Moses M. Beachy
Moses M Beachy, the founding
bishop of the
Beachy Amish Mennonite churches in
1927, and formerly a bishop in the
Old Order Amish churches, was born on
December 3,
1874, near
Salisbury,
Somerset County,
Pennsylvania, and died on
July 7,
1946.
He was ordained a minister in the
Amish church on
1912 May 19 and ordained a bishop in that church on
1916 October 1. His father, two brothers, and two sons were also Amish ministers. In
1927 he was involved in the church division that led to formation of the
Beachy Amish congregations.
That division had its roots in differences among church leaders over a strict interpretation of the
streng meidung, or strong ban,
shunning, or avoidance of members under church discipline, which had come to effectively excommunicate church members who left the stricter Pennsylvania district of the church in order to transfer to the less strict Maryland district. Moses favored a more moderate position. Since he was not united on this issue with other ministers and the retired bishop of his own congregation, he considered resigning his office, but was urged by at least one minister not to do so.
Unlike many Amish congregations which meet in homes, Amish church meetings in Somerset County were conducted in church buildings, customarily meeting at two alternating locations on different Sundays, but on
1927 June 26, after a decade or more of tension over the
streng meidung issue, the more conservative group and the formerly retired bishop met at the Summit Mills meetinghouse, even though Moses had previously announced that services were to be held that Sunday at the Flag Run meetinghouse. Effectively there were now two congregations where previously there had been one, though they continued to share the same two church buildings on alternate Sundays.
The new congregation under Moses Beachy gradually became known by the name of its bishop, a nomenclature that was not uncommon, especially when church groups met at different locations and could not assume the name of a particular place.
Other Amish congregations that identified with the issues leading to the formation of the Beachy congregation started to ally themselves into a new church fellowship group, and this larger grouping also came to be called
Beachy Amish, though in some areas they were known as Amish Mennonite or as Fellowship churches. Moses Beachy and John A. Stoltzfus, bishop of a group that had divided from the Old Order Amish of
Lancaster County,
Pennsylvania, began a practice of visiting one another's churches in
1929, and their two congregations became leaders in the growing
Beachy Amish Mennonite fellowship of churches. (For a more detailed discussion of the
1927 split and its history, see
Rise and development of the Beachy Amish Mennonite churches. The author, Alvin J. Beachy (1913-1986), was Moses' eleventh son.)
Despite the failure of those involved in the
1927 church division to resolve their differences, there was mutual agreement by them on shared use of the two church meetinghouses, and for many years the two groups continued to meet at alternating locations, helping to equalize the travel distance by members who lived over a widely dispersed area. In
1928 the new Beachy congregation approved the use of automobiles, and in another year electricity and telephones, something that immediately distinguished them from the Old Order Amish, for whom travel is typically conducted by horse and carriage and have been more selective in their adaptation to modern technology. Even though one church group now drove automobiles, the shared, amicable ownership and use of two church buildings continued until
1953, seven years after the death of Moses Beachy, when the Beachy Amish group constructed a more modern building and called themselves Mountain View Fellowship.
Moses had married Lucy S. Miller on
1895 February 17 and they had 14 children. Lucy died
1927 November 25. Moses married Mary E. Hershberger on
1928 November 12. He was known as a kind and compassionate person. He died in
1946 at the age of 71.
*
Beachy Amish*
Old Order Amish*
Amish*
Mennonite*
Shunning*
Weavertown Amish Mennonite Church* Mennonite Encyclopedia
*
Mountina View Mennonite Church- 50th Anniversary Program. 2003. Salisbury, PA: Mountain View Mennonite Church.
* Yoder, Elmer S.
The Beachy Amish Mennonite Fellowship Churches. Hartville, OH: Diakonia Ministries, 1987. Comprehensive account by a sympathetic observer. ISBN 0940883015
* Yoder, Mary Elizabeth. 1997.
The Children of Moses. Kearney, NE: Morris Publishing.
*
Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online*
article about the Amish written in the Pennsylvania German language*
article about the Beachy Amish waiting to be written in the Pennsylvania German language
