Snyder’s Furniture has a handy overview of further differences between the Amish and Mennonites, not including minor things like head coverings that are, frankly, too numerous and niggling to go over in this article. Ultimately, both the Amish and Mennonites are Christian groups, even though the Amish’s Christianity can seem more deeply submerged beneath in-your-face conversation points like, “Hey, those guys drive buggies and are really awesome at carpentry.”
Since both the Amish and Mennonites are fundamentally Christian, they have their own way of conducting services. The Amish host services in private in their own homes in strict adherence to the Anabaptist “obedient love–faith relationship” roots we mentioned, described on Anabaptist Faith. These services, interestingly enough, are not always conducted in English. Snyder’s Furniture says that Pennsylvania Amish might conduct services in Pennsylvania Dutch, for example. Mennonites, in complete contrast, hold what you might consider typical, public Protestant church services, but with the aforementioned wide Mennonite range of differences. Also, Mennonites conduct services in native languages, like English.
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As a final note, it’s the Amish who’ve seen a population boom within the past 10 years. In 2012, Bloomberg reported 251,000 Amish in North America, a number which in 2022 jumped to about 367,000. While folks might be inclined to think that modernity has driven people into the Amish’s rustic arms, the population jump is due to communities staying self-contained while not using birth control. “Some people would claim 90 percent of daughters and sons get baptized Amish and start families,” sociology professor Joseph Donnermeyer told Bloomberg.
