• Jun. 27, 2006
Amish Community...pt.5
My final thoughts on the Amish documentary are this...
The Amish man is NEVER alone in his struggles. He is bailed out by people he knows rather than by a commercial insurance policy. Help is personal and close by.
I am not telling you to go out and cancel all of your insurance. Just sayin... ;)
I am saying that this is a beautiful picture of the way that a Christian community should respond to it's members. I don't know about your church but mine sure falls down on this one. A church should be like family. A church should help with meals, child care, financial needs, sitting with the elderly and so forth when there is a crisis or a dire need in a family within their congregation. The early church lived and worked together. When they would travel, as did Paul and his fellow workers, they would seek out fellow believers when they would enter a town. They worked with them and fellowshipped with them until it was time to move on and then in the next town they would do the same. They had Christ in common and it was enough to bind them together. It made an immediate connection for them and then they would "assimilate" or teach new believers in the ways and teachings of Christ. They would bring them immediately into their family. (sorry for the Borg reference - it is a good word) New believers were never allowed to just flounder and figure it out for themselves. The Lord provided a way to disciple them from the moment they belonged to Him. We have lost much of this in our churches today. The Amish have maintained this mentality in a way that is a beautiful picture of the church if done correctly. Granted, the Mennonites are better at evangelism and we should never be exclusionary to the point of not telling unbelievers about Christ.
The example they showed in the video was one of a barn burning and the whole community coming with supplies, food and man power to build a new one in a matter of days for a family in need. I personally believe that welfare and social services would be unnecessary if the church were doing their job in caring for their community. I believe it would be a spectacular witness if we just cared for those in our area.
I know of a local Korean church that shares in this kind of living. They pray together every morning before the sun is up. They eat meals together and provide assistance when their members are in need. Upon talking with a friend who is Korean she said that churches in Korea are the same way. What a great example!!! I cannot even get members to take food to a new mommy or a grieving family. *sigh* There are wonderful examples in many of the things the Amish do.
The final quote of the documentary was this...
They are a people who, in their respect for the law of God, cherish the earth and keep it, who will not sacrifice community for convenience, who have not been caught up in progress, who believe that order brings unity and contentment. A people who have not yet been able to accept fully the first stages of the industrial revolution though they live in it's latter phase. A people who don't discard the past, who fear pride and who don't argue with nature, who know how to accept limits, who live what they believe. People who are in the world but not of it. People of preservation. A people of God.
Maybe we do not always agree with everything that happens within their community but they do have some great things going for them. We don't have to sell everything and live the way they do to benefit from some of the things to which they adhere. I hope you have enjoyed this series and maybe you have taken something away from it that is useful. I know I have been convicted and blessed in writing these posts. Thanks so much for reading!!!
