Old Order Mennonite
Old Order Mennonites form a branch of the Mennonite tradition. Old Order are those Mennonite groups of Swiss German and south German heritage who practice a lifestyle without some elements of modern technology, wear very conservative and modest dress, and have retained the old forms of worship, baptism and communion. A majority of Old Order Mennonite still drive a horse and buggy, whereas a large minority use cars.
All Old Order Mennonites reject certain technologies, but the extent of this rejection depends on the individual group. Old Order groups generally place great emphasis on a disciplined community instead of the individual's personal faith beliefs. The Pennsylvania German language is spoken vigorously among all horse-and-buggy groups except the Virginia Old Order Mennonites, who lost their original language before becoming Old Order. There is no overall church or conference to unite all the different groups of Old Order Mennonites. In 2008–2009, a minority of Old Order Mennonites accepted automobiles, whereas a majority retain horse and buggy transportation.
The total population of Old Order Mennonites can be estimated to be between 72,000 and 84,000 in 2021.
Very conservative Plautdietsch-speaking Russian Mennonites, who may have a similar belief and lifestyle, are normally not called Old Order Mennonite.
Names
From the first Old Order division in Indiana in 1872 under bishop Jacob Wisler until the middle of the 20th century, all Old Order Mennonites were called by many "Wisler Mennonites," "Old Order Mennonites, Wisler," even "Wislerites," or the like. In a few cases this usage has persisted, but today the term "Wisler Mennonites" normally refers to a certain subgroup, the Ohio-Indiana Mennonite Conference.Old Order Mennonites who do not use automobiles are either referred to as "horse and buggy Mennonites" or "team Mennonites". Sometimes the term "Old Order Mennonites" is restricted to groups that do not use cars. "Automobile" Old Order Mennonites refer to those who split from horse-and-buggy Old Order groups. It is common to name groups after a bishop, in most cases the leading bishop during the time of division.
History
19th century
In the second half of the 19th century, the Old Order Movement emerged among Anabaptists of South German and Swiss origin in North America who spoke mostly Pennsylvania German. Most "Old Order" Mennonites emerged through divisions from the main body of Mennonites between 1872 and 1901 in four regions of North America: Indiana in 1872, Ontario in 1889, Pennsylvania in 1893 and Virginia in 1901.Conflicts over the introduction of such modern practices as Sunday Schools, revival meetings, and English-language preaching drove the formation of Old Order Mennonite churches. At that time controversies over the use of modern technologies did not yet play a role in these divisions.
The modernizing trends that changed the form of religious practice were pushed among the Mennonites especially by two men: John F. Funk and John S. Coffman. The traditionally minded people left the old conferences to form new ones, but not the modernizers.
The Stauffer Mennonites had already split away in 1845 over several issues, favoring a stricter church practice. Today they, and groups that split from them, are the most traditional Old Order Mennonite groups concerning technologies and dress.
The Reformed Mennonites, formed in 1812, are a special group that does not totally fit into the "Old Order" group but that has best retained some old traditions, e. g. they wear the most traditional form of plain dress among all Mennonites. Concerns that led to the formation of the new group were "the worldly drift of the church" and "degeneration".
According to a 2017 report,
"there are two basic strains of Mennonites in Canada: the Swiss-South German Mennonites came via Pennsylvania, and the Dutch-North German Mennonites came via Russia. In the late 1700s and early 1800s "Swiss" Mennonites from Pennsylvania settled in southern Ontario. In the 1870s, a large group of "Russian" Mennonites from Ukraine moved to southern Manitoba. Further waves of "Russian" Mennonites came to Canada in the 1920s and 1940s". In the last 50 years, Mennonites have been coming to Canada from Mexico.The majority today are not of the Old Order.
20th century
Between 1907 and 1931 another wave of church splits occurred among the Old Orders, concerning the use of new technologies, especially cars. The splits occurred in Indiana and Ohio in 1907, in Ontario in 1931, and in Pennsylvania in 1927, generally dividing them into the groups called horse and buggy and automobile.Between the 1940s and the 1960s, both the Orthodox Mennonites and the Noah Hoover Mennonites emerged from a long series of splits and reunifications of people among the Old Orders who were not modernizers but sought a purer form of Mennonite life. Both the Orthodox Mennonites and the Noah Hoovers are "intentionalist-minded, ultra-plain Old Order Mennonite" groups. Stephen Scott writes the following about the Noah Hoover Mennonite:
Beliefs and practices
Many practices among the Old Order Mennonites stem from the biblical principle of nonconformity to the world, according to and other Bible verses.The avoidance of technologies by Old Order Mennonites and Old Order Amish is based not on a belief that the technology is in some way evil, but over a concern for the nature of their communities. Community is important to a Mennonite, and a technology or practice is rejected if it would adversely affect it.
Many Old Order Mennonite groups reject automobiles but in an emergency even the most traditional Old Order Mennonite is likely to accept a ride in an automobile; those who sell milk in areas that require cooling will install electricity in the barn. Some of the groups that allow the use of cars and trucks, such as the Markham-Waterloo Mennonite Conference, will ensure that they are all black, even painting over chromed sections to achieve this effect.
Old Order Mennonites also practise plainness, including the dress, which is the opposite of showiness in clothing but also in physical appearance.
Many Amish and Old Order Mennonites do not use traditional health insurance with monthly premiums copayments. In Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, some Amish and Mennonites use Preferred Health Care Old Order Group coverage.
When an OOG member visits a participating provider, they present a unique white card with red and blue print identifying them as a PHC member. These cards are void of any identifying information, as is the custom of their religious belief. After care is rendered, providers submit a claim to PHC for a "repricing" as if the patient had insurance.
A PHC statement is then sent to the medical practice and the patient indicating the discounted amount due the provider. The practice then collects the repriced amount from the patient directly, as per practice policy for collecting balances due on self-pay patient accounts. In this way, the Old Order Group has engaged in collective bargaining practices to lower their cost of health care. Additionally, the community will support any member who is sick, disadvantaged, old, or who has suffered an accident.
Old Order Mennonites and Old Order Amish groups are often grouped together in North America's popular press. This is incorrect, according to a 2017 report by Canadian Mennonite magazine:
The customs of Old Order Mennonites, the Amish communities and Old Colony Mennonites have a number of similarities, but the cultural differences are significant enough so that members of one group would not feel comfortable moving to another group. The Old Order Mennonites and Amish have the same European roots and the language spoken in their homes is the same German dialect. Old Colony Mennonites use Low German, a different German dialect.
Unlike most Old Order Amish, Old Order Mennonites have meeting houses for worship, typically of very simple design and lacking adornment. In many respects especially car driving Old Order Mennonite groups are quite similar to Conservative Mennonites but differ particularly in their non-acceptance of Sunday School and Revival Meetings, whereas horse and buggy Mennonites additionally retained use of the German language in everyday life and in their worship services.
The spectrum of Old Order Mennonite groups ranges from those that differ little from even conservative Old Order Amish groups like the Swartzentruber Amish to those that are barely different from Conservative Mennonite groups concerning the use of technologies.
What characterizes automobile groups as Old Order rather than Conservative Mennonite is their retention of traditional forms of worship, communion, baptism, funeral and leadership structures. By contrast, some wedding practices have changed. The Old Order Mennonites normally have neither Sunday Schools nor revival meetings.
Horse-and-buggy groups have retained a rural lifestyle, with farming as an important part of their economy. Most horse-and-buggy Old Order Mennonites allow the use of tractors for farming, although some groups insist on steel-wheeled tractors to prevent their being used for road transportation. Some traditional groups, like the Orthodox Mennonites and the Noah Hoover Mennonites, still till their fields with horses. The horse-and-buggy people stress separation from the world, excommunicate, and normally shun in a strict manner. All Old Order Mennonite groups meet in meeting houses or church buildings, contrary to the Old Order Amish, who meet in the homes or barns of their members.
Progressive Old Order Mennonites, like the Weaverland Conference Mennonites, Wisler Mennonites, and Markham-Waterloo Mennonite Conference, largely evolved from the same series of Old Order schisms from 1872 to 1901. Nowadays, they often share the same meeting houses with and adhere to almost identical forms of Old Order worship as their horse-and-buggy Old Order brethren with whom they parted ways in the early 20th century.
Although Weaverland Old Orders began using cars in 1927, the cars were required to be plain and painted black. The form of the ban among progressive groups in general is less severe, which means an ex-communicant is not always shunned and is, therefore, not excluded from the family table, shunned by their spouse and/or cut off from business dealings. All progressive Old Orders have either already shifted from Pennsylvania German to English or are in the process to do so. In recent decades, however, family sizes and growth rates of the progressive groups have diminished compared to the horse-and-buggy groups.
According to a University of Waterloo report of 2017, "of the estimated 59,000 Mennonites in Ontario, only about twenty percent are members of conservative groups".