Lessons from the Montana Hutterites

We have a number of Hutterite colonies in our area. We also have a large number of ex-Hutterites. I have some Christian friends who are former Hutterites and some of them left the colonies because of their faith in Christ. Not all colonies have the same beliefs about the gospel. These friends ended up leaving after they were mocked for trusting Christ instead of trusting in the colony. One of my friends remembers a minister from a different colony coming and preaching at a funeral. Evidently that minister had preached the gospel and it ended up creating a controversy and he was not invited back. The colonies that my friends came from have a huge problem with drunkenness, immorality, and shoplifting. I would love to find out if there is a contrast between the behavior that they experienced and the behavior on colonies where the gospel was preached clearly.

If indeed the practice of the Hutterites is to “adapt expectations” to allow a nonconforming member to remain, it’s worth noting that this is the exact same thing that leads to some pretty huge moral failures all over, and not just in the church, as JD describes. I have a coworker who describes some of the same things among the Amish—his parents are among many former Amish who left after Rumspringa. There is room for liberty on disputable issues, but you’ve got to have some basis for exclusion on serious sin issues per Matthew 18.