How to Distinguish Mennonites from Amish

Know the history. The Amish and Mennonites both came from a common root, the Anabaptists, a Protestant religious group that first appeared in the 1500s. The Amish split off from the Mennonites in the late 1600s because they believed that the other Anabaptists were not following Anabaptist beliefs closely enough.^[1] The basic ideas of Anabaptism are:^[2]

• Religion is a choice for adults to make (as opposed to the custom of infant baptism in Catholicism)
• Devotion to God
• Shunning secularism (ex: pop culture, non-religious media).

Know the backgrounds. Originally there were no Mennonites or Amish; there were only Anabaptists. However, in sixteenth-century Holland, a man named Menno Simons joined the Anabaptists and became prominent among them. About a century after Simons, a Swiss Anabaptist named Jacob Ammon began to preach that the Anabaptists were not following their founding principles closely enough. Thus followers of his ideas became known as Amish and separated from the Anabaptists. The remaining Anabaptists became known as Mennonites after Menno Simons.^[3]

Look at their clothes and hair. The Amish dress plainly in solid colors. Men wear black pants and shirts of a number of colors, along with straw hats, while women wear dresses and aprons with bonnets. Men typically have beards, and often have a bowl haircut, while women usually wear their hair in a bun.^[4]  Mennonites, however, have mainstream clothes and hairstyles, and are often indistinguishable from anyone else.

Examine their lifestyle. The Amish separate themselves from modern society. They don't drive cars or have electricity in their homes. They usually don't go on to higher education; typically they hold traditional jobs, such as farming or woodworking. They hold religious meetings in their homes, don't pose for photos, and often live in small farming communities. Mennonites are typically more integrated with modern society.^[5]

Know about exceptions. While the Amish technically avoid modern technology, they often have telephones at the edge of their properties and other modern conveniences close at hand. Some, the New Order Amish, are near-fully integrated with mainstream society. And then there are the Old Order Mennonites, who observe their religion largely as the Amish do. If all of this seems confusing to you, don't be embarrassed.^[6]