Tradition!

“Donald B. Kraybill in his book, The Riddle of Amish Culture, writes: ‘The Amish blueprint for expected behavior, called the Ordnung, regulates private, public, and ceremonial life. Ordnung does not translate readily into English. Sometimes rendered as “ordnance” or “discipline,” the Ordnung is best thought of as an ordering of the whole way of life . . . a code of conduct which the church maintains by tradition rather than by systematic or explicit rules. A member noted: “The order is not written down. The people just know it, that’s all.” Rather than a packet or rules to memorize, the Ordnung is the “understood” behavior by which the Amish are expected to live. In the same way that the rules of grammar are learned by children, so the Ordnung, the grammar of order, is learned by Amish youth. The Ordnung evolved gradually over the decades as the church sought to strike a delicate balance between tradition and change. Specific details of the Ordnung vary across church districts and settlements.’”

People are reluctant to change.

I can see where even today in our Southern Baptist churches, we are more comfortable with old ways of doing things. I believe this stifles growth.