Excommunicated members of the Amish are also shunned, which limits their interactions with their family and former community. In more conservative communities, members who are excommunicated, and therefore shunned, are not permitted any contact with members of their former community, including their family.

What is an Amish Bann?

For the Amish, excommunication (Bann) and shunning (Meidung) are community-wide tough love. When someone is baptized and joins an Amish church-community, that person makes a vow to God to embrace the Christian faith as practiced by that community, a congregation of those who have made this same promise.

Can you rejoin the Amish?

You can begin wherever you are.” Yes, it is possible for outsiders, through conversion and convincement, to join the Amish community, but we must quickly add that it seldom happens. First, the Amish do not evangelize and seek to add outsiders to their church.

Can Amish leave without being shunned?

Any member is free to leave. A member who has left may even be allowed to return within a short time. A member who leaves permanently will, however, be shunned.