God is blessing the Amish in America, their population has nearly doubled since 1992, going from 125,000 to 231,000. (My own family has gone from 3 to 9 in that time, but hey – we’re in the prime of life!)
While a small part of the growth is due to conversions, other explanations include a high fertility rate and healthier children overall. Amish couples have an average of 5 children, and 80 percent of them grow up to practice the faith.
While Floyd secretly hopes that more of their children will become reformed, he can’t help admiring and applauding their retention rate. The study doesn’t break down the numbers by group, but the rate is in the range of 96% in the most conservative Amish groups, and far lower in the ones (New Order variety) that have adopted youth groups and done things “to keep the youth”.
