On Sunday, October 18, 2026, after worship, we will have a light lunch for those who are staying for the presentation “Germans in Philly Before the Revolution.”
Our presenter, Steve Nolt, is a professor of history and Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College. Dr. Nolt has a graduate theology degree from the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary. He did his doctoral studies at Notre Dame; he wrote his Ph.D. on the Germans in Pennsylvania before the American Revolution. For our presentation, he’ll narrow his focus to the Germans in Philadelphia. Not just “our” Reformed Germans, but all of the German immigrants in the city: Reformed, Lutheran, and Catholic.
Dr. Nolt is the spouse of Michael’s friend and colleague, Rachel, who is the pastor of the Mennonite Church of Akron, PA. Rachel also serves with Michael on the POWER Board of Directors.
Nolt is the author or coauthor of sixteen books on Amish, Mennonite, and Pennsylvania German history and contemporary life. His titles include The Amish: A Concise Introduction (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016) and People of Peace: A History of the Virginia Mennonite Conference (Masthof Press, 2025), with Elwood Yoder. With Donald Kraybill and Karen Johnson-Weiner, he wrote The Amish (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013), the definitive study of Amish society and cultural diversity.
He also serves as the series editor for Young Center Books in Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, published by the Johns Hopkins University Press, and as coeditor of the Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities, published by Ohio State University Libraries.
Please mark your calendars and plan to join us after worship on Sunday, Oct. 18, in the OFH Community Room.
