Johannes Nafziger and the care of Amish congregations

Johannes Nafziger, born about 1706, served as an elder of the Amish congregation at Essingen in the Palatinate. Between 1765 and 1770 he helped Amish congregations in the Netherlands. His work belonged to a church life spread across borders after persecution and migration had dispersed the Swiss Anabaptist family.

At the congregations’ request, Nafziger wrote an extended letter explaining baptism, marriage, and the ordination of preachers. The letter became a form of ministers’ manual for Amish communities in South Germany. This surviving description shows how written counsel helped congregations preserve a shared order of worship and pastoral care when distance made regular personal contact difficult. The exhibit does not supply his death date.