The Amish live in small religious communities. Amish homes, which are interspersed with non-Amish, or Englisher , homes, dot America's rural landscape. In recent years the Amish population has been rapidly increasing, causing a strain on resources in older communities and leading young people to move and create new communities elsewhere. But every community, whether old or new, is organized in the same way and offers its members a place to worship, work, and socialize together.

Anabaptist Roots

It is impossible to understand the significance of community in Amish society without knowing the history of the church and its people. The sect originated in the 1500s with a group of religious reformers known as Anabaptists. The Anabaptists believed in adult (versus infant) baptism and strict separation of church and state. At the time, these concepts were extremely radical. Powerful church states ruled western...