id: amish-shunning-meidung
title: Amish Meidung Discipline
description: >-
  An Amish practice of communal discipline in which a member who has
  violated the Ordnung (community rules) and refused to repent is shunned
  — members limit social contact to encourage repentance and restoration.
  Rooted in Anabaptist tradition and based on Matthew 18:15-17.
source: Amish tradition / Anabaptist practice
source_url: https://groups.amishcountry.org/
tags: [amish, anabaptist, discipline, restoration, community]
forked_from: null
image: null
steps:
  - headline: Private admonition
    description: >-
      A member who has violated the Ordnung is first admonished privately by
      one or two members, seeking repentance and restoration.
  - headline: Bring to the church
    description: >-
      If private admonition fails, the matter is brought to the church
      (congregation). The member is again urged to repent.
  - headline: Vote on meidung
    description: >-
      If the member still refuses, the congregation votes to enter meidung
      — shunning. The vote is a communal act, not a leader's decree.
  - headline: Shun to restore
    description: >-
      Members limit social contact with the shunned person — no communal
      meals, no business — while continuing family obligations. The purpose
      is to make restoration desirable, not to exile permanently.
  - headline: Receive the repentant
    description: >-
      If the member repents, the congregation receives them back with joy
      and a vote to end the meidung. Restoration, not punishment, is the
      end.
outcome: >-
  A member is disciplined by the community with the explicit goal of
  restoration; shunning ends the moment repentance is genuine.
practice: >-
  Meidung is painful and used rarely. The purpose is always restoration,
  not exile. Family obligations continue even in shunning — it is social,
  not familial, severance.