History
Weavertown shares a history with the churches known as Old Order Amish, and its origin is rooted in issues very important to the Old Order Amish church community of the 1890s. The fundamental issue behind the church division which led to the formation of the Weavertown church was disagreement with the Amish practice of Streng Meidung, the shunning or social avoidance of individuals who had left Amish church fellowship to join other churches. This Streng Meidung was an important issue long before more obvious secondary issues like acceptance or non-acceptance of automobiles, electricity, tractors, central heating, or telephones became significant distinguishing characteristics. On shunning, some Amish felt that it was wrong to pronounce strong social excommunication for what amounted to changes of church membership. Others maintained that church membership was a lifelong commitment, and that the Streng Meidung was a reasonable response toward one forsaking that commitment. In 1910, a group of Old Order Amish church members (about 85 people in 35 families, representing about one-fifth of Old Order Amish membership in Lancaster County at that time) who strongly disagreed with the practice of Streng Meidung commenced meeting as a group somewhat distinct from the rest of the Old Order Amish; this group eventually became the Weavertown Amish Mennonite Church.
The first church services of the group had been held on September 29, 1909, though no ordained ministers were present. The break with the Old Order Amish began on February 27, 1910, when bishops from outside the community were invited to ordain ministers for the new church. This may have occurred at the home of George W. Beiler, near the village of Gordonville, Pennsylvania. Worship services were conducted on alternate Sundays in homes of members, as the Old Order Amish still do today. However, in the fall of 1909, the first meetings were held every three or four weeks. The church group was at first called the Peachey Church (sometimes the Peachey Old Order Church) after an influential preacher and organizer, Samuel W. Peachey, and later the Crist King Church (sometimes the Crist King Old Order Church) after an early bishop, Christian L. King. Christian King separated from the church in 1925, whereupon the church was called the John A. Stoltzfus Church after its new bishop. At this time, church members were very similar to the Old Order Amish in appearance and practice; there was little difference between the two until the new group gradually began to accept the use of telephone and electricity. Use of automobiles was first permitted in 1928. A meeting house, originally built by the Old German Baptist Brethren in 1888, and later part of the Church of the Brethren, was acquired around 1930. The location of the meeting house contributed a permanent name to the congregation: though the building had been named the Bird-in-Hand Church House, it was located nearer the village of Weavertown: from that time, both the building and the people came to be known as the Weavertown Amish Mennonite Church.
Read more about this topic: Weavertown Amish Mennonite Church
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