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Every child is a thought in the mind of God, and our task is to recognize this thought and help it toward completion. In 2015, Saphira Hofer and Nicole Wurtz look after some of the younger children at Deerboine Colony while their mothers work. — Tim Smith [PHOTO SOURCE: https://anabaptistworld.org/census-documents-growth-of-hutterite-population-colonies/] |
Every year on July 26, I remember Eberhard Arnold on his birthday, he was the German theologian who founded the Bruderhof. He had inspired me to encourage a Christian community and to stick with your Christian friends and families.
Eberhard Arnold was a neo-Hutterite, and through his writings and sermons, he followed the Four Core Values: Faith, Family, Community and Simple Living. In this blog post, I will post an article from him about family values and an article about the Hutterites’ population in North America.
24 And let us consider how
to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not
neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one
another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. – Hebrews 10:24-25
(ESV) Bruderhof members in
outdoor gathering. https://www.eberhardarnold.com/about https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2023/07/140th-birthday-for-eberhard-arnold-july.html https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2024/11/plain-people-and-mutual-aid-why-we-live.html https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2025/07/eberhard-arnold-on-simple-living.html
Every Child Is a Thought of God
In these words spoken at the dedication of a newborn, Eberhard Arnold reminds us of the importance of the soul of each child and the responsibility of parents, church, and educators in raising children.
By Eberhard Arnold
When we receive a little child from God, a soul is entrusted to humankind from eternity. No matter how often this happens, each time it is a powerful event, something unbelievably great.
We love little children because Jesus loved them. And from him we know that the kingdom of God belongs to them – in fact, that the kingdom is nearer to them than to the millions of adults (Matt. 19:14).
Seen in this light, education is no arbitrary molding of a child, as the unbelieving world imagines. We cannot shape or form our children however we like, according to our own preferences. If we are to serve them rightly, we will form them only according to the way God has already thought of them.
Every child is a thought
in the mind of God, and our task is to recognize this thought and help it
toward completion. [PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.azquotes.com/quote/737521] BLOG: https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2023/07/140th-birthday-for-eberhard-arnold-july.html
Every child is a thought of God. We can only perform the service of education when we understand the thought of God for each child – a thought that God has had in eternity, and still has, and will always have just for this child. This thought of God is the holy “so be it” for this child.
God knows what each child is intended to become. It is the task of the parents, the church, and the educators to help this child become just what he or she should be, in accordance with the original thought of God. Through a religious sensitivity, we must attain a vision of this thought of God, which is still apparently hidden, and must learn to understand it more clearly from moment to moment, from day to day, from year to year. Then the forming of the child will not be something we undertake ourselves; rather, our role will consist solely in assisting in the formation intended by God. That is the secret of this task.
We
rejoice in the children in their pleasure in nature, their delight in flowers
and forest, their happiness in horses, dogs, cows, goats, and rabbits, and
their joy in deer and birds and everything else that saves lives. – Eberhard
Arnold ARTICLE: https://www.eberhardarnold.com/explore/all-articles/2019/10/18/the-child-and-nature
It is the same in our relationship with every individual adult. We must see each human being just as he or she is intended in the heart of God, in the holy purpose of his “so be it.” Above all, we must wish for each person that he or she is integrated into the ultimate thoughts of God, so that God’s final will may be revealed among humankind: that is, the church and the kingdom of the complete unity of Jesus Christ.
We thus bear a crucial responsibility to live in reverence for the Holy Spirit. This is true for all aspects of the church’s life, but it applies in an especially holy sense to the bringing up of children. Reverence for the Holy Spirit means reverence for the father, who is to represent Christ as the God-given head; reverence for the mother, who is to represent Christ in the likeness of Mary and the church; and reverence for the child and for the wonderful mystery of being a child and becoming a child.
From remarks at the dedication of a newborn, September 30, 1934. Translated by Nicoline Maas.
Article edited for length and clarity.
https://www.eberhardarnold.com/explore/all-articles/2019/10/17/every-child-is-a-thought-of-god.html
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For the first time, the Lord is truly freeing the devout hearts and consciences from human worries, delivering them from bondage.… Christ has liberated them all and set them free.… Have no doubt that the only freedom we can have is the freedom of Christ, not the freedom of the flesh. We are made free by God alone through Christ, redeemed and saved in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. - Jakob Hutter PHOTO CAPTION: Late to lunch after chores in the dairy barn, Josh Wurtz catches up with Chantel Hofer as she wipes tables in the Deerboine Colony dining room near Alexander, Man., in 2010. The text on the wall comes from Psalm 34:1, “I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.” — Tim Smith [PHOTO SOURCE: https://anabaptistworld.org/census-documents-growth-of-hutterite-population-colonies/] |
Census documents growth of Hutterite population, colonies
The first attempt at a detailed census of Hutterites — the communal-living branch of Plain Anabaptists — reveals a population of 58,392 in 544 colonies in North America, almost 3 out of 4 in Canada.
The research, published Jan. 29 in The Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities, was conducted by the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. Young Center director Steven M. Nolt said his team was often asked — sometimes by the U.S. Department of Agriculture — about the number of Hutterite colonies and people but didn’t have recent data to offer.
The Young Center acquired a 2024 Hutterite-published directory with information for all 544 colonies in North America and tabulated the number of adults and children.
The new census follows a 2009 study by researchers Rod Janzen and Max Stanton that recorded 483 colonies, but not the number of people. Hutterite directories at that time didn’t report population figures.
Based on typical colony size, it can be estimated that the Hutterite population in 2009 was somewhere between 47,092 and 55,352. The Young Center study did not speculate about the 2009 population.
Hutterites trace their beginnings to 1528 in Moravia when a group of early Anabaptists coalesced around sharing possessions as described in the early church of the New Testament.
“Outdo one another in
showing honor (Rom. 12:10) Live in harmony with one another (Rom. 12:16)
Admonish one another (Rom. 15:14) Greet one another with a holy kiss (Rom.
16:16) Wait for one another (1 Cor. 11:33) Have the same care for one another
(1 Cor. 12:25) Be servants of one another (Gal. 5:13) Bear one another’s
burdens (Gal. 6:2) Comfort one another (1 Thess. 5:11) Build one another up (1
Thess. 5:11) Be at peace with one another (1 Thess. 5:13) Do good to one
another (1 Thess. 5:15) Put up with one another in love (Eph. 4:2) Be kind and
compassionate to one another (Eph. 4:32) Submit to one another (Eph. 5:21)
Forgive one another (Col. 3:13) Confess your sins to one another (James 5:16)
Pray for one another (James 5:16) Love one another from the heart (1 Pet. 1:22)
Be hospitable to one another (1 Pet. 4:9) Meet one another with humility (1
Pet. 5:5)” ― Eberhard Arnold,
Called to Community: The Life Jesus Wants for His People PHOTO CAPTION: Die
abgebildeten Personen sind vlnr: Emmy Arnold, Emmy-Margret (4 Jahre), Heini (1
Jahr), Eberhard Arnold und Hardy (3 Jahre) https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2023/07/140th-birthday-for-eberhard-arnold-july.html https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2024/11/plain-people-and-mutual-aid-why-we-live.html https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2025/07/eberhard-arnold-on-simple-living.html https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2025/11/remembering-eberhard-arnold-90-years.html
Today’s Hutterites fall into three main groups, based on the original three colonies started in South Dakota between 1874 and 1877: Dariusleut, Lehrerleut and Schmiedeleut (the latter with two subgroups after a 1992 division) and a handful of independent colonies.
Colonies have historically been made up of 75-150 adults and children, with Schmiedeleut colonies averaging about 115 people per colony and Dariusleut about 98.
When a colony nears 150 members, it begins planning to “branch” a new colony, with about half of the group moving to buy land, construct buildings and divide assets. The Lehrerleut continue the tradition of casting lots to determine who will move and who will remain, while other groups decide by discussion and mutual consent.
The number of colonies has grown 12.6% from 483 in 2009 to 544 in 2024, not counting colonies in formation. The Lehrerleut, the smallest of the three groups, added the most colonies in the last 15 years, growing by 16.5% to 162 colonies. The Dariusleut grew by 20 to 179 colonies, and the Schmiedeleut added 16 colonies to number 195. Nolt’s research speculates the Schmiedeleut’s slower growth could be attributed to continuing frustration or disillusionment from the 1992 schism.
The Lehrerleut have 18 colonies in formation, the Dariusleut 10 and the Schmiedeleut 11. Nearly all are in Alberta and Saskatchewan, already home to the highest concentration of colonies.
The Young Center focuses most of its research on Plain Anabaptist groups, such as the Amish.
“I do find it interesting that [Hutterite] population growth and family size are not as large as in the past and less than one would find in Old Order Mennonite and Amish groups,” said Nolt, noting the other groups have doubled in size about every 20 years.
Smaller families could be a result of Hutterite architecture. Colonies are built in recent decades to a rather standardized blueprint with physical space limitations compared to Amish houses that have room for sprawl.
“That would be distinctly Hutterite — the way people live,” Nolt said. “You don’t just decide to add on a room or house like an Old Order Amish or Mennonite family.”
Hutterite families were much larger until the middle of the 20th century, with more than 10 live births per woman. Janzen and Stanton reported in their 2010 book The Hutterites in North America that birth rates began declining in the 1960s, dropping sharply to 4.8 births per woman by 1990 due to “later marriages, fewer children . . . and higher defection rates.”
Nolt said Hutterite researcher John A. Hostetler documented retention rates of 98% into the 1970s.
“Amish groups have retention of 85-90%, so those are remarkably high retention rates,” said Nolt, acknowledging retention is lower today but still high compared to other religious groups in North America. “I don’t think it’s been on a downward trajectory. It’s similar to other Plain groups.”
The latest numbers show 20,999 Hutterites in Alberta, followed by 12,655 in Manitoba, 7,955 in South Dakota, 7,873 in Saskatchewan, 5,706 in Montana, 1,058 in Minnesota, 1,049 in North Dakota, 648 in Washington, 294 in British Columbia, 78 in Missouri and 77 in Oregon.
Canada accepted many Hutterite immigrants who left the U.S. due to anti-German hostility during World War I and persecution of conscientious objectors in U.S. military prisons.
The study does not include Hutterites outside North America. There is one colony in Nigeria, another moved recently from Australia to Paraguay, and a small group in Japan disbanded in 2019.
Tim Huber is associate editor at Anabaptist World. He worked at Mennonite World Review since 2011. A graduate of Tabor College, Read More
Anabaptist World Inc. (AW) is an independent journalistic ministry serving the global Anabaptist movement. We seek to inform, inspire and Read More
https://anabaptistworld.org/census-documents-growth-of-hutterite-population-colonies/#
PHOTOS OF HUTTERITE AND ANABAPTIST FRAUEN:
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Giselle Waldner is a Schmiedeleut Hutterite known for documenting her daily life living on a colony in the prairies of Manitoba, Canada. Through her social media presence and writing, she provides a rare, personal insider's perspective on the unique traditions, communal work, and lifestyle of the Hutterite community. [PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/share/1GjLHpZcWU/] https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2026/07/meet-schmiedeleut-hutterite-giselle.html |
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Only those who look with the eyes of children can lose themselves in the object of their wonder. - Eberhard Arnold Schmiedeleut Hutterites at school in Crystal Springs Colony, Manitoba, Canada |
RELATED LINKS:
For the first time, the Lord is truly freeing the devout hearts and consciences from human worries, delivering them from bondage.… Christ has liberated them all and set them free.… Have no doubt that the only freedom we can have is the freedom of Christ, not the freedom of the flesh. We are made free by God alone through Christ, redeemed and saved in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. - Jakob Hutter
The next two years were a time of spiritual maturing for the Anabaptists. Hutter was a gifted leader, and many of the squabbles which had plagued the church before he came melted away. The joy of the community, now well-shepherded, is palpable in Hutter’s letters. He was happy, of course, that they were free of persecution, but happier still that they were no longer in spiritual perplexity, that the community had not succumbed to the slavery of personal ambition or disorder. As he wrote to those in Tyrol (see above quote) [https://www.plough.com/articles/jakob-hutter-radical-reformer]
https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2024/02/martyrs-mirror-jakob-hutter-1500-to.html
“Let us test our faith in the fire. This fire will harm my soul as little as the fiery furnace harmed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.” – Last words of Jakob Hutter
https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2026/02/490th-martyrdom-of-jakob-hutter.html
https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2024/07/150-years-of-hutterites-in-north.html
Giselle Waldner is a Schmiedeleut Hutterite known for documenting her daily life living on a colony in the prairies of Manitoba, Canada. Through her social media presence and writing, she provides a rare, personal insider's perspective on the unique traditions, communal work, and lifestyle of the Hutterite community.
https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2026/07/meet-schmiedeleut-hutterite-giselle.html
https://hutt-writevoice.blogspot.com/2015/10/more-on-huttererpark-opening-in.html
https://hutt-writevoice.blogspot.com/2016/02/this-day-in-hutterite-history-jakob.html
https://hutterites.org/beliefs/nine-misrepresentation/
https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2025/05/martyrs-mirror-dirk-willems-died-may-16.html
https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2025/02/the-common-purse-in-bruderhof-hutterites.html
EBERHARD ARNOLD WEBSITE:
We live in an age where it seems Jesus has become almost unknown or his words distorted and disfigured, his work weakened. All the more, we must rediscover this Jesus and hold him up before all the world. We must place the Jesus of the four Gospels in the center of our faith and our life.
Remembering Eberhard Arnold 90 years later - The Jesus of the Four Gospels By Eberhard Arnold
https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2025/11/remembering-eberhard-arnold-90-years.html
Love Is Work Working together with others is the best way to test our faith, to find out whether or not we are ready to live a life of Christian fellowship. Work is the crucial test of faith because such a life can come into being only where people work for love. Love demands action, and the only really valid action is work. Christian fellowship means fellowship in work...Talk, May 1934 By Eberhard Arnold
EBERHARD ARNOLD ON SIMPLE LIVING
https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2025/07/eberhard-arnold-on-simple-living.html
“We must live in community because we are stimulated by the same creative Spirit of unity who calls nature to unity and through whom work and culture shall become community in God.” — Eberhard Arnold
PLAIN PEOPLE AND MUTUAL AID - WHY WE LIVE IN COMMUNITY BY EBERHARD ARNOLD
https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2024/11/plain-people-and-mutual-aid-why-we-live.html
https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2023/07/140th-birthday-for-eberhard-arnold-july.html
https://www.eberhardarnold.com/
https://www.eberhardarnold.com/biography
https://www.facebook.com/EberhardArnold
https://twitter.com/eberhard_arnold
https://www.anabaptistwiki.org/mediawiki/index.php?title=Eberhard_Arnold
https://www.bookey.app/quote-author/eberhard-arnold
https://www.plough.com/en/topics/faith/reading-romans-13-under-fascism
OTHER EBERHARD ARNOLD LINKS:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eberhard_Arnold
https://www.anotherlifeispossible.com/themes/what-money-cant-buy/eberhard-arnold
https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/from-mutual-aid-to-global-action
https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/our-garden-must-be-gods-garden
ARTICLE BY EBERHARD ARNOLD LINKS:
https://www.plough.com/en/topics/community/church-community/from-property-to-community
https://www.plough.com/en/topics/faith/reading-romans-13-under-fascism
https://www.plough.com/en/topics/justice/politics/becoming-flesh-and-blood
https://www.eberhardarnold.com/archive/2020/02/25/2012598714s
https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/our-garden-must-be-gods-garden
THE HUTTERITES LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/TheBruderhof
https://www.anotherlifeispossible.com/
https://koorong.com/search?q=plain%20spoken
https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2023/11/community-living-quotes.html
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