A Church That Survived Only Four Decades Nevertheless Left A Lasting Legacy

This 1950's photo is from historian Harry Brunk's collection.

This past weekend several hundred people met to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Stuarts Draft Amish Mennonite Church, which closed its doors in 1986, 44 years after its founding.

This congregation, which my parents joined when we moved to Virginia from Kansas in 1946 (when I was six), and in which I was baptized in 1954, made a huge impact on my life and on the lives of literally thousands of people who claim it as their "alma mater" (nurturing mother).

The congregation was founded in 1942 by some former members of the Kempsville (Virginia) Amish Mennonite Church when that Tidewater congregation chose to affiliate with the "Beachy Amish" group. Beachy-affiliated churches, originating in 1920 under Bishop Moses Beachy in the Somerset County (Pennsylvania) area, allow their members to own motor vehicles, which were seen by many in the Norfolk area as necessary, since traffic during the WW II boom became increasingly congested and less safe for horse drawn carriages.

Dissenting ministers Eli M. Yoder (not our relative) and Simon A. Schrock, who did not support the move to join the Beachy Amish group, were the first to move to Augusta County with their families, but soon many others joined them. Some came from Kempsville, but dozens of other families moved in from Amish communities in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Delaware and as far away as Kansas and Oklahoma.

Preacher's table and bench from the original church on display
at the anniversary celebration.

Thus the congregation grew rapidly in its first decade and became an important anchor in my early life as my spiritual extended family. This was a caring faith community that helped each other in times of harvest, invited other members into their homes on a regular basis, and readily came to each others' aid in times of need. I felt very loved and secure there as I was growing up among these good people.

Unfortunately, in 1954, just months after my baptism, history repeated itself as a group of Stuarts Draft members, including my parents, chose to become a Beachy Amish congregation just as the Kempsville community had done over a decade before. While there was remarkably little animosity shown by members involved on both sides, this resulted in a decline in membership in the original church as more and more people joined the newly formed Mt. Zion Amish Mennonite (Beachy) congregation.

Another factor in the decline was a number of the more conservative Amish in the community moving away to establish new Amish churches in Kentucky, Tennessee and elsewhere. New congregations were also formed as members began to leave the Mt. Zion church and establish more progressive and evangelistic-minded Beachy Amish groups in Madison and Cumberland Counties and in other locations in adjoining states.

In all, there are now more than 30 existing Anabaptist-related congregations who claim a direct link to this mother church in Stuarts Draft. Many of the 26 couples who were married there (including five of my older siblings) and many of the individuals who were baptized at the church, were present.

For me it was a most memorable and bittersweet time of reflecting and celebrating.