The Role of Conference in Transitions and Expansions / 157 Issues and Problems of the Diener Versammlungen

The conferences were usually held in barns, and the number in attendance varied from twenty-seven to eighty-nine. Subjects for discussion and decision included these: Should baptism be administered in a stream or in the home? (No definite decision was ever reached.) Should meetinghouses replace homes and barns as places for worship? (Amish in Illinois and Ohio already had meetinghouses in certain congregations and they favored this setting for worship; Amish in Pennsylvania were not so inclined.) What of maintaining the traditional trousers, broad-brimmed hats, aprons, bonnets, and simple clothing of somber color? (Warnings were given against worldly fashions, worldly haircuts, and fashionable clothes.) What about a bishop giving communion to a member who did not believe that God would commit someone to eternal punishment for his misdeeds? (Such a bishop, Joseph Stuckey of Illinois, was ultimately denied fellowship in the larger Amish brotherhood.) What about participation in war? Receiving a pension for military service? Accepting teamster service under military control? (All these were answered in the negative.) What about holding public office which necessitated the use of force? (This was forbidden.) How should the church regard business enterprises and the holding of bank stock? (These were ruled out as generally inappropriate.)

Historic Farmstead

In 1862 the first Amish Diener Versummlung (General Conference) was held in this barn in Wayne County, Ohio. The barn was owned by Jonathan Schrock, a member of the Oak Grove Amish Church and a descendant of Samuel Schrock who in 1817 acquired the farm by patent deed signed by President James Monroe.   From Wilmer D. Swope.