Seeker (Anabaptism)

A Seeker is a person likely to join an Old Order Anabaptist community, like the Amish, the Old Order Mennonites, the Hutterites, the Old Order Schwarzenau Brethren or the Old Order River Brethren. Among the 500,000 member of such communities in the United States there are only an estimated 1,200 to 1,300 outsiders who have joined them.

A major obstacle for seekers is the language, because most Old Order communities speak German dialects like Pennsylvania German or Hutterite German in every day life and in general won't give it up for seekers. Exceptions are the Old Order Mennonites of Virginia, the Old Order Schwarzenau Brethren and the Old Order River Brethren who speak English only.

Stephen Scott, himself a convert to the Old Order River Brethren, distinguishes four types of seekers:

Only a few outsiders have ever joined the Amish. Since 1950 only some 75 people have joined and remained members of the Amish. Since 1990 some twenty people of Russian Mennonite background have joined the Amish in Aylmer, Ontario.

Two whole Christian communities have joined the Amish: The Church at Smyrna, Maine, one of the five Christian Communities of Elmo Stoll after Stoll's death and the Church at Manton, Michigan, which belonged to a community that was founded by Harry Wanner (1935–2012), a minister of Stauffer Old Order Mennonite background. The "Michigan Churches", with which Smyrna and Manton affiliated, are said to be more open to seekers and converts than other Amish churches. Most of the members of these two Amish communities originally came from Plain churches, i. e. Old Order Amish, Old Order Mennonite or Old German Baptist Brethren, but others came from non-Amish backgrounds. Another seeker-friendly community in Maine, belonging to the Michigan Churches, is located at Unity, Maine.

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