In a farmhouse in Lancaster County, a plain wooden coffin rests on two sawhorses in a room emptied of furniture. Neighbors have been arriving since dawn — some by buggy, some on foot from the next farm over. In the kitchen, women in cape dresses and white prayer coverings arrange sandwiches and pies brought by half the church district. On the third day, five hundred people will fill the barn for a two-hour service preached in Pennsylvania Dutch. There will be no flowers, no eulogy, no photographs, and no printed program. The grave will be closed by hand.
To an outside visitor, an Amish funeral can feel like stepping into another century. But every element — the plain garments, the community-built coffin, the German hymns, the shared meal — expresses Anabaptist theology: Gelassenheit, or yieldedness to God and community. Nothing is done to impress; everything is done to honor a life of quiet discipleship and hold the family in the arms of the church.
This guide is written for the people who most often need it: non-Amish neighbors invited to a viewing, funeral directors serving Plain communities, in-laws marrying into a Mennonite family, and researchers reconnecting with Anabaptist heritage. It covers Old Order Amish, New Order Amish, Beachy Amish, Old Order and conservative Mennonites, and Mennonite Church USA — the differences among these groups are real, and confusing them causes hurt. Practices vary by settlement, church district, and bishop. There is no single "Amish funeral." What follows is a careful map, not a rulebook.
Who are the Amish and Mennonites?
Amish and Mennonites share a common root in the sixteenth-century Anabaptist movement, which emerged in Zurich in 1525 out of the Radical Reformation. Anabaptists rejected infant baptism, insisted on adult baptism upon confession of faith, refused to swear oaths or bear arms, and separated from state churches. Their earliest leaders were imprisoned, drowned, or burned; the memory of that martyrdom is preserved in the Ausbund, the hymnal still used by the Amish today. Mennonites take their name from Menno Simons, a former Catholic priest from Friesland who joined the movement in 1536. In 1693, a Swiss elder named Jakob Ammann led a stricter faction out of the broader Mennonite fold over disputes about shunning and foot-washing. His followers became the Amish.
Today the family tree is broad. According to the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College, the North American Amish population reached an estimated 410,955 in June 2025, up from 177,910 in 2000 — a 131% increase driven by large families and roughly 85% youth retention. The population doubles about every twenty years. Globally, the Mennonite World Conference reports 1.44 million baptized members in roughly 10,400 congregations across 61 countries as of November 2025, with 84% of members now in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Old Order Amish
The largest Amish group. Horse-and-buggy transportation, no grid electricity in the home, Pennsylvania Dutch spoken at home, High German used in worship, church services held in homes and barns rather than meetinghouses. About 61% of North American Amish live in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana; Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (~44,700) and Holmes County, Ohio (~39,000) are the two largest settlements, as tracked by the Young Center's settlement data.
New Order Amish
A 1960s offshoot from Old Order groups in Ohio and Pennsylvania. New Order Amish keep buggies and plain dress but permit telephones in the home, some electricity from batteries or generators, and more open discussion of "assurance of salvation." They typically emphasize Sunday school and youth Bible study — activities Old Order communities generally do not have.
Beachy Amish and Amish Mennonites
The Beachy Amish, named for Bishop Moses M. Beachy of Somerset County, Pennsylvania, split from the Old Order in the late 1920s. They drive cars, worship in meetinghouses, and hold services in English. Plain dress remains — dark suits for men, cape dresses with head coverings for women — but worship resembles a conservative Protestant service.
Old Order Mennonites
Horse-and-buggy Mennonites, most visible in the Weaverland, Groffdale (often called "Wenger" Mennonites), and Stauffer conferences of Pennsylvania and beyond. Old Order Mennonites worship in plain meetinghouses, sing from German or English hymnals a cappella, and keep dress conventions similar to Old Order Amish. Some drive black cars ("Black Bumper" Mennonites); others keep buggies.
Conservative Mennonites
An umbrella term covering groups such as the Eastern Pennsylvania Mennonite Church, Mennonite Christian Fellowship, and Charity Christian Fellowship. Members typically drive cars, worship in meetinghouses, preach in English, and hold to plain dress — cape dresses and head coverings for women, plain suits for men. Theology is evangelical Anabaptist with strong nonresistance and modesty commitments.
Mennonite Church USA
The largest U.S. Mennonite denomination, formed in 2002 by the merger of the Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church. MC USA reported roughly 50,000 baptized members in about 530 congregations in 2025. Most MC USA congregations look and sound like other Protestant churches from the outside — pews, printed bulletins, a paid pastor, congregational hymn singing — while preserving Anabaptist theology of peace, community, and discipleship.
Why the taxonomy matters: a funeral in an Old Order farmhouse in Holmes County and an MC USA service in Harrisonburg, Virginia will share very little on the surface. Both honor the same theology of resurrection hope. Everything else — language, setting, casket, dress, music, meal — will differ.
Shared theological themes
Across the Anabaptist spectrum, a few convictions shape every funeral.
Gelassenheit. Yieldedness to God, to the church, and to death itself. A funeral is not a celebration of an individual life but a corporate act of submission to God's will. Personal biography is minimized; scripture and hymn are foregrounded.
Discipleship (Nachfolge). A person is remembered for faithful walking, not achievements. Résumés and hobbies are rarely mentioned in Old Order settings.
Community (Gemeinde). The church district, not a funeral home, carries the family. Neighbors dig the grave, build the coffin, cook the meals, and do the barn chores while the family grieves. The Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online (GAMEO) notes that Anabaptist funeral practice has always been shaped by "the mutual aid of the congregation."
Simplicity. No cut flowers in Old Order settings. Plain caskets. Plain markers. Plain clothing. The focus stays on the word preached, the hymn sung, and the community gathered.
Hope in bodily resurrection. Readings from John 11 (Lazarus), 1 Corinthians 15 (the resurrection chapter), and Revelation 21 (the new heaven and new earth) are near-universal across Amish and Mennonite funerals.
Old Order Amish funeral customs, step by step
When death occurs
Word spreads quickly. Family members telephone from a shared phone shanty; hand-delivered notes and a mutual aid network do the rest. Within hours, the bishop, deacons, and neighboring church districts know. In most U.S. states, a licensed funeral director must be involved for embalming and to file the death certificate, so the family typically works with an "Amish-friendly" funeral home. The body is embalmed and returned home the same day or the next.
Female relatives and close friends wash and dress the body at home. Traditional burial garments are plain and specific. A woman is dressed in a white cape dress and white prayer covering — often the very dress she wore at baptism. A man is dressed in a white shirt and black trousers, sometimes with a black vest — again, garments associated with baptism and communion. The believer is buried in the clothing of the covenant.
Meanwhile, a plain wooden coffin is prepared. In Lancaster County, six-sided ("toe-pincher") coffins remain common; in Ohio and Indiana, rectangular coffins are more typical. They are built by a local Amish carpenter or a family member from pine, poplar, or oak — no metal handles beyond simple rope pulls, no satin lining beyond a plain white cloth.
The home viewing
The body is laid out at home — in the front room, parlor, or a cleared bedroom — for two to three days before the funeral. This is the heart of an Amish funeral. Neighbors come and go from morning until evening. The family is not expected to entertain. Visitors sit quietly on benches, view the body, offer a brief word of condolence, and leave. Hundreds may pass through; in a large settlement, a thousand is not unusual.
Feeding them belongs to the community. Women from neighboring districts arrive with roasts, casseroles, bread, pies, coffee, and church spread. Meals are served in shifts. Men handle barn chores for the grieving family so the household is free to receive visitors and grieve.
The funeral service
The service is held on the third or fourth day, most often at the home or in a large barn or shop that has been cleared and filled with backless wooden benches carted in from the district's church wagon. In some settlements, a nearby Amish schoolhouse is used when weather requires it. The service begins at 8:30 or 9:00 in the morning and runs roughly two to three hours.
The form mirrors an Amish Sunday service. An opening hymn is drawn from the Ausbund, the sixteenth-century Amish hymnal. Hymns are sung slowly and in unison, without instruments — a single verse can take fifteen minutes. A deacon delivers the opening sermon, called the Anfang. Then the bishop preaches the main sermon, the Hauptrede — an extended meditation on resurrection, judgment, and the hope of the faithful. Scripture is read in High German; preaching moves between Pennsylvania Dutch and High German. Silent prayer, kneeling, and a closing hymn conclude the service.
There is no eulogy in most Old Order districts. The deceased is named, and their birth date, death date, and years of life are announced; individual biography is otherwise set aside. Visitors who do not understand the language are welcomed to sit and listen anyway.
The procession and burial
At the close of the service, the coffin is carried to a horse-drawn hearse — a plain black spring wagon — and driven at a walking pace to the community cemetery. A long line of family buggies follows. In a large Lancaster or Holmes County settlement, the procession may stretch a mile and include fifty or more buggies.
Amish cemeteries are simple fields, often set within a church district's boundaries. Graves are dug by young men of the district the day before, by hand. At the graveside, pallbearers lower the coffin by ropes; after a brief committal and sometimes a hymn, the community stands silently as the young men shovel the grave closed. Nothing is left to a paid crew; the earth is closed by neighbors.
The grave marker, added later, is small, uniform, and plain — a stone about a foot to eighteen inches high, engraved with the name, birth date, death date, and age. No epitaph, no photograph, no decoration. In some districts, markers are limited to first initials.
The meal and the weeks after
After the burial, a community meal is served for extended family and visitors — often at the home, sometimes at a nearby farm. Two hundred to five hundred is a normal turnout for an adult member; for a widely known bishop or minister, the number can climb past a thousand. The meal is simple and abundant: roast beef or ham, mashed potatoes, noodles, cooked vegetables, bread, pie, coffee.
There is no separate "wake" — the three days of continuous visiting have already served that role. In many Old Order settlements, widows wear black for a full year of mourning: a black cape dress and black prayer covering worn to Sunday services and often to all public occasions for the twelve months following the death. Widowers dress in black for a shorter period, though the practice is less codified. During that year, the district checks in repeatedly with meal drop-offs, work frolics, and quiet visits.
How New Order Amish funerals differ
New Order Amish funerals follow the same basic shape as Old Order services — home setting, plain coffin, community meal, burial in a church cemetery. New Order homes have some electricity, so lighting, sound amplification for very large services, and refrigeration of food may be used. Sermons often include somewhat more personal remembrance. Because New Order Amish more openly affirm "assurance of salvation" language, a New Order bishop may speak of the deceased as being "with the Lord" more explicitly than an Old Order bishop would; humility about eternal destiny is the Old Order norm.
How Beachy Amish and conservative Mennonite funerals differ
Beachy Amish, Amish Mennonite, and conservative Mennonite funerals are typically held in a meetinghouse rather than a home or barn. Services are conducted in English, and a printed order of service may be handed out. The service usually includes congregational hymn singing — often four-part a cappella from the Christian Hymnal, the Mennonite Hymnal, or Zion's Praises — scripture readings, one or two sermons, and a brief life sketch or obituary. Plain dress is worn. Cars replace buggies. Burial follows in the meetinghouse cemetery, and a fellowship meal is served in the meetinghouse basement.
Conservative Mennonite groups such as the Eastern Pennsylvania Mennonite Church, Mennonite Christian Fellowship, and Charity Christian Fellowship follow this general form. So do Old Order Mennonite groups such as the Weaverland, Groffdale ("Wenger"), and Stauffer conferences, though Old Order Mennonite services can still be conducted partly in German and use unaccompanied unison singing from older hymnals.
How Mennonite Church USA funerals typically look
To an outside visitor, a Mennonite Church USA funeral will resemble a mainline Protestant service. There is a printed bulletin. The congregation sings — Mennonites are famous for four-part a cappella hymn singing, and even in MC USA congregations that use instruments, unaccompanied harmony is common at funerals. Scripture is read in English. A pastor delivers a full sermon that often integrates a substantive eulogy; family members frequently speak, sharing stories, reading letters or poems, or singing a solo. A slideshow of photographs is not unusual.
Theology remains Anabaptist. Sermons emphasize peace, discipleship, community, and the hope of resurrection. Communion is generally not part of a funeral service. A "fellowship meal" in the church basement follows, coordinated by the women's fellowship or a meal committee — practical mutual aid persists even in the most assimilated Mennonite congregations. Practical guides published by MennoMedia, the joint publishing agency of Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada, describe planning services around scripture, hymn, and story, with strong lay involvement.
Cremation is increasingly accepted in MC USA congregations, though full-body burial remains the norm. It remains uncommon in Old Order Amish and conservative Mennonite groups, which strongly prefer burial. If your loved one is being cremated, talking with the pastor first is the right starting point; most MC USA congregations will hold a memorial service around an urn without difficulty.
Etiquette for visitors
If you have been invited to attend an Amish or Mennonite funeral, the invitation itself is significant. Old Order Amish funerals are not "public," but nearby neighbors, English (non-Amish) friends, and business associates are often welcomed. A few practical notes.
Dress plainly and modestly. Dark colors — black, navy, dark gray, or deep brown. Men should wear long pants and a collared shirt; a tie is not required and, in some Old Order settings, may look out of place. Women should wear a below-the-knee skirt or dress with sleeves and a modest neckline. Jewelry is best limited to a wedding band. A head covering — a simple scarf will do — is not required of visitors but is quietly appreciated in Old Order settings.
Bring food, not flowers. A covered dish, a pan of bars, or a pie is always welcome and joins the community meal effort. Old Order Amish do not use cut flowers at funerals — sending an arrangement to a home or graveside will feel out of place. If you feel you must send something, a card with a cash gift inside is quietly received and used to defray medical and funeral costs.
Absolutely no photography. Do not photograph the family, the coffin, the burial, the buildings, or the buggies. Reporters and researchers should ask the bishop in advance and expect the answer to be no. The same courtesy applies to conservative Mennonite services.
Keep condolences simple. "I'm sorry for your loss" is fine. Avoid reassurances like "he's in a better place" — this presumes knowledge Amish believers hold with humility — and skip lengthy stories about your own grief. A firm handshake and a quiet word are enough.
Expect a long service in a language you may not understand. Old Order services run two to three hours on backless benches, in Pennsylvania Dutch and High German. There is no printed program. If you need to slip out for a moment, do so quietly.
For Beachy, conservative Mennonite, or MC USA services, etiquette follows a conservative Protestant funeral: dark modest clothing, arrive early, sit where an usher directs, sign the guest book, and join the fellowship meal if invited.
What Anabaptist funerals can teach anyone planning a service
Even readers with no connection to a Plain community often find themselves quietly moved by these customs. Several principles travel well.
Community over commerce. Almost everything an American family typically pays a vendor for — food, flowers, transport, grave digging, hospitality — the Amish community handles itself. Ideas from a home funeral guide or a plan for a celebration of life at home can move a service in that direction without abandoning professional help entirely.
Simplicity as care. A plain pine coffin focuses attention on the person, not the packaging. Families drawn to that ethic often explore eco-friendly burial options or natural burial grounds.
Time to grieve together. Three days of continuous visiting is longer than most modern American funerals allow. Even one full day of home visitation, with the coffin present and neighbors coming and going, can change how a family experiences loss.
Predictability comforts. The same hymns, the same scripture, the same structure at every funeral means grief has a container.
Readers curious about traditions that share these instincts may find useful comparisons in Quaker funeral traditions, another simple-and-silent Protestant heritage, or in Baptist funeral traditions. Reading about the symbolism of funeral flowers also clarifies, by contrast, why Old Order Amish deliberately omit them.
Planning across cultures
A few practical notes for readers who need to bridge Anabaptist and non-Anabaptist worlds.
Funeral directors serving Amish families: coordinate closely with the family and bishop. Understand each community's embalming preferences (most Old Order districts accept embalming; some do not). Expect payment in cash or check, not insurance. Do not add ornamental touches — no floral sprays, no printed prayer cards — unless the family requests them.
Non-Amish spouses or in-laws in Plain communities: ask the bishop, a minister, or a trusted senior member about the specific customs of your church district. Practices differ block by block; even within Lancaster County, districts vary.
Mennonite Church USA families planning a memorial: your pastor is the first call. Most congregations will happily host a memorial service around an urn or a photograph, with the usual scripture, hymns, and shared meal. Ask early if family members want to participate — Mennonite services tend to feature substantial lay involvement. If a funeral reception follows, a meal committee can usually organize it with a week's notice.
A final word
An Amish funeral is not a performance for outsiders. It is a community doing what it has done for centuries — burying its own with plain hands, plain words, and plain hope. When you attend one, or help plan one, or serve one professionally, the most respectful posture is a quiet one: dress plainly, bring food, sit still, and let the community carry itself. These church districts have been carrying each other through death for four hundred years. They do not need our elaboration. They need our respect.
Sources
- Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown College — Amish Population Profile 2025
- Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies — Twelve Largest Amish Settlements
- Mennonite World Conference — Membership, Map and Statistics (November 2025)
- Mennonite World Conference — About MWC
- Mennonite Church USA — State of the Denomination
- Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online (GAMEO) — Funerals
- Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online (GAMEO) — Amish
- MennoMedia — Publishing agency of Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada