Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Can A New Layer Of Leadership Save Sectarian Practice? A Decentralized Denomination’S Experiment With A Central Committee, Cory Anderson

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

The Beachy Amish-Mennonite bishop committee was established at the 1991 annual ministers’ meeting as a conservative response to uncertainty about religious practices across the denomination. The committee was tasked with developing 18 concerns from the meeting into a denomination-wide standard of practice. While majority support was forthcoming for this statement, leadership from some influential, moderate congregations worked against the committee for two reasons. First, the congregation’s leaders wanted a think tank-style advisory committee, not a committee that made and enforced regulations. Second, these congregations feared being ousted due to eventually falling out of conformity. Due to this opposition, the committee …