Amish Farm in Lancaster, PA
This weekend I had the opportunity to visit two churches in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Westminster and Harvest. They are in Amish country. A friend from the Harvest church, Lee Troup took me around Saturday afternoon to visit some Amish farms. He also introduced me to a few Amish families. It was a good learning experience.
Lee shared with me what he knew of the Amish way of life. They do some things very well. They are great at community, and caring for one another. They are also able to take care of themselves without depending on the those from the outside. Lee told me that 80% of the people stay within the church. That’s much better than most of our churches do.
The beauty of Lancaster!
On the other hand, since they isolate themselves from the outside they aren’t big on outreach and missions. The Bible encourages us to be in the world, but not of it. It’s very difficult to have dialogue with those outside the church if we don’t interact with them. That’s the area where the Amish are weak.
Then on Sunday after church I went out to lunch with Eunice Nichols, who is an 85 ball of fire for the Lord. She attends Harvest Presbyterian Church. We had lunch with a friend of her’s, Wo. Wo is not a believer. He claims to be a Quaker. He questions whether Christ is the true Messiah. Eunice wanted to share the gospel with Wo, and she wanted me to help her do it. So together we talked to Wo about our Savior, and our need to trust in Christ alone. Unfortunately, Wo was not very open.
After lunch Eunice told me that she felt like she was bolder than she might have been if she was alone. She seemed encouraged that she was able to be a witness for Christ, although at the same time saddened that Wo was so closed to the gospel. Please pray for Wo that he will humble himself, and come to know Christ.
As I drove away that day, I thought, Wow, I hope I love the Lord, and have as much fire in my belly as Eunice when I’m 85!
In His Grip, Dave
Beyond Borders 