Why are they called "Amish" & "Mennonite"? (Anabaptist story in brief)

Where do the names "Amish" & "Mennonite" come from? We take a brief look at the founders of these two groups, and the larger Anabaptist story.
My name is Erik Wesner and I'm not Amish. Back in 2004, I met the Amish while selling books. Since then, I've visited 5,000+ Amish homes & dozens of Amish communities. My book on Amish business, Success Made Simple: An Inside Look at Why Amish Businesses Thrive, was published in 2010. I run the Amish America website: amishamerica.com/
Image credits: Jakob Ammann drawing by Mike Atnip
Don Burke (www.flickr.com..., Jim Halverson,
Tauferhohle cave: www.tripadviso...
Jakob Ammann/Hans Reist wood carving by Aaron Zook
Old Lancaster Amish photo: Russ Glasson (www.flickr.com...)
Sources: Grounded Upon God's Word: The Life and Labors of Jakob Ammann by Andrew V. Ste. Marie & Mike Atnip. www.amazon.com...
A History of the Amish: Third Edition by Steven M. Nolt
www.amazon.com...

[@erin19030]

My family came here with Jacob Ammann anabaptists in 1727 on the “adventurer” the surname Haldemann means mountain dweller. We still live in the mountains , but now in Pennsylvania NE region.

[@overratedprogrammer]

I recognize your family name

[@petrosinaway1631]

Wow ❤

[@katecarnes3624]

Thank You Erik for this video. Beautiful area you are in.

[@AmishAmerica]

Thank you Kate!

[@Ujuani68]

0:16: Most of them lived in the Alsace area, but chose to flee from Catholic persecution, during the religious war. William Penn welcomes them and many others.

[@lesliehill5357]

There is a large gathering this weekend in Holmes county, all having lost their spouse. I had the pleasure of serving 100 of them at work today. Lovely people ❤️

[@glenmccall8854]

AN EXTREMELY GOOD VIDEO, AGAIN. Being a college professor of Archeology and Ancient History, the Anabaptist has long been a passion of mine, partly because of my love for the uncommon areas of history, but because I am a member of the group referred to by the Catholic church as Anabaptist. The church of Christ has traced its roots all the way back to the 1st century a.d. The study of the church through 20 centuries is arduous at times, yet exciting. It can be disappointing at times, to observe how folks splinter off to form their own groups with their own biases overshadowing the simplicity of the 1st century teachings. But that is the human nature coming through - "change it and make it modern". History shows that making it modern usually makes a mess out of most things. There he goes, "the old fuddy-duddy"!

[@AmishAmerica]

Thank you Glen. I find it can be very interesting especially when you see parallels between long-ago historical events and today. And I think a lot of Amish at least would not call it fuddy-duddy and would agree with what you share here:)

[@glenmccall8854]

@@AmishAmerica The old adage, "If you fail to study history, you are destined to repeat it", is certainly correct.

[@southbug27]

I don’t understand why you’re bothered by people splitting off & forming their own churches. Any church that isn’t the Catholic Church is a splinter church, & since you’re an Anabaptist, then you’re in a splinter church. I’m also in a splinter, Protestant church & am truthful about that. I don’t know why so many Protestants (Protestors of the Catholic Church) are obsessed with pretending that our church existed in the 1st century when it can be objectively proven that it was founded in the 1500s or depending on the particular denomination. I don’t think it’s moral for us to lie, even to ourselves, about holy things. We can be accurate with the facts, love history of all churches, & still think our church is the best, correct on doctrine, etc.

[@glenmccall8854]

@@southbug27 Hi southbug27, Come to think of it, I am probably a southbug also. You brought up some extremely good points to ponder. What is a protestant denomination? In my humble studies, this would be a "splinter" group from the Catholic church, which found a grievance against a particular doctrine of the Catholics. A classic example would be the Lutherans, Methodists, Episcopalians, and such. For centuries this has been referred to as branches of the Catholic church. A protestant denomination would, thus be a group that is in "protest" against. The Anabaptist groups do hold doctrines that are not in agreement with certain doctrines held by the Catholic church, but they did not splinter off from the Catholic church. The Anabaptist group preceded the Catholic church. I am not Amish or Mennonite, but to my understanding, these groups had their foundings somewhere around the 1500s. The group from which they codified their teachings had been around for over a thousand years and goes back before the Catholic church was ever thought of. Many people, catholic and protestant, have an idea that the Catholic church started in the 1st century. But that is not the case at all. When I went to work on my PhD program at the Univ. of Okla. no one in the History Dept. had their degree in Ancient History, Roman Empire and back through time, thus my degree was a "bridge" program. The head of the dept. was a Catholic priest whose degree was in Medieval Catholic history. "The Barbaric Invasion of the Roman Empire and It's Effect upon the Establishment of the Catholic church". I had only been in a Catholic church once in my life. Research only could be done, using books from the Vatican. This PhD program was performed strictly from the word of the Vatican. The invading Germanic tribes would not touch any land that belonged to a religious group. The Roman Empire was loosing land to the Barbaric invaders hand over fist. They had to put a stop to it. That and that only was the reason for the establishment of the Catholic church. Their doctrines came later. Time line has the beginning of the Catholic church a few hundred years after the time of Christ and the apostles. Just a note of interest - Peter had been dead for a couple of hundred years before the Roman Catholic church had ever entered the mind of any one. The term Anabaptist came about as a term of derision from the Catholic church. It had to do over the idea that babies are born in sin and thus they are sinners in need of baptism for the application of Christ blood for the forgiveness of those sins. Of course, those outsiders did not believe that babies are sinners. Those outsiders believed that a person must repent and confess their belief in Christ, before they could be immersed (baptized) for the forgiveness of their sins. The protest was from the Catholic priest, not the other way around. The issue was over who commit the sin, the parents or each individual for themselves. A point of interest - complete immersion was practiced by all. The catholics were loosing a lot of babies as a result of baptism, so eventually they switched to pouring, which helped. Later it was determined that sprinkling was even safer. The deep dive into the study of history is enjoyable and exciting. Thank you for your question and observations. You are very astute.

[@FrogeniusW.G.]

@@glenmccall8854 Don't agree. I'm *really* bad at history but don't tend to do any of the major "mistakes" of history.. I think it's just about integrity & ethics..

[@maryqueenofScots2023]

I was wondering where Church of The Brethren fall in the mix? I understood that they were also Anabaptist, what can you tell us about this?

[@Ujuani68]

Do you mean the Quakers? Or the Old Order River Brethren?

[@bluebird7546]

My ancestors were part of “The Original 13” and were on the ship, Concord landing in 1683. Check out Germantown Pa…first permanent mennonite settlement in the US.

[@mishalea]

Very interesting, Amman from France? Being from PA I thought all Amish descended from Germany, speaking their PA Dutch. Also intrigued to hear 'Mennonite' is older than 'Amish'. Hope you had good travels.

[@AmishAmerica]

Actually he was born in the Bern area, and later moved to Alsace. There were some migrations of the Anabaptists due to political and other conditions - some even ended up in areas of modern-day Poland and Ukraine. And thanks, I had a great visit and got some good fresh air:)

[@stevenmetzger3385]

@@AmishAmerica Well hello 👋🏼!!! from Steven Metzger (Meat man 👨🏻/ meat 🍖 seller) Swiss German & more??? Anabaptist in the tradition of Ulrich Zwingli I was raised in Northeast Kansas Our community has ~40000? or so members & friends (last time I researched that) & We have Extremely DETAILED 🧬 GENEALOGY BOOKS 📖 which go as far back as the first ancestor in the specific Lineage, who immigrated from the old country homeland… I coined the term "Mennonite Lite" for Our "sect" because we had almost ALL modern conveniences, but the more Stract households either did not have TVs or restricted the usage, however the parents saw fitting…

[@stevenmetzger3385]

& the closest small village / town, with the highest percentage of our Swiss🇨🇭/ German🇩🇪 "relation" was named… ***Bern, Kansas*** 🇺🇸

[@mishalea]

@@stevenmetzger3385 how ironic, I live in KS now and have been to Bern. They have a rather large Swedish community near Salina as well that I still want to visit.

[@stevenmetzger3385]

@@mishalea yes. KS is full of small towns & most were settled by 1 main immigrant group

[@stacietoot2474]

Enjoy your videos very much. I live about an hour away from Holmes County in Ohio. I love to visit the area many times throughout the year.

[@AmishAmerica]

Happy to hear that Stacie, and you're lucky to live near that place! Just working on a new video today, and Holmes County makes an appearance👍

[@lauram9167]

Thank you so much, Erik. You always put together wonderful content. If possible, would you consider touching on the Hutterites? I follow the KZbin channel of Giselle Waldner. She is a Hutterite from Manitoba. I've learned so much from watching her channel. It would be wonderful to hear of any insight you may have regarding the Hutterite communities.

[@AmishAmerica]

Thank you Laura - I have actually already recorded a video which briefly covers Hutterites which I have yet to post - but might be worth a more dedicated video, perhaps one comparing with the Amish. I have never visited a colony though have covered the group on the site before including with some interviews of Hutterite women. Thanks for the idea!

[@jonzaremba]

You've got a great life!!!

[@Hygge234]

Can you make a video of Amish Birthday don't know if it's any difference than the rest of the world or if it's even celebrated. Keep up those wonderful videos.

[@ThinkAboutIt-2x]

Are they at all related to the Moravians in any way? Who were also hunted & killed.

[@michaelstanley4698]

Thanks!!!!

[@susanschuck8124]

Thank you. Interesting

[@davidsellars646]

My mother did a lot of genealogy work. We come from the Shirk linage (that can be spelled 57 ways} that had origins in 1500 Switzerland and were Mennonites. They migrated through Germany, France, England, and finally landed in Pennsylvania. An early land deed was signed by one of the Penn family. A story she told was that the Mennonite men were known to be strong and docile. The Swiss government did a thriving trade selling them to the Venetians as galley slaves. I have kind of wondered about this but my mother was a stickler for accuracy. I have been told that there is a jail cell in Switzerland where one of our ancestors scratched his name in the wall in the early 1500's and it is legible yet.

[@tommyt8998]

In Islam, Shirk means polytheists or idol worshippers! Interesting

[@nkrfishingandoutdoors2007]

Great video!! Something funny lol! I am currently on vacation at outer banks salvo nc and I saw amish riding bicycles on the side of road it was very cool I believe they come from the Union grove settlement?

[@AmishAmerica]

It's possible they might be from Union Grove, they use bicycles there. Though other Amish might vacation there as well. Sounds like you had a neat surprise there 👍

[@nkrfishingandoutdoors2007]

@@AmishAmerica yessir!

[@susiecox8413]

Hey Erik, enjoyed this video! Do the Mennonites have a bishop like the Amish? Also, are there any similarities between Amish/Mennonites and Quakers?

[@AmishAmerica]

Thanks Susie! Horse-and-buggy Mennonites do have bishops, but they are responsible for a much larger group of people, so there are a lot fewer of them in proportion to their population. Tbh I don't know a ton about Quakers, historically they are also a church of nonresistance and settled in Pennsylvania like the Amish, but have different religious roots (Quakers out of England). I think there are some "plain" Quakers today, but overall today's Quakers are more progressive/modern, using technology, etc. I'd check deeper with someone with Quaker expertise for a more thorough answer though:)

[@susiecox8413]

@@AmishAmerica Thanks again for the info!!

[@yourdaywillcome5694]

If all America live the same life as they lived we would be in good shape

[@yourdaywillcome5694]

I believe that to you should be 18 years old to make that decision

[@TheMtggrl]

Very interesting, I knew some of this from a visit to the Lancaster area and reading books, but this was a good refresher.

[@jorjorsquadron304]

Brilliant! Have you ever considered visiting a Mennonite community? I understand there are a little more of them than the Amish.

[@AmishAmerica]

Yes I have visited some communities and met a decent number of plain Mennonites. I have tended to focus on the Amish however I guess because it's definitely a big enough topic for me:) Overall there are many more Mennonites than Amish if you include all Mennonites churches worldwide ("modern" churches) which puts the total in the millions. But as far as the most comparable to the Amish - Old Order Mennonites (horse-and-buggy), they would total significantly less than Old Order Amish (about 40,000 vs. 350,000+ for the Amish).

[@jorjorsquadron304]

@@AmishAmerica all of that is very much true! I also live in nevada. 5 hours up from me is Eureka, NV which has a Mennonite community and their church. There’s even plenty of them in Idaho as well. It’s worth visiting them.

[@petrosinaway1631]

​@@AmishAmericacool btw i'm from Papua, Indonesia. Well Baptist Church in Papua first time in around 60s or 50s in Papua by missionary from Dutch that is Simon Meno that i can say menonnite as we know, Because in Papua there are two missionary Baptist from Australia and Dutch but in different land so mine is from Menonite. Idk in Australia but i really sure for the first or second Imigration from in Australia from England there are connection one of other cause from Europe 👍☺ Thank you for sharing ur video

[@petrosinaway1631]

​@@AmishAmerica sorry i can speak or write English as well if you see there are part missiong word or grammar sorry that's because I don't know 😂😅

[@donaldfoltz4649]

Very interesting and informative.

[@stephanottawa7890]

When you say that Ammann converted, from what? Thanks

[@Edward135i]

interesting that people as devout and fundamental as the Amish know very little about Jakob Ammann, quite the opposite of Mormons.

[@collinsa8909]

Are you Amish?

[@ajaxvarble]

Can Amish men be volunteer firefighters? Do Amish have there own firefighting force?

[@RealAaron317]

lol what you think ???

[@garymyers6602]

Yes I believe they can as long as they do not drive the ttucks

[@ajalicea1091]

With the volunteer fire fighting force, there are the English who are a part of the same Department who have volunteered to pick up the Amish on their way to the Firehouse. And in turn that same volunteer will drop them off at home after everything's been taken care of. Just like the aspect of them getting a ride to go to Walmart that maybe 10 - 20 miles away.

[@RealAaron317]

@@ajalicea1091 they drive their carriage to Walmart. I seen one with a trailer attach to it

[@ajaxvarble]

@@ajalicea1091 getting to the station is not really my concern. It's more the question of is it acceptable in most sects or just some. Is it against the church because it's technically fighting an act of God? Some people consider volunteer firefighting as a personal hobby over a life necessity, would that be against some church sects?

[@shareewalls6032]

I was curious as to why don’t they just call themselves Christian??

[@yourdaywillcome5694]

They are very good people and I really not ever seen any kind of Filth in them they believe in God too much to have felt in their life and I will never let no one say anything bad about the Amish because to me they're the best people on the Earth

[@breadfan262]

What do the Amish think of the movies, Witness and Kingpin?

[@oldfarmshow]

👍

[@pvjohnson52]

Erik, love the information you provide. Great looking place at the beginning behind you. Thanks for sharing Georgia USA.

[@AmishAmerica]

Thank you, it was a great visit to a peaceful place. Got some much-needed exercise as well.

[@rockeerockey6941]

Where do the Berkholder's enter in?

[@SantaFe19484]

Nice video!

[@kimfleury]

Safe travels!

[@lmtt123]

No Anabaptists decide on their own to be baptised. They are pressured into it by the family and community. They have become what they feared.

[@rajeshnvijo-dj7dk]

😅😅😅😅 dude we already know 😅😅😅

[@Thisismyhandle138]

From what I understand the Amish and Mennonites view themselves as Christians first, which would make sense as to why they point to the Bible for the origins of their faith. It almost appears to a Christian outsider that their faith is Christianity, but their way of life is Amish (or Mennonite). That the two are separate, but linked.

[@Ggdivhjkjl]

Religions are always called after their founders.

[@AmishAmerica]

Really? There are some other examples within Christianity, like Hutterites and Hussites, but then what about Quakers, Shakers, Methodists, Presbyterians, not to mention Islam, Judaism, etc... 🙂