New Order Amish Fellowship
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The New Order Amish Fellowship or New New Order Amish, most commonly called New Order Christian Fellowship, is the most progressive affiliation among the New Order Amish. Because some scholars see the New Order Amish just as a subgroup of the Old Order Amish, the New Order Christian Fellowship is thus the most progressive affiliation among the Old Order Amish. In spirituality, they are close to Beachy Amish. Their use of horse and buggy transportation and their preservation of the German language distinguishes them from the Beachys, except for the Old Beachy Amish who have also retained the German language but drive cars.
In the late 1970s, there was a dispute among the New Order Amish if undesirable behavior should be treated by sanctions or by preaching. The context of this controversy was that about half of the young people did not join the New Order Amish church. Therefore, some leaders had the impression that they had "gone too far" and that they had to "back up" a little, which was seen by the more liberal faction as a return to the "Old Order mentality". The more liberal faction, led by Aden Yoder, thus split from the New Order Amish in 1986 in Holmes County, Ohio, and formed the New Order Amish Fellowship.[1]
Belief and practice
Like Old Order groups, New Order Amish Fellowship wear plain clothing, speak Pennsylvania German and use horse and buggy, but allow tractors for field work. They still speak Pennsylvania German, but there is a tendency to shift to the English language.[2]
All New Order Amish districts still preserve the traditional Amish dress, although there is a trend towards slimmer brimmed hats and trimmed beards among the men. As for the women, they typically have brighter colors all around. The New Order Amish Fellowship allows electricity from the grid in the home and computers in shops but discourage television. New Order Amish may be more lenient in the practice of shunning, and may be more permissive of photography than lower-order groups.[3]
