considered quite serious, for they are a breach of baptismal vows—lifelong promises to comply with the church, made before God and a host of witnesses. Typically those who ignore the church’s counsel—buying a car, for instance, and refusing to sell it—have already decided to leave. They expect to be excommunicated.
With discipline and excommunication, the church draws a sharp line between baptized members and those who have not joined the
Gmay
. Only members, because they vowed to uphold the
Ordnung
at baptism, can be excommunicated and shunned. Teenagers reared in Amish homes who haven’t joined the church and eventually pursue another way of life cannot be excommunicated. They no doubt bring their parents grief, but because they never took baptismal vows, they cannot be shunned. The amount of acceptance they receive from their parents varies greatly from family to family.
Excommunication is a long-standing practice of the Catholic Church and many Protestant ones. It is similar in some ways to firing an employee who flagrantly violates company policy. Among the Amish, excommunication is affirmed by a vote of church members, but it is done only after leaders have spent weeks or months patiently urging wayward members to repent. Restoration is always the goal, but because it requires repentance, it’s not always achieved.
With other avenues exhausted, a deacon and a minister deliver the church’s verdict, using 1 Corinthians 5:5: “To deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” These words sound harsh to modern ears, and certainly those expelled do not see themselves aligned with Satan. But for the Amish, holding members accountable is the flip side of the community barn raising that outsiders celebrate. Living in community requires both.
A Dose of Tough Love
Because the Amish believe that church membership is not just a private spiritual matter, expulsion from the church has social consequences. Following a practice advocated in the seventeenth-century Dordrecht Confession—a practice that Jakob Ammann invoked to spark the Amish movement in 1693—the Amish use shaming rituals after excommunication to remind everyone of the broken relationship and hopefully jolt defectors into repentance.This practice is commonly known as shunning.
Contrary to popular notions, shunning does not involve severing all social ties. Members may talk with ex-members, for example. But certain acts, such as accepting rides or money from ex-members and eating at the same table with them, are forbidden. “We still help ex-members,” said one farmer, but “generally we don’t invite them to social events or to weddings or to things like school meetings.”
Amish church members outside the offender’s
Gmay
are also expected to shun the ex-member. Members are even expected to shun an ex-member in their own household, although the spouse of an ex-member remains married to him or her, and may continue to live in the same house. A person who refuses to shun an excommunicated spouse jeopardizes his or her own standing within the church and risks the possibility of being expelled.
Although shunning is practiced by all Amish churches, its strictness varies from family to family and from one
Gmay
to another. Some
Gmay
s shun an ex-member for life or until the ex-member repents, but others stop shunning after a year if the former member joins another Anabaptist church.
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“Shunning is not an Amish invention or innovation,” said Jesse adamantly. The Amish cite more than a half dozen New Testament scriptures in support of the practice. “If any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a drunkard, or an extortioner,” writes the apostle Paul in a text that is read at each Council Meeting, “with such a one do not eat” (1 Corinthians 5:11). In another place Paul advises Christians to “withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly” (2 Thessalonians 3:6).Yet another New Testament passage enjoins believers to “mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them” (Romans 16:17).
These texts and others lead the Amish to believe that “shunning is a practice commanded and sanctioned by God for the protection of the church.”
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In the words of Bishop Eli, “it helps to keep our church intact” by removing rebellious and disobedient voices who would stir up dissension. It also reminds offenders of their broken vows, in hopes that they will confess their errors and return to the fold.
Ex-members are always welcomed back after they confess their sin. Parents, in particular, can be persistent in begging their wayward children to return. And given their belief in the sacred nature of parenting, parents often blame themselves for a child’s exit. “Oh, Irene! It gets so lonesome without you and it’s hard to go on,” one mother wrote to her daughter, who had left the church after baptism. “The waiting is so painful. . . . I’m very, very sorry that something like this happened.”
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In the Amish view, shunning is tough love for the wayward. An Amish woman drew from her experience as a mother to explain its basis. “Shunning and spanking go side by side,” she said. “We love our children. When we spank them, it’s a discipline to help them control their minds. When spanking, we don’t get angry at them, and the same is true for shunning.” For the Amish, healthy churches, like good parents, mete out discipline with love. Because the Amish believe that each person’s eternal soul is at stake, they contend that giving a dose of communal discipline is the most loving thing to do.