Despite only being a freshman in highschool, Marci has a large social media following. Young girls from across the globe watch videos of Marci putting on makeup and explaining her beauty hacks to the world. She’s all the time surrounded by friends in school. If freshmen may very well be prom queen, she’d be a favourite to win. Marci is popular and connected.
But Marci sits together with her counselor on this snowy Thursday in tears. Though she is surrounded by people and has a social media following envied by many, she feels deeply unknown and thus lonely. Ironically, she’s not alone in her loneliness. Recent studies have revealed that nearly 80% of individuals in Generation Z report feelings of loneliness.
Loneliness has been labeled a public health crisis, with its effects on physical health equated to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Churches usually are not immune. The struggle persists amongst believers, as many individuals sit in pews every week feeling unseen and disconnected.
But there’s one group that doesn’t appear to struggle in the identical way. The Amish.
A recent piece in Christianity Today shares that the Amish appear to have loneliness found out[1]. Knowledgeable counselor who works with Amish and Mennonite communities expressed that they’ve never heard someone of their community complain about loneliness. Why is that? Do they’ve something found out that those in broader Christian culture have missed?
Before we explore these questions, though, we want to have a look at how the Bible talks about loneliness.
How Does the Bible Talk about Loneliness?
From the start pages of the Bible, we get the concept God shouldn’t be a fan of loneliness. After God created Adam, He declared, “It shouldn’t be good for the person to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). This is fairly jarring because up until this point every thing which God had made was deemed “excellent”. Our need for relationships shouldn’t be a part of the autumn but fairly a part of our creation. Loneliness was not a flaw in Adam’s character but a mirrored image of his design.
Marica, the teenager with tons of friends but still lonely, feels this fashion because she was made within the image of a relational God. She is supposed to like and to be loved by others. She’s greater than just an “influencer.” The Bible calls her to greater than just being known about, and we have a deep longing to be fully known.
God fixed the loneliness of Adam by giving him an acceptable helper in Eve. But shortly after this, sin entered the world and shattered our relationships with each other and with God. Alienation and loneliness brought on by human sin have now entered the human experience. After the autumn, Adam and Eve hid from God and one another (Genesis 3:7-10). And this broken relationship with God became the broken foundation from which all other loneliness would come. Throughout Scripture, we see examples of individuals grappling with isolation and loneliness. Hagar was abandoned within the wilderness (Genesis 16), Elijah was alone within the desert (1 Kings 19), David often expressed his loneliness through songs (see Psalm 25 and 142). Loneliness is a component of our human experience.
But we also see in each of those stories a God who comes near. He consistently meets people of their loneliness. Once again, reminding us that it shouldn’t be good for man to be alone. The psalmists not only express relational despair but additionally healing through God’s work.
We see loneliness come to its zenith and its solution within the person and work of Christ. Jesus felt and experienced loneliness of a depth that no human will ever experience. As He endured the punishment for our sin, He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you ever forsaken me?” He was alone within the Garden. He was alone on the Cross. And He was alone within the tomb. At least until the Father rose Him from the dead. In taking over the total weight of sin and separation, Jesus reconciled us to God, ensuring that believers would never be forsaken. He, in a way, solved the issue of loneliness for eternity.
The story of loneliness within the Bible ends in Revelation 21:3-4 when God dwells with His people ceaselessly, wiping away every tear and eliminating all sorrows—like loneliness. God’s presence will dissipate the ache of loneliness ceaselessly. Until that glorious day, the church is named to be a mirrored image of this future reality. We ought to be a community where nobody walks alone. The darkness of loneliness ought to be increasingly pushed back, and the community cherished.
This is why it’s so vital that we glance into what the Amish appear to have found out. Community matters. Loneliness is a crisis. It’s not okay for us to have profound loneliness. So, what have they done to assist with loneliness?
How Have the Amish Confronted Loneliness Head-On?
Honestly, I feel I’m framing this somewhat backward. While pushing back loneliness is actually a priority for the Amish, and similar communities, it shouldn’t be their fundamental focus. Rather, the main focus is positively on constructing community. The Amish have decided to confront loneliness head-on and labor to construct community.
In that article in Christianity Today, the writer explores how the foundations of their community serve them on this regard. He says:
“There is a logic here, as draconian because the restrictions could seem, and it shouldn’t be only about separation from the world and its evils. It can be about fostering community. The rules make it hard to be isolated, autonomous, and independent. They require community members to work together, stay together, and bond together.[2]“
The Amish are outpacing loneliness by weaving community into the material of their society. Yes, the foundations are strict, but additionally they foster togetherness and identity. Barn raisings shared meals, and quilting bees are examples of the Amish depending upon each other and naturally forming connections. You cannot “do life” in an Amish community in isolation.
Think about someone like Marcia. She likely uses her screen, together with her expansive social media platform, to flee, connect, and even attempt to distract herself from loneliness. But it isn’t working. It’s only further isolating her and pushing her away from the community. Connectedness isn’t community, which is why the Amish eschew the technology altogether. Without the distraction of a smartphone, they’ve created space for face-to-face conversation and intentional interaction. Group texts aren’t vital because, in an Amish community, you might be living shoulder-to-shoulder.
These “plain people” realize that community doesn’t just occur, however it have to be intentional. They acknowledge that we don’t just drift into community, but we’re bent toward isolation. The fall has us hiding behind fig bushes and pits us against each other. In the broader evangelical culture individualism is assumed, it’s considered an immovable expression of our humanity. The Amish would disagree they usually is likely to be right. They’ve actually got something found out on the subject of combatting loneliness.
What can we learn here? Do we want to park our automotive and buy a horse? Should I disconnect from the web, unplug from social media, call up the electricity company, and have them cut my service? Maybe before dismissing these suggestions as crazy, I should do as these communities do and really weigh the associated fee of technology. What if pitching my cellphone did result in a deeper community? Is it value it to me? Is that a tradeoff I’m willing to make?
While we won’t plan on adopting the Amish lifestyle, at the very least not yet, their example does force us to ask vital questions. What does it mean to construct an intentional, Christ-centered community? How can we confront loneliness head-on, what sacrifices will have to be made to combat this? I feel that’s the most important lesson we are able to learn here. True community doesn’t just occur—it’s built. And it often requires sacrifice, especially within the realm of technology.
But I even have a matter I’d need to ask of the Amish community. What is the muse of your unity? What is the muse of this community? Is it the Amish lifestyle? Is it the things of the periphery, or is it Christ Himself? Ephesians 2:19-22 tells us that Christ is the muse of our community. I feel all Christian community needs to start out here. I’m not saying that the Amish don’t, but I’m saying there’s an actual danger on the opposite end of this intentionality. We may be defined by our rules to guard the community as a substitute of seeing the community flow out of a gospel foundation.
Our goal have to be a Christ-centered community. We can learn from the Amish by creating spaces for connection. Furthermore, they’re correct in selecting presence over convenience. Technology does often pull us away from each other. We must be more thoughtful and move away from an uncritical acceptance of those “blessings.” If it’s killing the community, is it truly value it?
The Marci’s in your world likely know this. The loneliness that comes from technology is killing them, but they don’t know easy methods to get off the merry-go-round. Do we? I’m undecided we may also help Marci if we ourselves are spinning uncontrolled. The Amish have much to show us here, are we willing to listen?
[1] https://www.christianitytoday.com/2025/01/ive-never-heard-anyone-complain-of-loneliness/
[2] Ibid
Photo Credit: ©Unsplash/Kia Sari
Mike Leake is husband to Nikki and father to Isaiah and Hannah. He can be the lead pastor at Calvary of Neosho, MO. Mike is the writer of Torn to Heal and Jesus Is All You Need. His writing house is http://mikeleake.net and you’ll be able to connect with him on Twitter @mikeleake. Mike has a latest writing project at Proverbs4Today.
