Bishop (Ältester)

In North and South America, many Mennonite groups of both Dutch and Swiss extraction have been, and in some cases continue to be, structured under the complete authority of a single ministerial office overseeing multiple congregations in a region. The common English term for this office is "bishop" ("elder" is also common) and the common German term is Ältester (with some Swiss groups historically using other terms, such as Voller Diener). This article will use the term "bishop" to outline the history and overlapping conventions of this high ministerial office among disparate Mennonite groups in the Americas. For the historical office of an elder in Europe, see Elder.

Typically an elected, lifetime position, a Mennonite bishop has usually been exclusively responsible for the administration of Mennonites' most significant religious ordinances: baptism, communion, ordination, and church discipline. The bishop also usually presides over all meetings, shares in pastoral tasks (like preaching and visitation) with other ministers, keeps the church's records, and provides general direction to the church. It has typically been an office of considerable prestige.

Among North American Swiss Mennonites

Among the Swiss Mennonite and Amish settlers in Pennsylvania (and later Ontario) in the 17th and 18th centuries, each congregation had a bishop, several preachers, and one or two deacons, the number of preachers and deacons depending somewhat upon the size of the congregation. The Old Order and Conservative Amish retain this practice. Among the Old Order Amish a new congregation or "district" was not considered fully organized and independent until it had its own independent bishop chosen from its own membership. The first Swiss Mennonite immigrants to Pennsylvania and Ontario usually used the term Voller Diener for their highest ministerial office, though by the middle of the 19th century they regularly used the term "bishop" in both English and German, and later Swiss-German Mennonite immigrants used the German Ältester.

As the Swiss Mennonite settlements in eastern Pennsylvania, Ontario, and elsewhere expanded, the new congregations were considered daughters of the older, and usually the bishop simply continued to exercise oversight over the daughter congregations as well. In fact, the entire settlement was usually thought of as one "congregation." This accounted for the rise of the "bishop district," which in its largest extent seldom had more than 5-8 congregations and 1,500-2,000 members, often much less.

The authority and role of the bishop varied among different Swiss Mennonite polities. In area conferences such as Franklin, Lancaster, and Virginia, the idea of a bishop as having official oversight over a definite district has a more formal and long-standing tradition. In the Lancaster Conference, and to a lesser degree in the Franconia Conference, the practice which evolved through the years was to treat the group of bishops as a sort of upper house in the conference, like the House of Bishops in the Episcopal Church of the United States. The group was called the Bishop Board and had the sole right to initiate legislation in the conference sessions. Ministers were allowed to vote but not to "gainsay" the bishops. The Bishop Board met in advance of the full session of conference to prepare the business and recommendations for the full conference.

Usually the difference between bishop and minister was not one of rank so much as of function; accordingly, in conference work and organization ministers usually had equal rights and privileges with bishops. The bishop was often simply the congregation's leader, and not a "bishop" in the sense of having oversight over a district of congregations.

The Minister's Manual of the Mennonite Church (MC), first published by John F. Funk at Elkhart in 1890, defined the office of bishop in the following paragraph:

The bishop or elder in the Mennonite church is simply the minister who has been ordained to the special charge of caring for, and officiating in the church of a certain prescribed district. This district may contain but one place of worship, or a number of places, which are at considerable distances from each other. He may have a number of fellow-ministers in his charge, to preach at the various places, and aid him in his work generally.

Russian-Prussian Mennonites in the Americas

The Mennonite immigrant congregations of Prussian, Polish, and Russian background (all of Dutch descent) of the United States and Canada revealed the same pattern and development as that of the Mennonites of Pennsylvania and Ontario, only more sharply defined. When they first came to North America in the latter half of the 19th century, they imported, maintained, and often strengthened the traditional office of a bishop (German, Ältester, usually translated as "elder" in the United States and as "bishop" in Canada), who was assisted by ministers. One bishop often had oversight of as many as 15-30 groups, all viewed as one congregation or Gemeinde. For example, the Bergthal Church in Manitoba, with almost 3,500 members and over 20 groups, had only one bishop until the mid-20th century.

In Canada, the traditional Gemeinde system with a single bishop prevailed into the 1950s. Bishops of the Rosenort Mennonite Church, the Blumenort Mennonite Church, the Bergthal Mennonite Church, the Schoenwiese Mennonite Church, and others still had charge of several congregations, assisted by a number of preachers, and were the only ones who administered baptism and communion and ordained ministers.

20th Century Changes

In the second half of the 20th century, with the advancement of secondary education and the felt need for an English-speaking, theologically trained ministry, the practice of ministry among most of the larger Mennonite church groups in the United States and Canada completely changed. The Mennonite Brethren Church was the first to reorganize, completely dropping the office of bishop by the 1950s, with the office of elected "leader" substituted, and with each congregation choosing its own ministers. Soon afterwards, most of the other large conferences followed suit, including the General Conference Mennonite Church, the Conference of Mennonites in Canada, and the Mennonite Church (MC). Major denominational restructuring in, respectively, 1955, 1959, and 1971 catalyzed and formalized this movement away from the leadership of bishops and towards a professionalized ministry. By the end of the 20th century, the congregations in these conferences were usually served by men and women who voluntarily chose the work of a minister by majoring in Bible in college or attending a theological seminary or Bible school, and who had received a call from a congregation to serve full-time on a contract basis. Most of these ministers are ordained and can carry out all functions (such as baptism and communion) that were formerly the exclusive domain of a bishop. Thus, each congregation is served by a minister who performs all functions and can resign and accept the call of another congregation. The Chortitzer Mennonite Church had also adopted a conference structure by the end of the 20th century, but continued to make use of the bishop office.

Continued Use of the Office of Bishop

As of the end of the 20th century, many traditional groups throughout North and South America continued to employ the office of a single bishop per geographical region, no matter how numerous the subgroups or congregations or how large the membership. Among Mennonites of Dutch descent in Canada and Latin America, this includes the Old Colony Mennonites, the Sommerfelder Mennonites, the Saskatchewan Bergthaler, the Kleine Gemeinde, and the Zion Mennonites. Among traditional Swiss Mennonites, the Franklin, Lancaster, and Virginia conferences continued to maintain a formal bishop's office, including bishop districts. A few other independent conferences also fit in here, such as the Cumberland Valley Mennonite Church, the Eastern Pennsylvania Mennonite Church, the Mid-Atlantic Mennonite Fellowship, and the Southeastern Mennonite Conference. Most |Old Order Mennonite groups in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ontario, Ohio, Indiana, and Missouri also fit this scheme. The office of bishop was also used in the 20th century in the Mennonite churches in the Soviet Union and in the Federal Republic of Germany. As of the end of the 20th century, all Mennonite churches in Mexico used the bishop office, including the General Conference, Old Colony, Sommerfelder, Kleine Gemeinde, and Reinlander.

1953 Statistics

Some statistics regarding some of the major Mennonite groups in Canada and the United States in 1953 provide a snapshot of the time just prior to the end of the bishop-led Gemeinde system among many church groups. There were in the Mennonite Church (MC) about 570 congregations and 71,500 members, with roughly 180 bishops, 860 ministers, and 380 deacons. The Old Order Amish with 15,000 members in 160 congregations had 161 bishops, 381 ministers, 155 deacons. The Conservative Amish with almost 6,000 members in 42 congregations had 42 bishops, 76 ministers, 18 deacons. The Old Order Mennonites with 5,500 members in 45 congregations had 14 bishops, 50 ministers, and 34 deacons. The Kleine Gemeinde of Manitoba with 2,000 members had 2 bishops, 17 ministers, 6 deacons. The Bergthal Church in Manitoba with 3,500 members had 2 bishops and 21 ministers. The Conference of Mennonites in Canada with 15,500 members in 63 congregations had 32 bishops or elders (only 18 had died in the entire history of the conference) and 240 ministers.

See also Ministry (Switzerland, South Germany, France, North America), Ministry (Netherlands), Ministry (Prusso-Russian Background Mennonites)

Bibliography

Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon, 4 vols. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe: Schneider, 1913-1967: v. I, 224.

Vos, K. "De keuze tot Doopsgezind Bisschop." Nederlandscharchiefvoor kerkgeschiedenis 16 (1921).

Author(s)	Harold S. Bender
	Leonard Gross
	Gerald Ens
Date Published	June 2025

Cite This Article

MLA style

Bender, Harold S., Leonard Gross and Gerald Ens. "Bishop (Ältester)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. June 2025. Web. 19 Jan 2026. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Bishop_(%C3%84ltester)&oldid=180864.

APA style

Bender, Harold S., Leonard Gross and Gerald Ens. (June 2025). Bishop (Ältester). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 19 January 2026, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Bishop_(%C3%84ltester)&oldid=180864.

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Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, pp. 347-349; vol. 5, p. 86. All rights reserved.

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