https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Deaconess&feed=atom&action=historyDeaconess - Revision history2024-03-29T05:08:15ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.35.1https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Deaconess&diff=169741&oldid=prevSamSteiner at 15:14, 9 January 20212021-01-09T15:14:00Z<p></p>
<table class="diff diff-contentalign-left diff-editfont-monospace" data-mw="interface">
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<tr class="diff-title" lang="en">
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">Revision as of 15:14, 9 January 2021</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l19" >Line 19:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 19:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Deaconess work among the Mennonites of America represents the continuation of a practice among the Mennonites of Russia and had its origin among the [[General Conference Mennonite Church (GCM)|General Conference Mennonites]] in the United States with the work of [[Goerz, David (1849-1914)|David Goerz]] of [[Newton (Kansas, USA)|Newton]], [[Kansas (USA)|Kansas]]. He read a paper before the General Conference in [[South Dakota (USA)|South Dakota]] in 1890 in which he warmly advocated the deaconess work as a branch of home missions. In 1893, the General Conference in Ohio discussed the subject again, and the Board of Home Missions received instructions from the conference to further the cause. In 1898, the [[Bethesda Hospital (Goessel, Kansas, USA)|Bethesda Hospital]] was erected at [[Goessel (Kansas, USA)|Goessel]], Kansas, and in the next year the conference advised that if local conditions in any community within the conference became acute, the community should act as it seemed best. Bethesda Hospital assumed the responsibility of inaugurating deaconess work.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Deaconess work among the Mennonites of America represents the continuation of a practice among the Mennonites of Russia and had its origin among the [[General Conference Mennonite Church (GCM)|General Conference Mennonites]] in the United States with the work of [[Goerz, David (1849-1914)|David Goerz]] of [[Newton (Kansas, USA)|Newton]], [[Kansas (USA)|Kansas]]. He read a paper before the General Conference in [[South Dakota (USA)|South Dakota]] in 1890 in which he warmly advocated the deaconess work as a branch of home missions. In 1893, the General Conference in Ohio discussed the subject again, and the Board of Home Missions received instructions from the conference to further the cause. In 1898, the [[Bethesda Hospital (Goessel, Kansas, USA)|Bethesda Hospital]] was erected at [[Goessel (Kansas, USA)|Goessel]], Kansas, and in the next year the conference advised that if local conditions in any community within the conference became acute, the community should act as it seemed best. Bethesda Hospital assumed the responsibility of inaugurating deaconess work.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In 1900 [[Kaufman, Frieda Marie, Sister (1883-1944) |Frieda Kaufman]] offered herself to [[Goerz, David (1849-1914)|Elder David Goerz]] as a candidate for the deaconess cause. He arranged to have her enter [[Bethel College (North Newton, Kansas, USA)|Bethel College]] for preparatory study. In 1901 Bethel College made the deaconess cause a part of its program, intending to establish or affiliate with a deaconess institution. In 1902 the Board of Directors of Bethel College made arrangements for deaconess candidates to continue their education for specific service at the interdenominational Deaconess Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio, entering Frieda Kaufman as their first candidate. The following year [[Penner, Martha Richert (1881-1957)|Martha Richert]] enrolled in the same institution. In 1905 [[Voth, Catherine (1878-1926)|Catherine Voth]] was accepted as a candidate and also entered the Deaconess Hospital for a course in nursing. In the same year Ida Epp entered the Evangelical Deaconess Home and Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. Upon completing the two-year course in nursing, Martha Richert was ordained by [[Balzer, Peter (1847-<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">1909</del>)|Elder Peter Balzer]] as a parish deaconess in the[[Alexanderwohl (Molotschna Mennonite Settlement, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)| Alexanderwohl Church]] near Goessel. She served that community as well as the Bethesda Hospital until 1907 when she was married and, with her husband, [[Penner, Peter A. (1871-1949)|Elder P. A. Penner]], went as a missionary to [[India|India]]. Sister Frieda Kaufman, Sister Catherine Voth and Sister Ida Epp were ordained when the [[Bethel Deaconess Hospital (Newton, Kansas, USA)|Bethel Deaconess Hospital]] was dedicated 11 June 1908. They were the first three deaconesses of this mother house.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In 1900 [[Kaufman, Frieda Marie, Sister (1883-1944) |Frieda Kaufman]] offered herself to [[Goerz, David (1849-1914)|Elder David Goerz]] as a candidate for the deaconess cause. He arranged to have her enter [[Bethel College (North Newton, Kansas, USA)|Bethel College]] for preparatory study. In 1901 Bethel College made the deaconess cause a part of its program, intending to establish or affiliate with a deaconess institution. In 1902 the Board of Directors of Bethel College made arrangements for deaconess candidates to continue their education for specific service at the interdenominational Deaconess Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio, entering Frieda Kaufman as their first candidate. The following year [[Penner, Martha Richert (1881-1957)|Martha Richert]] enrolled in the same institution. In 1905 [[Voth, Catherine (1878-1926)|Catherine Voth]] was accepted as a candidate and also entered the Deaconess Hospital for a course in nursing. In the same year Ida Epp entered the Evangelical Deaconess Home and Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. Upon completing the two-year course in nursing, Martha Richert was ordained by [[Balzer, Peter (1847-<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">1907</ins>)|Elder Peter Balzer]] as a parish deaconess in the[[Alexanderwohl (Molotschna Mennonite Settlement, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)| Alexanderwohl Church]] near Goessel. She served that community as well as the Bethesda Hospital until 1907 when she was married and, with her husband, [[Penner, Peter A. (1871-1949)|Elder P. A. Penner]], went as a missionary to [[India|India]]. Sister Frieda Kaufman, Sister Catherine Voth and Sister Ida Epp were ordained when the [[Bethel Deaconess Hospital (Newton, Kansas, USA)|Bethel Deaconess Hospital]] was dedicated 11 June 1908. They were the first three deaconesses of this mother house.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>By the 1950s 62 sisters had become members of the Bethel Deaconess sisterhood, 26 of whom were associated with the sisterhood in 1955. The deaconesses of this institution wore a special garb and were ordained by the church. Each sister had her place in the mother house, received full maintenance, a monthly allowance, an annual vacation, and a vacation allowance. She was expected to remain loyal and faithful to her calling but did not take an oath of celibacy. Should a deaconess change her mind, believing it to be God's will that she serve in some other sphere apart from the sisterhood, she presented her resignation and received an honorable discharge.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>By the 1950s 62 sisters had become members of the Bethel Deaconess sisterhood, 26 of whom were associated with the sisterhood in 1955. The deaconesses of this institution wore a special garb and were ordained by the church. Each sister had her place in the mother house, received full maintenance, a monthly allowance, an annual vacation, and a vacation allowance. She was expected to remain loyal and faithful to her calling but did not take an oath of celibacy. Should a deaconess change her mind, believing it to be God's will that she serve in some other sphere apart from the sisterhood, she presented her resignation and received an honorable discharge.</div></td></tr>
<!-- diff cache key gameo_wiki:diff::1.12:old-120110:rev-169741 -->
</table>SamSteinerhttps://gameo.org/index.php?title=Deaconess&diff=120110&oldid=prevRichardThiessen: Text replace - "<strong> </strong>" to " "2014-04-13T03:11:32Z<p>Text replace - "<strong> </strong>" to " "</p>
<table class="diff diff-contentalign-left diff-editfont-monospace" data-mw="interface">
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<tr class="diff-title" lang="en">
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">Revision as of 03:11, 13 April 2014</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l1" >Line 1:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 1:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Deaconess is the office in the Christian Church committed to women for the alleviation of physical and spiritual need, especially in the care of the sick. It is of apostolic origin. In Romans 16:1 we read: "I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea." It is possible that Phebe's service was a voluntary work of charity. But 1 Timothy 5:9-10 shows that the early church chose women for church service: "Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man, well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work." </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Deaconess is the office in the Christian Church committed to women for the alleviation of physical and spiritual need, especially in the care of the sick. It is of apostolic origin. In Romans 16:1 we read: "I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea." It is possible that Phebe's service was a voluntary work of charity. But 1 Timothy 5:9-10 shows that the early church chose women for church service: "Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man, well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work." </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Among the Anabaptists the deaconess office was always based on the apostolic pattern. [[Elisabeth Dirks (d. 1549)|Elisabeth Dirks]], the martyr of [[Leeuwarden (Friesland, Netherlands)|Leeuwarden]], was a deaconess. The [[Dordrecht Confession of Faith (Mennonite, 1632)|Dordrecht Confession]]<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline"><strong> </strong></del>of April 1632, Article 9, Section 5 says, "Also that honorable old widows be ordained and chosen as servants, who besides the almoners, are to visit, comfort, and take care of the poor, the weak, the afflicted, and the needy, as also to visit, comfort, and take care of widows and orphans; and further to assist in taking care of any matters in the church that properly come within their sphere, according to their best ability."</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Among the Anabaptists the deaconess office was always based on the apostolic pattern. [[Elisabeth Dirks (d. 1549)|Elisabeth Dirks]], the martyr of [[Leeuwarden (Friesland, Netherlands)|Leeuwarden]], was a deaconess. The [[Dordrecht Confession of Faith (Mennonite, 1632)|Dordrecht Confession]] of April 1632, Article 9, Section 5 says, "Also that honorable old widows be ordained and chosen as servants, who besides the almoners, are to visit, comfort, and take care of the poor, the weak, the afflicted, and the needy, as also to visit, comfort, and take care of widows and orphans; and further to assist in taking care of any matters in the church that properly come within their sphere, according to their best ability."</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In several Dutch Mennonite congregations the office of deaconess has been preserved from the beginning, for example, at Sneek. In most congregations it continued until the middle of the nineteenth century. Barclay reports that the [[Amsterdam (Noord-Holland, Netherlands)|Amsterdam]] congregation had a deaconess and three deacons, all about 60 years old. "She visited the sick and the feeble, especially the women, and when necessary provided girls to stay with them and help them and if they were poor she furnished support given by those who could afford it, or reported it to the deacons, and she was obeyed as a mother in Israel and a servant of Jesus Christ." This institution influenced the [[Brownists|Brownists]], the Plymouth Brethren, and other English Independents, as well as the entire modern deaconess system. In the Amsterdam Mennonite Church<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline"><strong> </strong></del>there were five deaconesses as recently as the 1950s, one of whom retired each year and was not eligible for reappointment for five years. They were appointed by the church board. In former times only married women or widows could be appointed to this office. In the 1950s two could be unmarried. The term "Mother-Deaconess" was still very commonly used. Similar arrangements existed in other Dutch Mennonite churches, as Haarlem and [[Utrecht (Utrecht, Netherlands)|Utrecht. ]]Among the deaconesses there are some who have had training for this vocation. </div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In several Dutch Mennonite congregations the office of deaconess has been preserved from the beginning, for example, at Sneek. In most congregations it continued until the middle of the nineteenth century. Barclay reports that the [[Amsterdam (Noord-Holland, Netherlands)|Amsterdam]] congregation had a deaconess and three deacons, all about 60 years old. "She visited the sick and the feeble, especially the women, and when necessary provided girls to stay with them and help them and if they were poor she furnished support given by those who could afford it, or reported it to the deacons, and she was obeyed as a mother in Israel and a servant of Jesus Christ." This institution influenced the [[Brownists|Brownists]], the Plymouth Brethren, and other English Independents, as well as the entire modern deaconess system. In the Amsterdam Mennonite Church there were five deaconesses as recently as the 1950s, one of whom retired each year and was not eligible for reappointment for five years. They were appointed by the church board. In former times only married women or widows could be appointed to this office. In the 1950s two could be unmarried. The term "Mother-Deaconess" was still very commonly used. Similar arrangements existed in other Dutch Mennonite churches, as Haarlem and [[Utrecht (Utrecht, Netherlands)|Utrecht. ]]Among the deaconesses there are some who have had training for this vocation. </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The German Mennonite churches also had the office of deaconess for a long time. Gerhard Roosen, the noted preacher of the Hamburg-Altona Mennonite Church, wrote that his grandmother, Rischen Quins (d. 1626), was a deaconess in the congregation for many years during her widowhood; the last deaconess of the congregation was Mayken Govens (d. 1672), the widow of Hans Govens. In [[Danzig (Poland)|Danzig]] the office was maintained even later; the [[Danzig Old Flemish Mennonites|Flemish church]] almost always had a deaconess. The widow Magdalena von Kampen, who was appointed as deaconess in 1788 and served until her death (1810), was the last congregational deaconess among the Mennonites of [[Germany|Germany]]. The small size of the congregations in South Germany apparently made the office of deaconess unnecessary among them; wherever there is today an active deaconess service, it is patterned after the [[Fliedner, Theodor (1800-1864)|Fliedner]] institutions.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The German Mennonite churches also had the office of deaconess for a long time. Gerhard Roosen, the noted preacher of the Hamburg-Altona Mennonite Church, wrote that his grandmother, Rischen Quins (d. 1626), was a deaconess in the congregation for many years during her widowhood; the last deaconess of the congregation was Mayken Govens (d. 1672), the widow of Hans Govens. In [[Danzig (Poland)|Danzig]] the office was maintained even later; the [[Danzig Old Flemish Mennonites|Flemish church]] almost always had a deaconess. The widow Magdalena von Kampen, who was appointed as deaconess in 1788 and served until her death (1810), was the last congregational deaconess among the Mennonites of [[Germany|Germany]]. The small size of the congregations in South Germany apparently made the office of deaconess unnecessary among them; wherever there is today an active deaconess service, it is patterned after the [[Fliedner, Theodor (1800-1864)|Fliedner]] institutions.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l17" >Line 17:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 17:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The Mennonites of [[Russia|Russia]] founded a deaconess home of their own called [[Morija Deaconess Home (Neu-Halbstadt, Molotschna Settlement, Ukraine)|Morija]] in [[Neu-Halbstadt (Molotschna Mennonite Settlement, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Neu Halbstadt]] in the [[Molotschna Mennonite Settlement (Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Molotschna settlement]] in Ukraine. It was a private undertaking and was built primarily with the funds furnished by [[Schmidt, Peter (1860-1910)|Peter Schmidt]] of Steinbach. It was supported by voluntary contributions. It was opened on 3 December 1909, for the purpose of training deaconesses and supporting them in sickness and old age. As long as they remained in the association they received their education free of charge and were provided with all other necessities. By 1918, 89 sisters had been received. The [[Russian Revolution and Civil War|Russian Revolution]] brought them a time of suffering; the house was completely plundered. Nevertheless precisely in that time they were able to render a great service in the epidemics and other sicknesses accompanying the disturbances (record of the <em>Bundeskonjerenz </em>held at Lichtenauon 30 June to 2 July 1918, p. 21). -- Neff</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The Mennonites of [[Russia|Russia]] founded a deaconess home of their own called [[Morija Deaconess Home (Neu-Halbstadt, Molotschna Settlement, Ukraine)|Morija]] in [[Neu-Halbstadt (Molotschna Mennonite Settlement, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Neu Halbstadt]] in the [[Molotschna Mennonite Settlement (Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Molotschna settlement]] in Ukraine. It was a private undertaking and was built primarily with the funds furnished by [[Schmidt, Peter (1860-1910)|Peter Schmidt]] of Steinbach. It was supported by voluntary contributions. It was opened on 3 December 1909, for the purpose of training deaconesses and supporting them in sickness and old age. As long as they remained in the association they received their education free of charge and were provided with all other necessities. By 1918, 89 sisters had been received. The [[Russian Revolution and Civil War|Russian Revolution]] brought them a time of suffering; the house was completely plundered. Nevertheless precisely in that time they were able to render a great service in the epidemics and other sicknesses accompanying the disturbances (record of the <em>Bundeskonjerenz </em>held at Lichtenauon 30 June to 2 July 1918, p. 21). -- Neff</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Deaconess work among the Mennonites of America represents the continuation of a practice among the Mennonites of Russia and had its origin among the<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline"><strong> </strong></del>[[General Conference Mennonite Church (GCM)|General Conference Mennonites]]<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline"><strong> </strong></del>in the United States with the work of [[Goerz, David (1849-1914)|David Goerz]]<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline"><strong> </strong></del>of [[Newton (Kansas, USA)|Newton]], [[Kansas (USA)|Kansas]]. He read a paper before the General Conference in [[South Dakota (USA)|South Dakota]] in 1890 in which he warmly advocated the deaconess work as a branch of home missions. In 1893, the General Conference in Ohio discussed the subject again, and the Board of Home Missions received instructions from the conference to further the cause. In 1898, the [[Bethesda Hospital (Goessel, Kansas, USA)|Bethesda Hospital]]<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline"><strong> </strong></del>was erected at [[Goessel (Kansas, USA)|Goessel]], Kansas, and in the next year the conference advised that if local conditions in any community within the conference became acute, the community should act as it seemed best. Bethesda Hospital assumed the responsibility of inaugurating deaconess work.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Deaconess work among the Mennonites of America represents the continuation of a practice among the Mennonites of Russia and had its origin among the [[General Conference Mennonite Church (GCM)|General Conference Mennonites]] in the United States with the work of [[Goerz, David (1849-1914)|David Goerz]] of [[Newton (Kansas, USA)|Newton]], [[Kansas (USA)|Kansas]]. He read a paper before the General Conference in [[South Dakota (USA)|South Dakota]] in 1890 in which he warmly advocated the deaconess work as a branch of home missions. In 1893, the General Conference in Ohio discussed the subject again, and the Board of Home Missions received instructions from the conference to further the cause. In 1898, the [[Bethesda Hospital (Goessel, Kansas, USA)|Bethesda Hospital]] was erected at [[Goessel (Kansas, USA)|Goessel]], Kansas, and in the next year the conference advised that if local conditions in any community within the conference became acute, the community should act as it seemed best. Bethesda Hospital assumed the responsibility of inaugurating deaconess work.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In 1900 [[Kaufman, Frieda Marie, Sister (1883-1944) |Frieda Kaufman]]<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline"><strong> </strong></del>offered herself to [[Goerz, David (1849-1914)|Elder David Goerz]] as a candidate for the deaconess cause. He arranged to have her enter [[Bethel College (North Newton, Kansas, USA)|Bethel College]]<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline"><strong> </strong></del>for preparatory study. In 1901 Bethel College made the deaconess cause a part of its program, intending to establish or affiliate with a deaconess institution. In 1902 the Board of Directors of Bethel College made arrangements for deaconess candidates to continue their education for specific service at the interdenominational Deaconess Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio, entering Frieda Kaufman as their first candidate. The following year [[Penner, Martha Richert (1881-1957)|Martha Richert]] enrolled in the same institution. In 1905 [[Voth, Catherine (1878-1926)|Catherine Voth]] was accepted as a candidate and also entered the Deaconess Hospital for a course in nursing. In the same year Ida Epp entered the Evangelical Deaconess Home and Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. Upon completing the two-year course in nursing, Martha Richert was ordained by [[Balzer, Peter (1847-1909)|Elder Peter Balzer]] as a parish deaconess in the[[Alexanderwohl (Molotschna Mennonite Settlement, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)| Alexanderwohl Church]]<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline"><strong> </strong></del>near Goessel. She served that community as well as the Bethesda Hospital until 1907 when she was married and, with her husband, [[Penner, Peter A. (1871-1949)|Elder P. A. Penner]], went as a missionary to [[India|India]]. Sister Frieda Kaufman, Sister Catherine Voth and Sister Ida Epp were ordained when the [[Bethel Deaconess Hospital (Newton, Kansas, USA)|Bethel Deaconess Hospital]] was dedicated 11 June 1908. They were the first three deaconesses of this mother house.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In 1900 [[Kaufman, Frieda Marie, Sister (1883-1944) |Frieda Kaufman]] offered herself to [[Goerz, David (1849-1914)|Elder David Goerz]] as a candidate for the deaconess cause. He arranged to have her enter [[Bethel College (North Newton, Kansas, USA)|Bethel College]] for preparatory study. In 1901 Bethel College made the deaconess cause a part of its program, intending to establish or affiliate with a deaconess institution. In 1902 the Board of Directors of Bethel College made arrangements for deaconess candidates to continue their education for specific service at the interdenominational Deaconess Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio, entering Frieda Kaufman as their first candidate. The following year [[Penner, Martha Richert (1881-1957)|Martha Richert]] enrolled in the same institution. In 1905 [[Voth, Catherine (1878-1926)|Catherine Voth]] was accepted as a candidate and also entered the Deaconess Hospital for a course in nursing. In the same year Ida Epp entered the Evangelical Deaconess Home and Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. Upon completing the two-year course in nursing, Martha Richert was ordained by [[Balzer, Peter (1847-1909)|Elder Peter Balzer]] as a parish deaconess in the[[Alexanderwohl (Molotschna Mennonite Settlement, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)| Alexanderwohl Church]] near Goessel. She served that community as well as the Bethesda Hospital until 1907 when she was married and, with her husband, [[Penner, Peter A. (1871-1949)|Elder P. A. Penner]], went as a missionary to [[India|India]]. Sister Frieda Kaufman, Sister Catherine Voth and Sister Ida Epp were ordained when the [[Bethel Deaconess Hospital (Newton, Kansas, USA)|Bethel Deaconess Hospital]] was dedicated 11 June 1908. They were the first three deaconesses of this mother house.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>By the 1950s 62 sisters had become members of the Bethel Deaconess sisterhood, 26 of whom were associated with the sisterhood in 1955. The deaconesses of this institution wore a special garb and were ordained by the church. Each sister had her place in the mother house, received full maintenance, a monthly allowance, an annual vacation, and a vacation allowance. She was expected to remain loyal and faithful to her calling but did not take an oath of celibacy. Should a deaconess change her mind, believing it to be God's will that she serve in some other sphere apart from the sisterhood, she presented her resignation and received an honorable discharge.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>By the 1950s 62 sisters had become members of the Bethel Deaconess sisterhood, 26 of whom were associated with the sisterhood in 1955. The deaconesses of this institution wore a special garb and were ordained by the church. Each sister had her place in the mother house, received full maintenance, a monthly allowance, an annual vacation, and a vacation allowance. She was expected to remain loyal and faithful to her calling but did not take an oath of celibacy. Should a deaconess change her mind, believing it to be God's will that she serve in some other sphere apart from the sisterhood, she presented her resignation and received an honorable discharge.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l25" >Line 25:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 25:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The Mennonite Deaconess Hospital in [[Beatrice (Nebraska, USA)|Beatrice]], [[Nebraska (USA)|Nebraska]], was dedicated 16 July 1911. Sister Elise Hirschler and Sister Maria Wedel, deaconesses of the [[Western District Conference (Mennonite Church USA)|Western District Conference]], and Sister Katie Penner were the first deaconesses to serve here. Other deaconess candidates furthered their education here and were ordained by the Mennonite Church. Seven deaconesses served in the [[Mennonite Deaconess Home and Hospital (Beatrice, Nebraska, USA) |Mennonite Deaconess Home and Hospital]] in Beatrice in the 1950s.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The Mennonite Deaconess Hospital in [[Beatrice (Nebraska, USA)|Beatrice]], [[Nebraska (USA)|Nebraska]], was dedicated 16 July 1911. Sister Elise Hirschler and Sister Maria Wedel, deaconesses of the [[Western District Conference (Mennonite Church USA)|Western District Conference]], and Sister Katie Penner were the first deaconesses to serve here. Other deaconess candidates furthered their education here and were ordained by the Mennonite Church. Seven deaconesses served in the [[Mennonite Deaconess Home and Hospital (Beatrice, Nebraska, USA) |Mennonite Deaconess Home and Hospital]] in Beatrice in the 1950s.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The [[Salem Hospital (Hillsboro, Kansas, USA)|Salem Home and Hospital]]<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline"><strong> </strong></del>in Hillsboro, Kansas, was founded by the<strong> </strong>[[Krimmer Mennonite Brethren|Krimmer Mennonite Brethren]] Conference<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline"><strong> </strong></del>in 1918. Several sisters had served as parish deaconesses prior to this but were transferred to the hospital when it was completed. A number of candidates entered for preparatory work and were ordained as deaconesses. They served in the hospital and in the home for aged. The school for both sisters and nurses has been discontinued. In the fall of 1937, the last two of the deaconesses active in the hospital left the work. Two sisters continued in the [[Salem Home for the Aged (Hillsboro, Kansas, USA)|Salem Home for the Aged]] at Hillsboro, Kansas. </div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The [[Salem Hospital (Hillsboro, Kansas, USA)|Salem Home and Hospital]] in Hillsboro, Kansas, was founded by the<strong> </strong>[[Krimmer Mennonite Brethren|Krimmer Mennonite Brethren]] Conference in 1918. Several sisters had served as parish deaconesses prior to this but were transferred to the hospital when it was completed. A number of candidates entered for preparatory work and were ordained as deaconesses. They served in the hospital and in the home for aged. The school for both sisters and nurses has been discontinued. In the fall of 1937, the last two of the deaconesses active in the hospital left the work. Two sisters continued in the [[Salem Home for the Aged (Hillsboro, Kansas, USA)|Salem Home for the Aged]] at Hillsboro, Kansas. </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Not all deaconesses of the General Conference Mennonite churches were members of a sisterhood or served in institutions. There also were numerous congregational deaconesses without special training who did not wear a garb and who were elected rather than ordained. The [[Eighth Street Mennonite Church (Goshen, Indiana, USA)|Eighth Street Mennonite Church]]<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline"><strong> </strong></del>of [[Goshen (Indiana, USA)|Goshen]], [[Indiana (USA)|Indiana]], had three deaconesses with duties corresponding to those of a deacon. In the constitution adopted in 1947, their duties were stated as assisting the pastor in caring for the spiritual welfare of the church and the observance of the communion. The deacons and the deaconesses together with the pastor comprised the spiritual council of the church.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Not all deaconesses of the General Conference Mennonite churches were members of a sisterhood or served in institutions. There also were numerous congregational deaconesses without special training who did not wear a garb and who were elected rather than ordained. The [[Eighth Street Mennonite Church (Goshen, Indiana, USA)|Eighth Street Mennonite Church]] of [[Goshen (Indiana, USA)|Goshen]], [[Indiana (USA)|Indiana]], had three deaconesses with duties corresponding to those of a deacon. In the constitution adopted in 1947, their duties were stated as assisting the pastor in caring for the spiritual welfare of the church and the observance of the communion. The deacons and the deaconesses together with the pastor comprised the spiritual council of the church.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The appointment of deaconesses in the [[Mennonite Church (MC)|Mennonite Church (MC)]] varied considerably, although very few congregations had deaconesses. The purpose of female servants in the church was one of good works and counseling rather than of exhortation in the church services. In certain areas, deaconesses were elected by the congregation, in others the church council gave a charge privately, and in still others the work of a deaconess was assumed without any official commission. Also the pledge of loyalty and helpfulness which was required of a deacon's or minister's wife at her husband's ordination has been regarded by some as a commission to the services of deaconess work. In no case was a congregational deaconess in this church given support. Her service was not regarded as a full-time occupation. There is no record of organized deaconess institutions in this Mennonite group. However, the [[Virginia Mennonite Conference (Mennonite Church USA)|Virginia Mennonite Conference]] (MC USA) had some deaconesses. -- LMS</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The appointment of deaconesses in the [[Mennonite Church (MC)|Mennonite Church (MC)]] varied considerably, although very few congregations had deaconesses. The purpose of female servants in the church was one of good works and counseling rather than of exhortation in the church services. In certain areas, deaconesses were elected by the congregation, in others the church council gave a charge privately, and in still others the work of a deaconess was assumed without any official commission. Also the pledge of loyalty and helpfulness which was required of a deacon's or minister's wife at her husband's ordination has been regarded by some as a commission to the services of deaconess work. In no case was a congregational deaconess in this church given support. Her service was not regarded as a full-time occupation. There is no record of organized deaconess institutions in this Mennonite group. However, the [[Virginia Mennonite Conference (Mennonite Church USA)|Virginia Mennonite Conference]] (MC USA) had some deaconesses. -- LMS</div></td></tr>
<!-- diff cache key gameo_wiki:diff::1.12:old-119192:rev-120110 -->
</table>RichardThiessenhttps://gameo.org/index.php?title=Deaconess&diff=119192&oldid=prevRichardThiessen: Text replace - "<em>, </em>" to ", "2014-04-12T05:48:42Z<p>Text replace - "<em>, </em>" to ", "</p>
<table class="diff diff-contentalign-left diff-editfont-monospace" data-mw="interface">
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<tr class="diff-title" lang="en">
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">Revision as of 05:48, 12 April 2014</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l1" >Line 1:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 1:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Deaconess is the office in the Christian Church committed to women for the alleviation of physical and spiritual need, especially in the care of the sick. It is of apostolic origin. In Romans 16:1 we read: "I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea." It is possible that Phebe's service was a voluntary work of charity. But 1 Timothy 5:9-10 shows that the early church chose women for church service: "Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man, well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work." </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Deaconess is the office in the Christian Church committed to women for the alleviation of physical and spiritual need, especially in the care of the sick. It is of apostolic origin. In Romans 16:1 we read: "I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea." It is possible that Phebe's service was a voluntary work of charity. But 1 Timothy 5:9-10 shows that the early church chose women for church service: "Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man, well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work." </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Among the Anabaptists the deaconess office was always based on the apostolic pattern. [[Elisabeth Dirks (d. 1549)|Elisabeth Dirks]]<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline"><em></del>, <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline"></em></del>the martyr of [[Leeuwarden (Friesland, Netherlands)|Leeuwarden]], was a deaconess. The [[Dordrecht Confession of Faith (Mennonite, 1632)|Dordrecht Confession]]<strong> </strong>of April 1632, Article 9, Section 5 says, "Also that honorable old widows be ordained and chosen as servants, who besides the almoners, are to visit, comfort, and take care of the poor, the weak, the afflicted, and the needy, as also to visit, comfort, and take care of widows and orphans; and further to assist in taking care of any matters in the church that properly come within their sphere, according to their best ability."</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Among the Anabaptists the deaconess office was always based on the apostolic pattern. [[Elisabeth Dirks (d. 1549)|Elisabeth Dirks]], the martyr of [[Leeuwarden (Friesland, Netherlands)|Leeuwarden]], was a deaconess. The [[Dordrecht Confession of Faith (Mennonite, 1632)|Dordrecht Confession]]<strong> </strong>of April 1632, Article 9, Section 5 says, "Also that honorable old widows be ordained and chosen as servants, who besides the almoners, are to visit, comfort, and take care of the poor, the weak, the afflicted, and the needy, as also to visit, comfort, and take care of widows and orphans; and further to assist in taking care of any matters in the church that properly come within their sphere, according to their best ability."</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In several Dutch Mennonite congregations the office of deaconess has been preserved from the beginning, for example, at Sneek. In most congregations it continued until the middle of the nineteenth century. Barclay reports that the [[Amsterdam (Noord-Holland, Netherlands)|Amsterdam]] congregation had a deaconess and three deacons, all about 60 years old. "She visited the sick and the feeble, especially the women, and when necessary provided girls to stay with them and help them and if they were poor she furnished support given by those who could afford it, or reported it to the deacons, and she was obeyed as a mother in Israel and a servant of Jesus Christ." This institution influenced the [[Brownists|Brownists]], the Plymouth Brethren, and other English Independents, as well as the entire modern deaconess system. In the Amsterdam Mennonite Church<strong> </strong>there were five deaconesses as recently as the 1950s, one of whom retired each year and was not eligible for reappointment for five years. They were appointed by the church board. In former times only married women or widows could be appointed to this office. In the 1950s two could be unmarried. The term "Mother-Deaconess" was still very commonly used. Similar arrangements existed in other Dutch Mennonite churches, as Haarlem and [[Utrecht (Utrecht, Netherlands)|Utrecht. ]]Among the deaconesses there are some who have had training for this vocation. </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In several Dutch Mennonite congregations the office of deaconess has been preserved from the beginning, for example, at Sneek. In most congregations it continued until the middle of the nineteenth century. Barclay reports that the [[Amsterdam (Noord-Holland, Netherlands)|Amsterdam]] congregation had a deaconess and three deacons, all about 60 years old. "She visited the sick and the feeble, especially the women, and when necessary provided girls to stay with them and help them and if they were poor she furnished support given by those who could afford it, or reported it to the deacons, and she was obeyed as a mother in Israel and a servant of Jesus Christ." This institution influenced the [[Brownists|Brownists]], the Plymouth Brethren, and other English Independents, as well as the entire modern deaconess system. In the Amsterdam Mennonite Church<strong> </strong>there were five deaconesses as recently as the 1950s, one of whom retired each year and was not eligible for reappointment for five years. They were appointed by the church board. In former times only married women or widows could be appointed to this office. In the 1950s two could be unmarried. The term "Mother-Deaconess" was still very commonly used. Similar arrangements existed in other Dutch Mennonite churches, as Haarlem and [[Utrecht (Utrecht, Netherlands)|Utrecht. ]]Among the deaconesses there are some who have had training for this vocation. </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The German Mennonite churches also had the office of deaconess for a long time. Gerhard Roosen<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline"><em></del>, <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline"></em></del>the noted preacher of the Hamburg-Altona Mennonite Church, wrote that his grandmother, Rischen Quins (d. 1626), was a deaconess in the congregation for many years during her widowhood; the last deaconess of the congregation was Mayken Govens (d. 1672), the widow of Hans Govens. In [[Danzig (Poland)|Danzig]] the office was maintained even later; the [[Danzig Old Flemish Mennonites|Flemish church]] almost always had a deaconess. The widow Magdalena von Kampen, who was appointed as deaconess in 1788 and served until her death (1810), was the last congregational deaconess among the Mennonites of [[Germany|Germany]]. The small size of the congregations in South Germany apparently made the office of deaconess unnecessary among them; wherever there is today an active deaconess service, it is patterned after the [[Fliedner, Theodor (1800-1864)|Fliedner]] institutions.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The German Mennonite churches also had the office of deaconess for a long time. Gerhard Roosen, the noted preacher of the Hamburg-Altona Mennonite Church, wrote that his grandmother, Rischen Quins (d. 1626), was a deaconess in the congregation for many years during her widowhood; the last deaconess of the congregation was Mayken Govens (d. 1672), the widow of Hans Govens. In [[Danzig (Poland)|Danzig]] the office was maintained even later; the [[Danzig Old Flemish Mennonites|Flemish church]] almost always had a deaconess. The widow Magdalena von Kampen, who was appointed as deaconess in 1788 and served until her death (1810), was the last congregational deaconess among the Mennonites of [[Germany|Germany]]. The small size of the congregations in South Germany apparently made the office of deaconess unnecessary among them; wherever there is today an active deaconess service, it is patterned after the [[Fliedner, Theodor (1800-1864)|Fliedner]] institutions.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The idea frequently found in Mennonite circles that [[Fliedner, Theodor (1800-1864)|Fliedner]] became acquainted with the office of deaconess among the Dutch Mennonites and simply adopted it is false. When he visited the Amsterdam church to raise funds he became acquainted with a deaconess system that had nearly died out, and was thereby inspired to establish his deaconess system, which developed into a flourishing institution. He wrote, "There are in the Dutch Mennonite churches still some deaconesses who are chosen by the church board, work under it, and are engaged in the care of poor women. They visit the cottages of the poor, distribute the clothing given for that purpose, help the girls get positions as maids. Neither they nor the deacons receive a salary, and are members of the most respected families in the congregation, and therein subject themselves to great sacrifice of time, etc., with great willingness. This laudable primitively Christian institution should be imitated by other Protestant faiths." But Fliedner's creation was something quite different from the Biblical-Mennonite institution of deaconess. Not the single congregation, but in a sense all Protestantism became the bearer of this work of charity. He organized large associations and established "mother houses" to give a thorough training for this vocation. It was imitated on every hand, and everywhere new mother houses arose. In 1836 at Kaiserswerth, Fliedner founded the first modern deaconess home. In 1921 there were over one hundred such homes, with about twenty thousand deaconesses. These deaconess houses bear a denominational stamp. As a rule the sisters take communion in their own mother houses and remain closely attached to them. The conditions set by the deaconess union at Herborn (district of Wiesbaden) with its seat at Berlin, are freer. Its purpose is to provide women without a vocation with vocational training and sure employment for life, thereby also promoting deaconess service. The only qualification for admission is membership in a Protestant church.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The idea frequently found in Mennonite circles that [[Fliedner, Theodor (1800-1864)|Fliedner]] became acquainted with the office of deaconess among the Dutch Mennonites and simply adopted it is false. When he visited the Amsterdam church to raise funds he became acquainted with a deaconess system that had nearly died out, and was thereby inspired to establish his deaconess system, which developed into a flourishing institution. He wrote, "There are in the Dutch Mennonite churches still some deaconesses who are chosen by the church board, work under it, and are engaged in the care of poor women. They visit the cottages of the poor, distribute the clothing given for that purpose, help the girls get positions as maids. Neither they nor the deacons receive a salary, and are members of the most respected families in the congregation, and therein subject themselves to great sacrifice of time, etc., with great willingness. This laudable primitively Christian institution should be imitated by other Protestant faiths." But Fliedner's creation was something quite different from the Biblical-Mennonite institution of deaconess. Not the single congregation, but in a sense all Protestantism became the bearer of this work of charity. He organized large associations and established "mother houses" to give a thorough training for this vocation. It was imitated on every hand, and everywhere new mother houses arose. In 1836 at Kaiserswerth, Fliedner founded the first modern deaconess home. In 1921 there were over one hundred such homes, with about twenty thousand deaconesses. These deaconess houses bear a denominational stamp. As a rule the sisters take communion in their own mother houses and remain closely attached to them. The conditions set by the deaconess union at Herborn (district of Wiesbaden) with its seat at Berlin, are freer. Its purpose is to provide women without a vocation with vocational training and sure employment for life, thereby also promoting deaconess service. The only qualification for admission is membership in a Protestant church.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In Germany the [[Verband deutscher Mennonitengemeinden (Federation of Mennonite Churches)|Baden <em>Verband </em>]]instituted deaconess service among the Mennonites in 1904. While a Mennonite girl was in training in Kaiserswerth in 1894, the publisher of the [[Gemeindeblatt der Mennoniten (Periodical)|<em>Gemeindeblatt</<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">em><</del>em>, <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline"></em></del>]]Ulrich Hege, issued a suggestion that a Mennonite deaconess home be established. This suggestion was never carried out, and the sister in question went to America. Ten years later the matter was presented to the <em>Aeltestenrat </em>of the <em>Verband. </em>In March 1904 it was decided to look for a deaconess home that would be suitable for a Mennonite girl to receive training for the work. The deaconess homes in Strasbourg, Speyer and Karlsruhe all made very favorable replies. The last of these was chosen, because there were already friendly relations between this house and the Mennonites of the <em>Verband </em>and because it was more centrally located. By 1918 six others had received their training there and then served in the hospital at Kochendorf, having lived for six years in Lautenbach near Neckarsulm. With Kochendorf as a center they served in all the South German Mennonite congregations, wherever they were called. They continued to return to the mother house in Karlsruhe when they were needed there and could be spared at home. Two sisters also helped with the nursing of wounded soldiers behind the front in World War I. The management of the work was in the hands of a committee of five brethren. Funds to carry on the work were contributed. No charge was made for nursing care, though the family served, if able to do so, made a contribution.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In Germany the [[Verband deutscher Mennonitengemeinden (Federation of Mennonite Churches)|Baden <em>Verband </em>]]instituted deaconess service among the Mennonites in 1904. While a Mennonite girl was in training in Kaiserswerth in 1894, the publisher of the [[Gemeindeblatt der Mennoniten (Periodical)|<em>Gemeindeblatt</em>, ]]Ulrich Hege, issued a suggestion that a Mennonite deaconess home be established. This suggestion was never carried out, and the sister in question went to America. Ten years later the matter was presented to the <em>Aeltestenrat </em>of the <em>Verband. </em>In March 1904 it was decided to look for a deaconess home that would be suitable for a Mennonite girl to receive training for the work. The deaconess homes in Strasbourg, Speyer and Karlsruhe all made very favorable replies. The last of these was chosen, because there were already friendly relations between this house and the Mennonites of the <em>Verband </em>and because it was more centrally located. By 1918 six others had received their training there and then served in the hospital at Kochendorf, having lived for six years in Lautenbach near Neckarsulm. With Kochendorf as a center they served in all the South German Mennonite congregations, wherever they were called. They continued to return to the mother house in Karlsruhe when they were needed there and could be spared at home. Two sisters also helped with the nursing of wounded soldiers behind the front in World War I. The management of the work was in the hands of a committee of five brethren. Funds to carry on the work were contributed. No charge was made for nursing care, though the family served, if able to do so, made a contribution.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Since the Kochendorf hospital could not give the sisters a permanent home, the <em>Verband </em>in 1919 bought a house in Böckingen near Heilbronn as a home for retired sisters. But because of the great shortage in residences, only two sisters had been able to make their home there up to 1921. Later the deaconess work was transferred to the [[Thomashof (Baden-Württemberg, Germany)|Bibelheim Thomashof]] near Karlsruhe. The Deaconess Committee still functioned as of the 1950s, although it was much restricted because of the small number of candidates.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Since the Kochendorf hospital could not give the sisters a permanent home, the <em>Verband </em>in 1919 bought a house in Böckingen near Heilbronn as a home for retired sisters. But because of the great shortage in residences, only two sisters had been able to make their home there up to 1921. Later the deaconess work was transferred to the [[Thomashof (Baden-Württemberg, Germany)|Bibelheim Thomashof]] near Karlsruhe. The Deaconess Committee still functioned as of the 1950s, although it was much restricted because of the small number of candidates.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In 1931 the Bavarian Mennonite relief organization <em>Christenpflicht</<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">em><</del>em>, <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline"></em></del>having received a house in Regensburg for the purpose of deaconess service, established a Mennonite deaconess work there with Sister Elise Hochsteder in charge, under the supervision of die Hensoltshöhe (Middle Franconia) mother house. Because of a lack of Mennonite candidates this work never developed.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In 1931 the Bavarian Mennonite relief organization <em>Christenpflicht</em>, having received a house in Regensburg for the purpose of deaconess service, established a Mennonite deaconess work there with Sister Elise Hochsteder in charge, under the supervision of die Hensoltshöhe (Middle Franconia) mother house. Because of a lack of Mennonite candidates this work never developed.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The Mennonites of [[Russia|Russia]] founded a deaconess home of their own called [[Morija Deaconess Home (Neu-Halbstadt, Molotschna Settlement, Ukraine)|Morija]] in [[Neu-Halbstadt (Molotschna Mennonite Settlement, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Neu Halbstadt]] in the [[Molotschna Mennonite Settlement (Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Molotschna settlement]] in Ukraine. It was a private undertaking and was built primarily with the funds furnished by [[Schmidt, Peter (1860-1910)|Peter Schmidt]] of Steinbach. It was supported by voluntary contributions. It was opened on 3 December 1909, for the purpose of training deaconesses and supporting them in sickness and old age. As long as they remained in the association they received their education free of charge and were provided with all other necessities. By 1918, 89 sisters had been received. The [[Russian Revolution and Civil War|Russian Revolution]] brought them a time of suffering; the house was completely plundered. Nevertheless precisely in that time they were able to render a great service in the epidemics and other sicknesses accompanying the disturbances (record of the <em>Bundeskonjerenz </em>held at Lichtenauon 30 June to 2 July 1918, p. 21). -- Neff</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The Mennonites of [[Russia|Russia]] founded a deaconess home of their own called [[Morija Deaconess Home (Neu-Halbstadt, Molotschna Settlement, Ukraine)|Morija]] in [[Neu-Halbstadt (Molotschna Mennonite Settlement, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Neu Halbstadt]] in the [[Molotschna Mennonite Settlement (Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Molotschna settlement]] in Ukraine. It was a private undertaking and was built primarily with the funds furnished by [[Schmidt, Peter (1860-1910)|Peter Schmidt]] of Steinbach. It was supported by voluntary contributions. It was opened on 3 December 1909, for the purpose of training deaconesses and supporting them in sickness and old age. As long as they remained in the association they received their education free of charge and were provided with all other necessities. By 1918, 89 sisters had been received. The [[Russian Revolution and Civil War|Russian Revolution]] brought them a time of suffering; the house was completely plundered. Nevertheless precisely in that time they were able to render a great service in the epidemics and other sicknesses accompanying the disturbances (record of the <em>Bundeskonjerenz </em>held at Lichtenauon 30 June to 2 July 1918, p. 21). -- Neff</div></td></tr>
<!-- diff cache key gameo_wiki:diff::1.12:old-118017:rev-119192 -->
</table>RichardThiessenhttps://gameo.org/index.php?title=Deaconess&diff=118017&oldid=prevRichardThiessen: Text replace - "<em> </em>" to " "2014-04-12T03:02:00Z<p>Text replace - "<em> </em>" to " "</p>
<table class="diff diff-contentalign-left diff-editfont-monospace" data-mw="interface">
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<tr class="diff-title" lang="en">
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">Revision as of 03:02, 12 April 2014</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l7" >Line 7:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 7:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The German Mennonite churches also had the office of deaconess for a long time. Gerhard Roosen<em>, </em>the noted preacher of the Hamburg-Altona Mennonite Church, wrote that his grandmother, Rischen Quins (d. 1626), was a deaconess in the congregation for many years during her widowhood; the last deaconess of the congregation was Mayken Govens (d. 1672), the widow of Hans Govens. In [[Danzig (Poland)|Danzig]] the office was maintained even later; the [[Danzig Old Flemish Mennonites|Flemish church]] almost always had a deaconess. The widow Magdalena von Kampen, who was appointed as deaconess in 1788 and served until her death (1810), was the last congregational deaconess among the Mennonites of [[Germany|Germany]]. The small size of the congregations in South Germany apparently made the office of deaconess unnecessary among them; wherever there is today an active deaconess service, it is patterned after the [[Fliedner, Theodor (1800-1864)|Fliedner]] institutions.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The German Mennonite churches also had the office of deaconess for a long time. Gerhard Roosen<em>, </em>the noted preacher of the Hamburg-Altona Mennonite Church, wrote that his grandmother, Rischen Quins (d. 1626), was a deaconess in the congregation for many years during her widowhood; the last deaconess of the congregation was Mayken Govens (d. 1672), the widow of Hans Govens. In [[Danzig (Poland)|Danzig]] the office was maintained even later; the [[Danzig Old Flemish Mennonites|Flemish church]] almost always had a deaconess. The widow Magdalena von Kampen, who was appointed as deaconess in 1788 and served until her death (1810), was the last congregational deaconess among the Mennonites of [[Germany|Germany]]. The small size of the congregations in South Germany apparently made the office of deaconess unnecessary among them; wherever there is today an active deaconess service, it is patterned after the [[Fliedner, Theodor (1800-1864)|Fliedner]] institutions.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The idea frequently found in Mennonite circles that [[Fliedner, Theodor (1800-1864)|Fliedner]]<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline"><em> </em></del>became acquainted with the office of deaconess among the Dutch Mennonites and simply adopted it is false. When he visited the Amsterdam church to raise funds he became acquainted with a deaconess system that had nearly died out, and was thereby inspired to establish his deaconess system, which developed into a flourishing institution. He wrote, "There are in the Dutch Mennonite churches still some deaconesses who are chosen by the church board, work under it, and are engaged in the care of poor women. They visit the cottages of the poor, distribute the clothing given for that purpose, help the girls get positions as maids. Neither they nor the deacons receive a salary, and are members of the most respected families in the congregation, and therein subject themselves to great sacrifice of time, etc., with great willingness. This laudable primitively Christian institution should be imitated by other Protestant faiths." But Fliedner's creation was something quite different from the Biblical-Mennonite institution of deaconess. Not the single congregation, but in a sense all Protestantism became the bearer of this work of charity. He organized large associations and established "mother houses" to give a thorough training for this vocation. It was imitated on every hand, and everywhere new mother houses arose. In 1836 at Kaiserswerth, Fliedner founded the first modern deaconess home. In 1921 there were over one hundred such homes, with about twenty thousand deaconesses. These deaconess houses bear a denominational stamp. As a rule the sisters take communion in their own mother houses and remain closely attached to them. The conditions set by the deaconess union at Herborn (district of Wiesbaden) with its seat at Berlin, are freer. Its purpose is to provide women without a vocation with vocational training and sure employment for life, thereby also promoting deaconess service. The only qualification for admission is membership in a Protestant church.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The idea frequently found in Mennonite circles that [[Fliedner, Theodor (1800-1864)|Fliedner]] became acquainted with the office of deaconess among the Dutch Mennonites and simply adopted it is false. When he visited the Amsterdam church to raise funds he became acquainted with a deaconess system that had nearly died out, and was thereby inspired to establish his deaconess system, which developed into a flourishing institution. He wrote, "There are in the Dutch Mennonite churches still some deaconesses who are chosen by the church board, work under it, and are engaged in the care of poor women. They visit the cottages of the poor, distribute the clothing given for that purpose, help the girls get positions as maids. Neither they nor the deacons receive a salary, and are members of the most respected families in the congregation, and therein subject themselves to great sacrifice of time, etc., with great willingness. This laudable primitively Christian institution should be imitated by other Protestant faiths." But Fliedner's creation was something quite different from the Biblical-Mennonite institution of deaconess. Not the single congregation, but in a sense all Protestantism became the bearer of this work of charity. He organized large associations and established "mother houses" to give a thorough training for this vocation. It was imitated on every hand, and everywhere new mother houses arose. In 1836 at Kaiserswerth, Fliedner founded the first modern deaconess home. In 1921 there were over one hundred such homes, with about twenty thousand deaconesses. These deaconess houses bear a denominational stamp. As a rule the sisters take communion in their own mother houses and remain closely attached to them. The conditions set by the deaconess union at Herborn (district of Wiesbaden) with its seat at Berlin, are freer. Its purpose is to provide women without a vocation with vocational training and sure employment for life, thereby also promoting deaconess service. The only qualification for admission is membership in a Protestant church.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In Germany the [[Verband deutscher Mennonitengemeinden (Federation of Mennonite Churches)|Baden <em>Verband </em>]]instituted deaconess service among the Mennonites in 1904. While a Mennonite girl was in training in Kaiserswerth in 1894, the publisher of the [[Gemeindeblatt der Mennoniten (Periodical)|<em>Gemeindeblatt</em><em>, </em>]]Ulrich Hege, issued a suggestion that a Mennonite deaconess home be established. This suggestion was never carried out, and the sister in question went to America. Ten years later the matter was presented to the <em>Aeltestenrat </em>of the <em>Verband. </em>In March 1904 it was decided to look for a deaconess home that would be suitable for a Mennonite girl to receive training for the work. The deaconess homes in Strasbourg, Speyer and Karlsruhe all made very favorable replies. The last of these was chosen, because there were already friendly relations between this house and the Mennonites of the <em>Verband </em>and because it was more centrally located. By 1918 six others had received their training there and then served in the hospital at Kochendorf, having lived for six years in Lautenbach near Neckarsulm. With Kochendorf as a center they served in all the South German Mennonite congregations, wherever they were called. They continued to return to the mother house in Karlsruhe when they were needed there and could be spared at home. Two sisters also helped with the nursing of wounded soldiers behind the front in World War I. The management of the work was in the hands of a committee of five brethren. Funds to carry on the work were contributed. No charge was made for nursing care, though the family served, if able to do so, made a contribution.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In Germany the [[Verband deutscher Mennonitengemeinden (Federation of Mennonite Churches)|Baden <em>Verband </em>]]instituted deaconess service among the Mennonites in 1904. While a Mennonite girl was in training in Kaiserswerth in 1894, the publisher of the [[Gemeindeblatt der Mennoniten (Periodical)|<em>Gemeindeblatt</em><em>, </em>]]Ulrich Hege, issued a suggestion that a Mennonite deaconess home be established. This suggestion was never carried out, and the sister in question went to America. Ten years later the matter was presented to the <em>Aeltestenrat </em>of the <em>Verband. </em>In March 1904 it was decided to look for a deaconess home that would be suitable for a Mennonite girl to receive training for the work. The deaconess homes in Strasbourg, Speyer and Karlsruhe all made very favorable replies. The last of these was chosen, because there were already friendly relations between this house and the Mennonites of the <em>Verband </em>and because it was more centrally located. By 1918 six others had received their training there and then served in the hospital at Kochendorf, having lived for six years in Lautenbach near Neckarsulm. With Kochendorf as a center they served in all the South German Mennonite congregations, wherever they were called. They continued to return to the mother house in Karlsruhe when they were needed there and could be spared at home. Two sisters also helped with the nursing of wounded soldiers behind the front in World War I. The management of the work was in the hands of a committee of five brethren. Funds to carry on the work were contributed. No charge was made for nursing care, though the family served, if able to do so, made a contribution.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l15" >Line 15:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 15:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In 1931 the Bavarian Mennonite relief organization <em>Christenpflicht</em><em>, </em>having received a house in Regensburg for the purpose of deaconess service, established a Mennonite deaconess work there with Sister Elise Hochsteder in charge, under the supervision of die Hensoltshöhe (Middle Franconia) mother house. Because of a lack of Mennonite candidates this work never developed.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In 1931 the Bavarian Mennonite relief organization <em>Christenpflicht</em><em>, </em>having received a house in Regensburg for the purpose of deaconess service, established a Mennonite deaconess work there with Sister Elise Hochsteder in charge, under the supervision of die Hensoltshöhe (Middle Franconia) mother house. Because of a lack of Mennonite candidates this work never developed.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The Mennonites of [[Russia|Russia]] founded a deaconess home of their own called [[Morija Deaconess Home (Neu-Halbstadt, Molotschna Settlement, Ukraine)|Morija]]<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline"><em> </em></del>in [[Neu-Halbstadt (Molotschna Mennonite Settlement, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Neu Halbstadt]] in the [[Molotschna Mennonite Settlement (Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Molotschna settlement]] in Ukraine. It was a private undertaking and was built primarily with the funds furnished by [[Schmidt, Peter (1860-1910)|Peter Schmidt]] of Steinbach. It was supported by voluntary contributions. It was opened on 3 December 1909, for the purpose of training deaconesses and supporting them in sickness and old age. As long as they remained in the association they received their education free of charge and were provided with all other necessities. By 1918, 89 sisters had been received. The [[Russian Revolution and Civil War|Russian Revolution]] brought them a time of suffering; the house was completely plundered. Nevertheless precisely in that time they were able to render a great service in the epidemics and other sicknesses accompanying the disturbances (record of the <em>Bundeskonjerenz </em>held at Lichtenauon 30 June to 2 July 1918, p. 21). -- Neff</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The Mennonites of [[Russia|Russia]] founded a deaconess home of their own called [[Morija Deaconess Home (Neu-Halbstadt, Molotschna Settlement, Ukraine)|Morija]] in [[Neu-Halbstadt (Molotschna Mennonite Settlement, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Neu Halbstadt]] in the [[Molotschna Mennonite Settlement (Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Molotschna settlement]] in Ukraine. It was a private undertaking and was built primarily with the funds furnished by [[Schmidt, Peter (1860-1910)|Peter Schmidt]] of Steinbach. It was supported by voluntary contributions. It was opened on 3 December 1909, for the purpose of training deaconesses and supporting them in sickness and old age. As long as they remained in the association they received their education free of charge and were provided with all other necessities. By 1918, 89 sisters had been received. The [[Russian Revolution and Civil War|Russian Revolution]] brought them a time of suffering; the house was completely plundered. Nevertheless precisely in that time they were able to render a great service in the epidemics and other sicknesses accompanying the disturbances (record of the <em>Bundeskonjerenz </em>held at Lichtenauon 30 June to 2 July 1918, p. 21). -- Neff</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Deaconess work among the Mennonites of America represents the continuation of a practice among the Mennonites of Russia and had its origin among the<strong> </strong>[[General Conference Mennonite Church (GCM)|General Conference Mennonites]]<strong> </strong>in the United States with the work of [[Goerz, David (1849-1914)|David Goerz]]<strong> </strong>of [[Newton (Kansas, USA)|Newton]], [[Kansas (USA)|Kansas]]. He read a paper before the General Conference in [[South Dakota (USA)|South Dakota]] in 1890 in which he warmly advocated the deaconess work as a branch of home missions. In 1893, the General Conference in Ohio discussed the subject again, and the Board of Home Missions received instructions from the conference to further the cause. In 1898, the [[Bethesda Hospital (Goessel, Kansas, USA)|Bethesda Hospital]]<strong> </strong>was erected at [[Goessel (Kansas, USA)|Goessel]], Kansas, and in the next year the conference advised that if local conditions in any community within the conference became acute, the community should act as it seemed best. Bethesda Hospital assumed the responsibility of inaugurating deaconess work.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Deaconess work among the Mennonites of America represents the continuation of a practice among the Mennonites of Russia and had its origin among the<strong> </strong>[[General Conference Mennonite Church (GCM)|General Conference Mennonites]]<strong> </strong>in the United States with the work of [[Goerz, David (1849-1914)|David Goerz]]<strong> </strong>of [[Newton (Kansas, USA)|Newton]], [[Kansas (USA)|Kansas]]. He read a paper before the General Conference in [[South Dakota (USA)|South Dakota]] in 1890 in which he warmly advocated the deaconess work as a branch of home missions. In 1893, the General Conference in Ohio discussed the subject again, and the Board of Home Missions received instructions from the conference to further the cause. In 1898, the [[Bethesda Hospital (Goessel, Kansas, USA)|Bethesda Hospital]]<strong> </strong>was erected at [[Goessel (Kansas, USA)|Goessel]], Kansas, and in the next year the conference advised that if local conditions in any community within the conference became acute, the community should act as it seemed best. Bethesda Hospital assumed the responsibility of inaugurating deaconess work.</div></td></tr>
<!-- diff cache key gameo_wiki:diff::1.12:old-117700:rev-118017 -->
</table>RichardThiessenhttps://gameo.org/index.php?title=Deaconess&diff=117700&oldid=prevRichardThiessen: Text replace - ".<em> </em>" to ". "2014-04-12T02:46:03Z<p>Text replace - ".<em> </em>" to ". "</p>
<table class="diff diff-contentalign-left diff-editfont-monospace" data-mw="interface">
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<tr class="diff-title" lang="en">
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">Revision as of 02:46, 12 April 2014</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l33" >Line 33:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 33:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>"The Deaconess and Her Ministry," <em>Mennonite Life 3 </em>(January 1948): 30-37. </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>"The Deaconess and Her Ministry," <em>Mennonite Life 3 </em>(January 1948): 30-37. </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><em>Doopsgezinde Bijdragen</em>.<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline"><em> </em></del>1890: 112.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><em>Doopsgezinde Bijdragen</em>. 1890: 112.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Fliedner, Th. <em>Kollektenreise nach Holland </em>I. 1831: 150 f. </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Fliedner, Th. <em>Kollektenreise nach Holland </em>I. 1831: 150 f. </div></td></tr>
<!-- diff cache key gameo_wiki:diff::1.12:old-107426:rev-117700 -->
</table>RichardThiessenhttps://gameo.org/index.php?title=Deaconess&diff=107426&oldid=prevRichardThiessen: Text replace - "Mennonitisches Lexikon</em>, 4 v." to "Mennonitisches Lexikon</em>, 4 vols."2014-01-20T08:15:16Z<p>Text replace - "Mennonitisches Lexikon</em>, 4 v." to "Mennonitisches Lexikon</em>, 4 vols."</p>
<table class="diff diff-contentalign-left diff-editfont-monospace" data-mw="interface">
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<tr class="diff-title" lang="en">
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">Revision as of 08:15, 20 January 2014</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l39" >Line 39:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 39:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Friesen, Peter M. <em>Die Alt-Evangelische Mennonitische Brüderschaft in Russland (1789-1910) im Rahmen der mennonitischen Gesamtgeschichte</em>. Halbstadt: Verlagsgesellschaft "Raduga", 1911: 659, II:96.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Friesen, Peter M. <em>Die Alt-Evangelische Mennonitische Brüderschaft in Russland (1789-1910) im Rahmen der mennonitischen Gesamtgeschichte</em>. Halbstadt: Verlagsgesellschaft "Raduga", 1911: 659, II:96.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Hege, Christian and Christian Neff.<em> Mennonitisches Lexikon</em>, 4 <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">v</del>. Frankfurt &amp; Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe; Schneider, 1913-1967. I: 434. </div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Hege, Christian and Christian Neff.<em> Mennonitisches Lexikon</em>, 4 <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">vols</ins>. Frankfurt &amp; Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe; Schneider, 1913-1967. I: 434. </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Hunsperger, Edna. "The Deaconess Movement in the Mennonite Church," Sociology Seminar, 1948-49, Goshen College Historical Library. Goshen, Ind. : D. Hunsperger, 1949.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Hunsperger, Edna. "The Deaconess Movement in the Mennonite Church," Sociology Seminar, 1948-49, Goshen College Historical Library. Goshen, Ind. : D. Hunsperger, 1949.</div></td></tr>
<!-- diff cache key gameo_wiki:diff::1.12:old-94309:rev-107426 -->
</table>RichardThiessenhttps://gameo.org/index.php?title=Deaconess&diff=94309&oldid=prevGameoAdmin: CSV import - 201308232013-08-23T14:29:34Z<p>CSV import - 20130823</p>
<table class="diff diff-contentalign-left diff-editfont-monospace" data-mw="interface">
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<tr class="diff-title" lang="en">
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">Revision as of 14:29, 23 August 2013</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l3" >Line 3:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 3:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Among the Anabaptists the deaconess office was always based on the apostolic pattern. [[Elisabeth Dirks (d. 1549)|Elisabeth Dirks]]<em>, </em>the martyr of [[Leeuwarden (Friesland, Netherlands)|Leeuwarden]], was a deaconess. The [[Dordrecht Confession of Faith (Mennonite, 1632)|Dordrecht Confession]]<strong> </strong>of April 1632, Article 9, Section 5 says, "Also that honorable old widows be ordained and chosen as servants, who besides the almoners, are to visit, comfort, and take care of the poor, the weak, the afflicted, and the needy, as also to visit, comfort, and take care of widows and orphans; and further to assist in taking care of any matters in the church that properly come within their sphere, according to their best ability."</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Among the Anabaptists the deaconess office was always based on the apostolic pattern. [[Elisabeth Dirks (d. 1549)|Elisabeth Dirks]]<em>, </em>the martyr of [[Leeuwarden (Friesland, Netherlands)|Leeuwarden]], was a deaconess. The [[Dordrecht Confession of Faith (Mennonite, 1632)|Dordrecht Confession]]<strong> </strong>of April 1632, Article 9, Section 5 says, "Also that honorable old widows be ordained and chosen as servants, who besides the almoners, are to visit, comfort, and take care of the poor, the weak, the afflicted, and the needy, as also to visit, comfort, and take care of widows and orphans; and further to assist in taking care of any matters in the church that properly come within their sphere, according to their best ability."</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In several Dutch Mennonite congregations the office of deaconess has been preserved from the beginning, for example, at Sneek. In most congregations it continued until the middle of the nineteenth century. Barclay reports that the [[Amsterdam (Noord-Holland, Netherlands)|Amsterdam]] congregation had a deaconess and three deacons, all about 60 years old. "She visited the sick and the feeble, especially the women, and when necessary provided girls to stay with them and help them and if they were poor she furnished support given by those who could afford it, or reported it to the deacons, and she was obeyed as a mother in Israel and a servant of Jesus Christ." This institution influenced the [[Brownists|Brownists]], the Plymouth Brethren, and other English Independents, as well as the entire modern deaconess system. In the Amsterdam Mennonite Church<strong> </strong>there were five deaconesses as recently as the 1950s, one of whom retired each year and was not eligible for reappointment for five years. They were appointed by the church board. In former times only married women or widows could be appointed to this office. In the 1950s two could be unmarried. The term "Mother-Deaconess" was still very commonly used. Similar arrangements existed in other Dutch Mennonite churches, as Haarlem and [[Utrecht (Utrecht, Netherlands)|Utrecht.]]Among the deaconesses there are some who have had training for this vocation. </div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In several Dutch Mennonite congregations the office of deaconess has been preserved from the beginning, for example, at Sneek. In most congregations it continued until the middle of the nineteenth century. Barclay reports that the [[Amsterdam (Noord-Holland, Netherlands)|Amsterdam]] congregation had a deaconess and three deacons, all about 60 years old. "She visited the sick and the feeble, especially the women, and when necessary provided girls to stay with them and help them and if they were poor she furnished support given by those who could afford it, or reported it to the deacons, and she was obeyed as a mother in Israel and a servant of Jesus Christ." This institution influenced the [[Brownists|Brownists]], the Plymouth Brethren, and other English Independents, as well as the entire modern deaconess system. In the Amsterdam Mennonite Church<strong> </strong>there were five deaconesses as recently as the 1950s, one of whom retired each year and was not eligible for reappointment for five years. They were appointed by the church board. In former times only married women or widows could be appointed to this office. In the 1950s two could be unmarried. The term "Mother-Deaconess" was still very commonly used. Similar arrangements existed in other Dutch Mennonite churches, as Haarlem and [[Utrecht (Utrecht, Netherlands)|Utrecht. ]]Among the deaconesses there are some who have had training for this vocation. </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The German Mennonite churches also had the office of deaconess for a long time. Gerhard Roosen<em>, </em>the noted preacher of the Hamburg-Altona Mennonite Church, wrote that his grandmother, Rischen Quins (d. 1626), was a deaconess in the congregation for many years during her widowhood; the last deaconess of the congregation was Mayken Govens (d. 1672), the widow of Hans Govens. In [[Danzig (Poland)|Danzig]] the office was maintained even later; the [[Danzig Old Flemish Mennonites|Flemish church]] almost always had a deaconess. The widow Magdalena von Kampen, who was appointed as deaconess in 1788 and served until her death (1810), was the last congregational deaconess among the Mennonites of [[Germany|Germany]]. The small size of the congregations in South Germany apparently made the office of deaconess unnecessary among them; wherever there is today an active deaconess service, it is patterned after the [[Fliedner, Theodor (1800-1864)|Fliedner]] institutions.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The German Mennonite churches also had the office of deaconess for a long time. Gerhard Roosen<em>, </em>the noted preacher of the Hamburg-Altona Mennonite Church, wrote that his grandmother, Rischen Quins (d. 1626), was a deaconess in the congregation for many years during her widowhood; the last deaconess of the congregation was Mayken Govens (d. 1672), the widow of Hans Govens. In [[Danzig (Poland)|Danzig]] the office was maintained even later; the [[Danzig Old Flemish Mennonites|Flemish church]] almost always had a deaconess. The widow Magdalena von Kampen, who was appointed as deaconess in 1788 and served until her death (1810), was the last congregational deaconess among the Mennonites of [[Germany|Germany]]. The small size of the congregations in South Germany apparently made the office of deaconess unnecessary among them; wherever there is today an active deaconess service, it is patterned after the [[Fliedner, Theodor (1800-1864)|Fliedner]] institutions.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l9" >Line 9:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 9:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The idea frequently found in Mennonite circles that [[Fliedner, Theodor (1800-1864)|Fliedner]]<em> </em>became acquainted with the office of deaconess among the Dutch Mennonites and simply adopted it is false. When he visited the Amsterdam church to raise funds he became acquainted with a deaconess system that had nearly died out, and was thereby inspired to establish his deaconess system, which developed into a flourishing institution. He wrote, "There are in the Dutch Mennonite churches still some deaconesses who are chosen by the church board, work under it, and are engaged in the care of poor women. They visit the cottages of the poor, distribute the clothing given for that purpose, help the girls get positions as maids. Neither they nor the deacons receive a salary, and are members of the most respected families in the congregation, and therein subject themselves to great sacrifice of time, etc., with great willingness. This laudable primitively Christian institution should be imitated by other Protestant faiths." But Fliedner's creation was something quite different from the Biblical-Mennonite institution of deaconess. Not the single congregation, but in a sense all Protestantism became the bearer of this work of charity. He organized large associations and established "mother houses" to give a thorough training for this vocation. It was imitated on every hand, and everywhere new mother houses arose. In 1836 at Kaiserswerth, Fliedner founded the first modern deaconess home. In 1921 there were over one hundred such homes, with about twenty thousand deaconesses. These deaconess houses bear a denominational stamp. As a rule the sisters take communion in their own mother houses and remain closely attached to them. The conditions set by the deaconess union at Herborn (district of Wiesbaden) with its seat at Berlin, are freer. Its purpose is to provide women without a vocation with vocational training and sure employment for life, thereby also promoting deaconess service. The only qualification for admission is membership in a Protestant church.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The idea frequently found in Mennonite circles that [[Fliedner, Theodor (1800-1864)|Fliedner]]<em> </em>became acquainted with the office of deaconess among the Dutch Mennonites and simply adopted it is false. When he visited the Amsterdam church to raise funds he became acquainted with a deaconess system that had nearly died out, and was thereby inspired to establish his deaconess system, which developed into a flourishing institution. He wrote, "There are in the Dutch Mennonite churches still some deaconesses who are chosen by the church board, work under it, and are engaged in the care of poor women. They visit the cottages of the poor, distribute the clothing given for that purpose, help the girls get positions as maids. Neither they nor the deacons receive a salary, and are members of the most respected families in the congregation, and therein subject themselves to great sacrifice of time, etc., with great willingness. This laudable primitively Christian institution should be imitated by other Protestant faiths." But Fliedner's creation was something quite different from the Biblical-Mennonite institution of deaconess. Not the single congregation, but in a sense all Protestantism became the bearer of this work of charity. He organized large associations and established "mother houses" to give a thorough training for this vocation. It was imitated on every hand, and everywhere new mother houses arose. In 1836 at Kaiserswerth, Fliedner founded the first modern deaconess home. In 1921 there were over one hundred such homes, with about twenty thousand deaconesses. These deaconess houses bear a denominational stamp. As a rule the sisters take communion in their own mother houses and remain closely attached to them. The conditions set by the deaconess union at Herborn (district of Wiesbaden) with its seat at Berlin, are freer. Its purpose is to provide women without a vocation with vocational training and sure employment for life, thereby also promoting deaconess service. The only qualification for admission is membership in a Protestant church.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In Germany the [[Verband deutscher Mennonitengemeinden (Federation of Mennonite Churches)|Baden <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">&lt;</del>em<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">&gt;</del>Verband <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">&lt;</del>/em<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">&gt;</del>]]instituted deaconess service among the Mennonites in 1904. While a Mennonite girl was in training in Kaiserswerth in 1894, the publisher of the [[Gemeindeblatt der Mennoniten (Periodical)|<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">&lt;</del>em<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">&gt;</del>Gemeindeblatt<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">&lt;</del>/em<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">&gt; &lt;</del>em<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">&gt;</del>, <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">&lt;</del>/em<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">&gt;</del>]]Ulrich Hege, issued a suggestion that a Mennonite deaconess home be established. This suggestion was never carried out, and the sister in question went to America. Ten years later the matter was presented to the <em>Aeltestenrat </em>of the <em>Verband. </em>In March 1904 it was decided to look for a deaconess home that would be suitable for a Mennonite girl to receive training for the work. The deaconess homes in Strasbourg, Speyer and Karlsruhe all made very favorable replies. The last of these was chosen, because there were already friendly relations between this house and the Mennonites of the <em>Verband </em>and because it was more centrally located. By 1918 six others had received their training there and then served in the hospital at Kochendorf, having lived for six years in Lautenbach near Neckarsulm. With Kochendorf as a center they served in all the South German Mennonite congregations, wherever they were called. They continued to return to the mother house in Karlsruhe when they were needed there and could be spared at home. Two sisters also helped with the nursing of wounded soldiers behind the front in World War I. The management of the work was in the hands of a committee of five brethren. Funds to carry on the work were contributed. No charge was made for nursing care, though the family served, if able to do so, made a contribution.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In Germany the [[Verband deutscher Mennonitengemeinden (Federation of Mennonite Churches)|Baden <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline"><</ins>em<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">></ins>Verband <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline"><</ins>/em<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">></ins>]]instituted deaconess service among the Mennonites in 1904. While a Mennonite girl was in training in Kaiserswerth in 1894, the publisher of the [[Gemeindeblatt der Mennoniten (Periodical)|<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline"><</ins>em<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">></ins>Gemeindeblatt<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline"><</ins>/em<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">><</ins>em<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">></ins>, <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline"><</ins>/em<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">></ins>]]Ulrich Hege, issued a suggestion that a Mennonite deaconess home be established. This suggestion was never carried out, and the sister in question went to America. Ten years later the matter was presented to the <em>Aeltestenrat </em>of the <em>Verband. </em>In March 1904 it was decided to look for a deaconess home that would be suitable for a Mennonite girl to receive training for the work. The deaconess homes in Strasbourg, Speyer and Karlsruhe all made very favorable replies. The last of these was chosen, because there were already friendly relations between this house and the Mennonites of the <em>Verband </em>and because it was more centrally located. By 1918 six others had received their training there and then served in the hospital at Kochendorf, having lived for six years in Lautenbach near Neckarsulm. With Kochendorf as a center they served in all the South German Mennonite congregations, wherever they were called. They continued to return to the mother house in Karlsruhe when they were needed there and could be spared at home. Two sisters also helped with the nursing of wounded soldiers behind the front in World War I. The management of the work was in the hands of a committee of five brethren. Funds to carry on the work were contributed. No charge was made for nursing care, though the family served, if able to do so, made a contribution.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Since the Kochendorf hospital could not give the sisters a permanent home, the <em>Verband </em>in 1919 bought a house in Böckingen near Heilbronn as a home for retired sisters. But because of the great shortage in residences, only two sisters had been able to make their home there up to 1921. Later the deaconess work was transferred to the [[Thomashof (Baden-Württemberg, Germany)|Bibelheim Thomashof]] near Karlsruhe. The Deaconess Committee still functioned as of the 1950s, although it was much restricted because of the small number of candidates.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Since the Kochendorf hospital could not give the sisters a permanent home, the <em>Verband </em>in 1919 bought a house in Böckingen near Heilbronn as a home for retired sisters. But because of the great shortage in residences, only two sisters had been able to make their home there up to 1921. Later the deaconess work was transferred to the [[Thomashof (Baden-Württemberg, Germany)|Bibelheim Thomashof]] near Karlsruhe. The Deaconess Committee still functioned as of the 1950s, although it was much restricted because of the small number of candidates.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l19" >Line 19:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 19:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Deaconess work among the Mennonites of America represents the continuation of a practice among the Mennonites of Russia and had its origin among the<strong> </strong>[[General Conference Mennonite Church (GCM)|General Conference Mennonites]]<strong> </strong>in the United States with the work of [[Goerz, David (1849-1914)|David Goerz]]<strong> </strong>of [[Newton (Kansas, USA)|Newton]], [[Kansas (USA)|Kansas]]. He read a paper before the General Conference in [[South Dakota (USA)|South Dakota]] in 1890 in which he warmly advocated the deaconess work as a branch of home missions. In 1893, the General Conference in Ohio discussed the subject again, and the Board of Home Missions received instructions from the conference to further the cause. In 1898, the [[Bethesda Hospital (Goessel, Kansas, USA)|Bethesda Hospital]]<strong> </strong>was erected at [[Goessel (Kansas, USA)|Goessel]], Kansas, and in the next year the conference advised that if local conditions in any community within the conference became acute, the community should act as it seemed best. Bethesda Hospital assumed the responsibility of inaugurating deaconess work.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Deaconess work among the Mennonites of America represents the continuation of a practice among the Mennonites of Russia and had its origin among the<strong> </strong>[[General Conference Mennonite Church (GCM)|General Conference Mennonites]]<strong> </strong>in the United States with the work of [[Goerz, David (1849-1914)|David Goerz]]<strong> </strong>of [[Newton (Kansas, USA)|Newton]], [[Kansas (USA)|Kansas]]. He read a paper before the General Conference in [[South Dakota (USA)|South Dakota]] in 1890 in which he warmly advocated the deaconess work as a branch of home missions. In 1893, the General Conference in Ohio discussed the subject again, and the Board of Home Missions received instructions from the conference to further the cause. In 1898, the [[Bethesda Hospital (Goessel, Kansas, USA)|Bethesda Hospital]]<strong> </strong>was erected at [[Goessel (Kansas, USA)|Goessel]], Kansas, and in the next year the conference advised that if local conditions in any community within the conference became acute, the community should act as it seemed best. Bethesda Hospital assumed the responsibility of inaugurating deaconess work.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In 1900 [[Kaufman, Frieda Marie, Sister (1883-1944) |Frieda Kaufman]]<strong> </strong>offered herself to [[Goerz, David (1849-1914)|Elder David Goerz]] as a candidate for the deaconess cause. He arranged to have her enter [[Bethel College (North Newton, Kansas, USA)|Bethel College]]<strong> </strong>for preparatory study. In 1901 Bethel College made the deaconess cause a part of its program, intending to establish or affiliate with a deaconess institution. In 1902 the Board of Directors of Bethel College made arrangements for deaconess candidates to continue their education for specific service at the interdenominational Deaconess Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio, entering Frieda Kaufman as their first candidate. The following year [[Penner, Martha Richert (1881-1957)|Martha Richert]] enrolled in the same institution. In 1905 [[Voth, Catherine (1878-1926)|Catherine Voth]] was accepted as a candidate and also entered the Deaconess Hospital for a course in nursing. In the same year Ida Epp entered the Evangelical Deaconess Home and Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. Upon completing the two-year course in nursing, Martha Richert was ordained by [[Balzer, Peter (1847-1909)|Elder Peter Balzer]] as a parish deaconess in the[[Alexanderwohl (Molotschna Mennonite Settlement, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Alexanderwohl Church]]<strong> </strong>near Goessel. She served that community as well as the Bethesda Hospital until 1907 when she was married and, with her husband, [[Penner, Peter A. (1871-1949)|Elder P. A. Penner]], went as a missionary to [[India|India]]. Sister Frieda Kaufman, Sister Catherine Voth and Sister Ida Epp were ordained when the [[Bethel Deaconess Hospital (Newton, Kansas, USA)|Bethel Deaconess Hospital]] was dedicated 11 June 1908. They were the first three deaconesses of this mother house.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In 1900 [[Kaufman, Frieda Marie, Sister (1883-1944) |Frieda Kaufman]]<strong> </strong>offered herself to [[Goerz, David (1849-1914)|Elder David Goerz]] as a candidate for the deaconess cause. He arranged to have her enter [[Bethel College (North Newton, Kansas, USA)|Bethel College]]<strong> </strong>for preparatory study. In 1901 Bethel College made the deaconess cause a part of its program, intending to establish or affiliate with a deaconess institution. In 1902 the Board of Directors of Bethel College made arrangements for deaconess candidates to continue their education for specific service at the interdenominational Deaconess Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio, entering Frieda Kaufman as their first candidate. The following year [[Penner, Martha Richert (1881-1957)|Martha Richert]] enrolled in the same institution. In 1905 [[Voth, Catherine (1878-1926)|Catherine Voth]] was accepted as a candidate and also entered the Deaconess Hospital for a course in nursing. In the same year Ida Epp entered the Evangelical Deaconess Home and Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. Upon completing the two-year course in nursing, Martha Richert was ordained by [[Balzer, Peter (1847-1909)|Elder Peter Balzer]] as a parish deaconess in the[[Alexanderwohl (Molotschna Mennonite Settlement, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)| Alexanderwohl Church]]<strong> </strong>near Goessel. She served that community as well as the Bethesda Hospital until 1907 when she was married and, with her husband, [[Penner, Peter A. (1871-1949)|Elder P. A. Penner]], went as a missionary to [[India|India]]. Sister Frieda Kaufman, Sister Catherine Voth and Sister Ida Epp were ordained when the [[Bethel Deaconess Hospital (Newton, Kansas, USA)|Bethel Deaconess Hospital]] was dedicated 11 June 1908. They were the first three deaconesses of this mother house.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>By the 1950s 62 sisters had become members of the Bethel Deaconess sisterhood, 26 of whom were associated with the sisterhood in 1955. The deaconesses of this institution wore a special garb and were ordained by the church. Each sister had her place in the mother house, received full maintenance, a monthly allowance, an annual vacation, and a vacation allowance. She was expected to remain loyal and faithful to her calling but did not take an oath of celibacy. Should a deaconess change her mind, believing it to be God's will that she serve in some other sphere apart from the sisterhood, she presented her resignation and received an honorable discharge.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>By the 1950s 62 sisters had become members of the Bethel Deaconess sisterhood, 26 of whom were associated with the sisterhood in 1955. The deaconesses of this institution wore a special garb and were ordained by the church. Each sister had her place in the mother house, received full maintenance, a monthly allowance, an annual vacation, and a vacation allowance. She was expected to remain loyal and faithful to her calling but did not take an oath of celibacy. Should a deaconess change her mind, believing it to be God's will that she serve in some other sphere apart from the sisterhood, she presented her resignation and received an honorable discharge.</div></td></tr>
<!-- diff cache key gameo_wiki:diff::1.12:old-80059:rev-94309 -->
</table>GameoAdminhttps://gameo.org/index.php?title=Deaconess&diff=80059&oldid=prevGameoAdmin: CSV import - 201308202013-08-20T19:10:14Z<p>CSV import - 20130820</p>
<table class="diff diff-contentalign-left diff-editfont-monospace" data-mw="interface">
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<tr class="diff-title" lang="en">
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">Revision as of 19:10, 20 August 2013</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l30" >Line 30:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 30:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The appointment of deaconesses in the [[Mennonite Church (MC)|Mennonite Church (MC)]] varied considerably, although very few congregations had deaconesses. The purpose of female servants in the church was one of good works and counseling rather than of exhortation in the church services. In certain areas, deaconesses were elected by the congregation, in others the church council gave a charge privately, and in still others the work of a deaconess was assumed without any official commission. Also the pledge of loyalty and helpfulness which was required of a deacon's or minister's wife at her husband's ordination has been regarded by some as a commission to the services of deaconess work. In no case was a congregational deaconess in this church given support. Her service was not regarded as a full-time occupation. There is no record of organized deaconess institutions in this Mennonite group. However, the [[Virginia Mennonite Conference (Mennonite Church USA)|Virginia Mennonite Conference]] (MC USA) had some deaconesses. -- LMS</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The appointment of deaconesses in the [[Mennonite Church (MC)|Mennonite Church (MC)]] varied considerably, although very few congregations had deaconesses. The purpose of female servants in the church was one of good works and counseling rather than of exhortation in the church services. In certain areas, deaconesses were elected by the congregation, in others the church council gave a charge privately, and in still others the work of a deaconess was assumed without any official commission. Also the pledge of loyalty and helpfulness which was required of a deacon's or minister's wife at her husband's ordination has been regarded by some as a commission to the services of deaconess work. In no case was a congregational deaconess in this church given support. Her service was not regarded as a full-time occupation. There is no record of organized deaconess institutions in this Mennonite group. However, the [[Virginia Mennonite Conference (Mennonite Church USA)|Virginia Mennonite Conference]] (MC USA) had some deaconesses. -- LMS</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></del></div></td><td colspan="2"> </td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></del></div></td><td colspan="2"> </td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>= Bibliography =</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>= Bibliography =</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>"The Deaconess and Her Ministry," <em>Mennonite Life 3 </em>(January 1948): 30-37. </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>"The Deaconess and Her Ministry," <em>Mennonite Life 3 </em>(January 1948): 30-37. </div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l60" >Line 60:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 58:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Wedel, Cornelius H. and Goerz, David. <em>Zur Diakonissensache, Ein Beitrag zur Kenntnis der weiblichen Diakonie mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Stellung der Mennoniten zu derselben. </em>Newton, Kan. : Bethel College, 1904.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Wedel, Cornelius H. and Goerz, David. <em>Zur Diakonissensache, Ein Beitrag zur Kenntnis der weiblichen Diakonie mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Stellung der Mennoniten zu derselben. </em>Newton, Kan. : Bethel College, 1904.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></del></div></td><td colspan="2"> </td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></del></div></td><td colspan="2"> </td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>{{GAMEO_footer|hp=Vol. 2, pp. 22-25|date=1956|a1_last=Neff|a1_first=Christian|a2_last=Smith|a2_first=Lena Mae}}</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>{{GAMEO_footer|hp=Vol. 2, pp. 22-25|date=1956|a1_last=Neff|a1_first=Christian|a2_last=Smith|a2_first=Lena Mae}}</div></td></tr>
<!-- diff cache key gameo_wiki:diff::1.12:old-63254:rev-80059 -->
</table>GameoAdminhttps://gameo.org/index.php?title=Deaconess&diff=63254&oldid=prevGameoAdmin: CSV import - 201308162013-08-16T19:27:05Z<p>CSV import - 20130816</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>Deaconess is the office in the Christian Church committed to women for the alleviation of physical and spiritual need, especially in the care of the sick. It is of apostolic origin. In Romans 16:1 we read: "I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea." It is possible that Phebe's service was a voluntary work of charity. But 1 Timothy 5:9-10 shows that the early church chose women for church service: "Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man, well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work." <br />
<br />
Among the Anabaptists the deaconess office was always based on the apostolic pattern. [[Elisabeth Dirks (d. 1549)|Elisabeth Dirks]]<em>, </em>the martyr of [[Leeuwarden (Friesland, Netherlands)|Leeuwarden]], was a deaconess. The [[Dordrecht Confession of Faith (Mennonite, 1632)|Dordrecht Confession]]<strong> </strong>of April 1632, Article 9, Section 5 says, "Also that honorable old widows be ordained and chosen as servants, who besides the almoners, are to visit, comfort, and take care of the poor, the weak, the afflicted, and the needy, as also to visit, comfort, and take care of widows and orphans; and further to assist in taking care of any matters in the church that properly come within their sphere, according to their best ability."<br />
<br />
In several Dutch Mennonite congregations the office of deaconess has been preserved from the beginning, for example, at Sneek. In most congregations it continued until the middle of the nineteenth century. Barclay reports that the [[Amsterdam (Noord-Holland, Netherlands)|Amsterdam]] congregation had a deaconess and three deacons, all about 60 years old. "She visited the sick and the feeble, especially the women, and when necessary provided girls to stay with them and help them and if they were poor she furnished support given by those who could afford it, or reported it to the deacons, and she was obeyed as a mother in Israel and a servant of Jesus Christ." This institution influenced the [[Brownists|Brownists]], the Plymouth Brethren, and other English Independents, as well as the entire modern deaconess system. In the Amsterdam Mennonite Church<strong> </strong>there were five deaconesses as recently as the 1950s, one of whom retired each year and was not eligible for reappointment for five years. They were appointed by the church board. In former times only married women or widows could be appointed to this office. In the 1950s two could be unmarried. The term "Mother-Deaconess" was still very commonly used. Similar arrangements existed in other Dutch Mennonite churches, as Haarlem and [[Utrecht (Utrecht, Netherlands)|Utrecht.]]Among the deaconesses there are some who have had training for this vocation. <br />
<br />
The German Mennonite churches also had the office of deaconess for a long time. Gerhard Roosen<em>, </em>the noted preacher of the Hamburg-Altona Mennonite Church, wrote that his grandmother, Rischen Quins (d. 1626), was a deaconess in the congregation for many years during her widowhood; the last deaconess of the congregation was Mayken Govens (d. 1672), the widow of Hans Govens. In [[Danzig (Poland)|Danzig]] the office was maintained even later; the [[Danzig Old Flemish Mennonites|Flemish church]] almost always had a deaconess. The widow Magdalena von Kampen, who was appointed as deaconess in 1788 and served until her death (1810), was the last congregational deaconess among the Mennonites of [[Germany|Germany]]. The small size of the congregations in South Germany apparently made the office of deaconess unnecessary among them; wherever there is today an active deaconess service, it is patterned after the [[Fliedner, Theodor (1800-1864)|Fliedner]] institutions.<br />
<br />
The idea frequently found in Mennonite circles that [[Fliedner, Theodor (1800-1864)|Fliedner]]<em> </em>became acquainted with the office of deaconess among the Dutch Mennonites and simply adopted it is false. When he visited the Amsterdam church to raise funds he became acquainted with a deaconess system that had nearly died out, and was thereby inspired to establish his deaconess system, which developed into a flourishing institution. He wrote, "There are in the Dutch Mennonite churches still some deaconesses who are chosen by the church board, work under it, and are engaged in the care of poor women. They visit the cottages of the poor, distribute the clothing given for that purpose, help the girls get positions as maids. Neither they nor the deacons receive a salary, and are members of the most respected families in the congregation, and therein subject themselves to great sacrifice of time, etc., with great willingness. This laudable primitively Christian institution should be imitated by other Protestant faiths." But Fliedner's creation was something quite different from the Biblical-Mennonite institution of deaconess. Not the single congregation, but in a sense all Protestantism became the bearer of this work of charity. He organized large associations and established "mother houses" to give a thorough training for this vocation. It was imitated on every hand, and everywhere new mother houses arose. In 1836 at Kaiserswerth, Fliedner founded the first modern deaconess home. In 1921 there were over one hundred such homes, with about twenty thousand deaconesses. These deaconess houses bear a denominational stamp. As a rule the sisters take communion in their own mother houses and remain closely attached to them. The conditions set by the deaconess union at Herborn (district of Wiesbaden) with its seat at Berlin, are freer. Its purpose is to provide women without a vocation with vocational training and sure employment for life, thereby also promoting deaconess service. The only qualification for admission is membership in a Protestant church.<br />
<br />
In Germany the [[Verband deutscher Mennonitengemeinden (Federation of Mennonite Churches)|Baden &lt;em&gt;Verband &lt;/em&gt;]]instituted deaconess service among the Mennonites in 1904. While a Mennonite girl was in training in Kaiserswerth in 1894, the publisher of the [[Gemeindeblatt der Mennoniten (Periodical)|&lt;em&gt;Gemeindeblatt&lt;/em&gt; &lt;em&gt;, &lt;/em&gt;]]Ulrich Hege, issued a suggestion that a Mennonite deaconess home be established. This suggestion was never carried out, and the sister in question went to America. Ten years later the matter was presented to the <em>Aeltestenrat </em>of the <em>Verband. </em>In March 1904 it was decided to look for a deaconess home that would be suitable for a Mennonite girl to receive training for the work. The deaconess homes in Strasbourg, Speyer and Karlsruhe all made very favorable replies. The last of these was chosen, because there were already friendly relations between this house and the Mennonites of the <em>Verband </em>and because it was more centrally located. By 1918 six others had received their training there and then served in the hospital at Kochendorf, having lived for six years in Lautenbach near Neckarsulm. With Kochendorf as a center they served in all the South German Mennonite congregations, wherever they were called. They continued to return to the mother house in Karlsruhe when they were needed there and could be spared at home. Two sisters also helped with the nursing of wounded soldiers behind the front in World War I. The management of the work was in the hands of a committee of five brethren. Funds to carry on the work were contributed. No charge was made for nursing care, though the family served, if able to do so, made a contribution.<br />
<br />
Since the Kochendorf hospital could not give the sisters a permanent home, the <em>Verband </em>in 1919 bought a house in Böckingen near Heilbronn as a home for retired sisters. But because of the great shortage in residences, only two sisters had been able to make their home there up to 1921. Later the deaconess work was transferred to the [[Thomashof (Baden-Württemberg, Germany)|Bibelheim Thomashof]] near Karlsruhe. The Deaconess Committee still functioned as of the 1950s, although it was much restricted because of the small number of candidates.<br />
<br />
In 1931 the Bavarian Mennonite relief organization <em>Christenpflicht</em><em>, </em>having received a house in Regensburg for the purpose of deaconess service, established a Mennonite deaconess work there with Sister Elise Hochsteder in charge, under the supervision of die Hensoltshöhe (Middle Franconia) mother house. Because of a lack of Mennonite candidates this work never developed.<br />
<br />
The Mennonites of [[Russia|Russia]] founded a deaconess home of their own called [[Morija Deaconess Home (Neu-Halbstadt, Molotschna Settlement, Ukraine)|Morija]]<em> </em>in [[Neu-Halbstadt (Molotschna Mennonite Settlement, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Neu Halbstadt]] in the [[Molotschna Mennonite Settlement (Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Molotschna settlement]] in Ukraine. It was a private undertaking and was built primarily with the funds furnished by [[Schmidt, Peter (1860-1910)|Peter Schmidt]] of Steinbach. It was supported by voluntary contributions. It was opened on 3 December 1909, for the purpose of training deaconesses and supporting them in sickness and old age. As long as they remained in the association they received their education free of charge and were provided with all other necessities. By 1918, 89 sisters had been received. The [[Russian Revolution and Civil War|Russian Revolution]] brought them a time of suffering; the house was completely plundered. Nevertheless precisely in that time they were able to render a great service in the epidemics and other sicknesses accompanying the disturbances (record of the <em>Bundeskonjerenz </em>held at Lichtenauon 30 June to 2 July 1918, p. 21). -- Neff<br />
<br />
Deaconess work among the Mennonites of America represents the continuation of a practice among the Mennonites of Russia and had its origin among the<strong> </strong>[[General Conference Mennonite Church (GCM)|General Conference Mennonites]]<strong> </strong>in the United States with the work of [[Goerz, David (1849-1914)|David Goerz]]<strong> </strong>of [[Newton (Kansas, USA)|Newton]], [[Kansas (USA)|Kansas]]. He read a paper before the General Conference in [[South Dakota (USA)|South Dakota]] in 1890 in which he warmly advocated the deaconess work as a branch of home missions. In 1893, the General Conference in Ohio discussed the subject again, and the Board of Home Missions received instructions from the conference to further the cause. In 1898, the [[Bethesda Hospital (Goessel, Kansas, USA)|Bethesda Hospital]]<strong> </strong>was erected at [[Goessel (Kansas, USA)|Goessel]], Kansas, and in the next year the conference advised that if local conditions in any community within the conference became acute, the community should act as it seemed best. Bethesda Hospital assumed the responsibility of inaugurating deaconess work.<br />
<br />
In 1900 [[Kaufman, Frieda Marie, Sister (1883-1944) |Frieda Kaufman]]<strong> </strong>offered herself to [[Goerz, David (1849-1914)|Elder David Goerz]] as a candidate for the deaconess cause. He arranged to have her enter [[Bethel College (North Newton, Kansas, USA)|Bethel College]]<strong> </strong>for preparatory study. In 1901 Bethel College made the deaconess cause a part of its program, intending to establish or affiliate with a deaconess institution. In 1902 the Board of Directors of Bethel College made arrangements for deaconess candidates to continue their education for specific service at the interdenominational Deaconess Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio, entering Frieda Kaufman as their first candidate. The following year [[Penner, Martha Richert (1881-1957)|Martha Richert]] enrolled in the same institution. In 1905 [[Voth, Catherine (1878-1926)|Catherine Voth]] was accepted as a candidate and also entered the Deaconess Hospital for a course in nursing. In the same year Ida Epp entered the Evangelical Deaconess Home and Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. Upon completing the two-year course in nursing, Martha Richert was ordained by [[Balzer, Peter (1847-1909)|Elder Peter Balzer]] as a parish deaconess in the[[Alexanderwohl (Molotschna Mennonite Settlement, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Alexanderwohl Church]]<strong> </strong>near Goessel. She served that community as well as the Bethesda Hospital until 1907 when she was married and, with her husband, [[Penner, Peter A. (1871-1949)|Elder P. A. Penner]], went as a missionary to [[India|India]]. Sister Frieda Kaufman, Sister Catherine Voth and Sister Ida Epp were ordained when the [[Bethel Deaconess Hospital (Newton, Kansas, USA)|Bethel Deaconess Hospital]] was dedicated 11 June 1908. They were the first three deaconesses of this mother house.<br />
<br />
By the 1950s 62 sisters had become members of the Bethel Deaconess sisterhood, 26 of whom were associated with the sisterhood in 1955. The deaconesses of this institution wore a special garb and were ordained by the church. Each sister had her place in the mother house, received full maintenance, a monthly allowance, an annual vacation, and a vacation allowance. She was expected to remain loyal and faithful to her calling but did not take an oath of celibacy. Should a deaconess change her mind, believing it to be God's will that she serve in some other sphere apart from the sisterhood, she presented her resignation and received an honorable discharge.<br />
<br />
The Mennonite Deaconess Hospital in [[Beatrice (Nebraska, USA)|Beatrice]], [[Nebraska (USA)|Nebraska]], was dedicated 16 July 1911. Sister Elise Hirschler and Sister Maria Wedel, deaconesses of the [[Western District Conference (Mennonite Church USA)|Western District Conference]], and Sister Katie Penner were the first deaconesses to serve here. Other deaconess candidates furthered their education here and were ordained by the Mennonite Church. Seven deaconesses served in the [[Mennonite Deaconess Home and Hospital (Beatrice, Nebraska, USA) |Mennonite Deaconess Home and Hospital]] in Beatrice in the 1950s.<br />
<br />
The [[Salem Hospital (Hillsboro, Kansas, USA)|Salem Home and Hospital]]<strong> </strong>in Hillsboro, Kansas, was founded by the<strong> </strong>[[Krimmer Mennonite Brethren|Krimmer Mennonite Brethren]] Conference<strong> </strong>in 1918. Several sisters had served as parish deaconesses prior to this but were transferred to the hospital when it was completed. A number of candidates entered for preparatory work and were ordained as deaconesses. They served in the hospital and in the home for aged. The school for both sisters and nurses has been discontinued. In the fall of 1937, the last two of the deaconesses active in the hospital left the work. Two sisters continued in the [[Salem Home for the Aged (Hillsboro, Kansas, USA)|Salem Home for the Aged]] at Hillsboro, Kansas. <br />
<br />
Not all deaconesses of the General Conference Mennonite churches were members of a sisterhood or served in institutions. There also were numerous congregational deaconesses without special training who did not wear a garb and who were elected rather than ordained. The [[Eighth Street Mennonite Church (Goshen, Indiana, USA)|Eighth Street Mennonite Church]]<strong> </strong>of [[Goshen (Indiana, USA)|Goshen]], [[Indiana (USA)|Indiana]], had three deaconesses with duties corresponding to those of a deacon. In the constitution adopted in 1947, their duties were stated as assisting the pastor in caring for the spiritual welfare of the church and the observance of the communion. The deacons and the deaconesses together with the pastor comprised the spiritual council of the church.<br />
<br />
The appointment of deaconesses in the [[Mennonite Church (MC)|Mennonite Church (MC)]] varied considerably, although very few congregations had deaconesses. The purpose of female servants in the church was one of good works and counseling rather than of exhortation in the church services. In certain areas, deaconesses were elected by the congregation, in others the church council gave a charge privately, and in still others the work of a deaconess was assumed without any official commission. Also the pledge of loyalty and helpfulness which was required of a deacon's or minister's wife at her husband's ordination has been regarded by some as a commission to the services of deaconess work. In no case was a congregational deaconess in this church given support. Her service was not regarded as a full-time occupation. There is no record of organized deaconess institutions in this Mennonite group. However, the [[Virginia Mennonite Conference (Mennonite Church USA)|Virginia Mennonite Conference]] (MC USA) had some deaconesses. -- LMS<br />
<br />
<br />
= Bibliography =<br />
"The Deaconess and Her Ministry," <em>Mennonite Life 3 </em>(January 1948): 30-37. <br />
<br />
<em>Doopsgezinde Bijdragen</em>.<em> </em>1890: 112.<br />
<br />
Fliedner, Th. <em>Kollektenreise nach Holland </em>I. 1831: 150 f. <br />
<br />
Friesen, Peter M. <em>Die Alt-Evangelische Mennonitische Brüderschaft in Russland (1789-1910) im Rahmen der mennonitischen Gesamtgeschichte</em>. Halbstadt: Verlagsgesellschaft "Raduga", 1911: 659, II:96.<br />
<br />
Hege, Christian and Christian Neff.<em> Mennonitisches Lexikon</em>, 4 v. Frankfurt &amp; Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe; Schneider, 1913-1967. I: 434. <br />
<br />
Hunsperger, Edna. "The Deaconess Movement in the Mennonite Church," Sociology Seminar, 1948-49, Goshen College Historical Library. Goshen, Ind. : D. Hunsperger, 1949.<br />
<br />
Kaufman, Frieda. <em>Silver Anniversary Memorial: the Bethel Deaconess Home and Hospital, Newton, Kansas [Psalm 115:1].</em> Newton, Kan.: The Hospital, 1933. <br />
<br />
Rues, Simeon Friedrich. <em>Aufrichtige Nachrichten von dem gegenwärtigen Zustande der Mennoniten oder Taufgesinnten : wie auch der Collegianten oder Reinsburger, beyderseits ansehnlicher kirchlicher Gesellschaften in den vereinigten Niderlanden. Samt einer Erzehlung von den Streitigkeiten, in welche dermahlen einige der zuerst benennten verwikelt sind; nebst verschiedenen andern dienlichen Zusäzen</em>. Jena : Verlegts Joh. Rudolph Crökers seel. Wittwe, 1743: 29.<br />
<br />
Scheffer, Jacob Gijsbert de Hoop. <em>Mennonitische Blätter</em>: 1886, 74. <br />
<br />
Schaefer, Th. <em>Die Geschichte der weiblichen Diakonie. </em>Stuttgart: 1879: 74, 86, 213, 289 ff.<br />
<br />
Schijn, Hermann. <em>Historiæ Mennonitarum plenior deductio : in qua de origine, nominibus, differentiis, dogmatibus propriis &amp; peculiaribus, confessionibus, auctoribus, itemque de hodierno in Belgio Fœderato statú eorum Christianorum, qui, à Mennone Simonis Mennonitæ appellantur, fusius agitur. </em>Amstelædami : Apud Jansonio-Waesbergios, 1729: 40. <br />
<br />
Smissen, J. van der. "Bericht zur Feier der Diakoniearbeit des . . . Gemeindeverbands . . . zum 50 jährigen Jubiläum," in <em>Gemeindeblatt der Mennoniten</em> 1-85<em> LXXXV </em>(July 1954): 69-71.<br />
<br />
Stark, Johann August. <em>Geschichte der Taufe und Taufgesinnten. </em>Leipzig : Bey Caspar Fritsch, 1789: 412. <br />
<br />
Wedel, Cornelius H. and Goerz, David. <em>Zur Diakonissensache, Ein Beitrag zur Kenntnis der weiblichen Diakonie mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Stellung der Mennoniten zu derselben. </em>Newton, Kan. : Bethel College, 1904.<br />
<br />
<br />
{{GAMEO_footer|hp=Vol. 2, pp. 22-25|date=1956|a1_last=Neff|a1_first=Christian|a2_last=Smith|a2_first=Lena Mae}}</div>GameoAdmin