During the past couple of months I’ve shared the story of the unexpected phone call when my Amish friend Ruth (fictional name to protect her privacy) invited me to join her family for church in September. In my last blog post, I detailed how my friend Janet and I dressed in plain clothes with Mennonite doilies in our hair and went to Ruth’s home in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. This month I’ll tell you more about the Amish church service.
Janet and I sat in the back of the barn with the grandmothers when the service began at 9 a.m. The service started with the congregation singing hymns very slowly in German. A male song leader began the first syllable of each line, and then the rest of the congregation joined in.
The married men sat on one side of the barn, facing the married women. Young unmarried men and women sat in separate sections, as well. Many of the youth were gone during the hymn singing while they met with the bishop for their baptism class.
Since the barn doors were open, it was like having church with nature. Pigeons roosted in the rafters, and their musical cooing filled the barn. A cow wandered by mooing loudly. A barn cat also came to visit, and since I’m a cat lover, I gestured for the feline to come to me. I rubbed its chin before it continued to the back of the barn to take a leisurely bath before falling asleep in a warm sunbeam. Later in the service, a dog joined us and fell asleep at Janet’s feet.
The bishop, deacon, and minister had left the barn during the hymns to discuss who would preach that day. When they returned, the hymn singing ended, and the bishop began the service. The youth who had been in the baptism instruction class also joined the congregation when the ministers returned.
The three-hour service was entirely in German, except for one moment when the minister said in English, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son.” I had hoped to understand the service, but instead, I enjoyed listening to the ministers speak and observing the congregation.
When the service was over, Janet and I helped Ruth and her family set up for lunch. We first set up in the barn, where the benches were converted into tables. Ruth’s husband filled cups with coffee while we helped distribute the meal, which included homemade bread, Amish peanut butter spread, cheese spread, pretzels, pickles, and lunch meat. Delicious schnitz (apple) pie was dessert.
The youth didn’t stay for lunch. Instead, they left to attend a youth gathering at another church district. Everyone was warm and friendly during lunch, and I felt welcome by Ruth’s congregation.
Soon after lunch the congregation began to leave, and Janet and I helped clean up and wash dishes. We stayed and visited with Ruth’s family, and around 3 p.m., we ate an early supper with them.
After supper, Janet and I returned to our hotel room. Later, we sat outside on a bench in front of our hotel and enjoyed the beautiful evening while the buggies travel by us on Route 340. Colorful balloons floated in the sky above us as part of the Bird-in-Hand balloon festival.
The weekend was truly a dream come true for Janet and me. It was a blessing and an honor to experience the Amish church service for the first time. I look forward to visiting Ruth again soon.
Amy Clipston is the author of the bestselling Kauffman Amish Bakery novels. She has a degree in communications from Virginia Wesleyan College and currently works for the City of Charlotte, North Carolina. Amy lives with her husband, two sons, mother, and four spoiled rotten cats.
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I so enjoyed your three-part series about visiting your friend! Quite an experience, it sounds like, and a very rewarding one.
I have also enjoyed reading about you visit wih your friend. What a great experiance this must have been for you..
Amy, my husband and I have had the opportunity to attend an Amish church service in Lancaster County twice when we stayed in the guest house of an Amish couple. They were awesome experiences, highlights of our trips. We felt very unsure of ourselves when we arrived the first time, but we were very much welcomed by the people there. Reading your article took me back and made me ready for another visit.
Did you notice if anyone fell asleep during the service? I think was one thing that surprised me when I visited an Amish church service for the first time. There were several women around me that fell asleep. I miss eating Amish peanut butter!
Amy where we live We’ve a sm community of the Amish . In the summer we go to the Amish community Flea Mkt. We sat up There & sale my Husband scroll Saw pic of old cars truck s people & animals & others. IT;s the community in Ethridge Tn.. about 25 mi fr my house…
Thank you so much for sharing this and for all the replies above. Your article was so very interesting! You write with such clarity and the desire for one to keep reading and reading more – well, what can I say? Do share with us again soon! Sincerely, Mary Lou
Every Christmas, the Amish family that lives across the road from my daughter ( in Wisconsin ), invite her and her family to join them for their Christmas Eve church service. Like the service you attended, it was all in Pennsylvania Dutch – but my daughter said it is a beautiful experience and while she could only pick out certain words (thanks to our German background), she said she understood everything that was going on. Hopefully one Christmas I can get up there and join them in attending an Amish church service.
Thank you Amy for your story. I would love to have that experience.
I have enjoyed reading about your attending the church service. I think it would be wonderful to experience their life if even for a few hours. Thank you.
My family and I visited our Old Order Mennonite friends when I was a child, and I remember the service being very much like this. The memories warmed my heart this cold day. Thank you, Tricia!
i too have mennonite friends that we do alot with,we enjoy them so much,we have been to their church and gone shopping at alot of amish and mennonite stores ,its fun to see what they have in the stores also,my children have made good friends with their children ,and we have found that our differences are not that many,i met them at market and our friendship has grown ,i asked one day if other mennonite or amish would have english friends and why you dont see it more often, she said she thought maybe people thought they wouldnt want english as friends,or maybe the english thought they were strange,i think we all could learn alot from the mennonite families ,i know we do,and all of it good .
Wonderful…..I would love to experience this. Thanks for sharing…..blessings