The Berne Evangelical Mennonite Church is located four miles (6 1/2 km) west and one-half mile (one km) north of Berne, Indiana. This congregation was the first in the Defenseless Conference to build a church. The church, built in 1871 by Bishop Henry Egly, the founder of the Defenseless Mennonite Church, was replaced by a larger one in 1881. This building, remodeled in 1937 and again in 1948, had a seating capacity of 350. The membership in 1951 was 250.

In 1880 the church experienced a great revival, 75 converts being baptized and added to the church. It observed its seventy-fifth anniversary on 24 November 1946. Pastors who served the church through 1951 included Bishop Henry Egly (founder), Joseph Egly, Christ Egly (sons of the founder), Moses Rupp, David Schindler, C. N. Stucky, Eli Lantz, E. M. Becker, Henry Klopfenstein, and N. J. Schmucker, pastor beginning 1935.

Additional Information

Berne Evangelical Mennonite Church website

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, p. 298. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

©1996-2008 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.

To cite this page:

MLA style: Schmucker, N. J. "Berne Evangelical Mennonite Church (Berne, Indiana, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1953. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 23 July 2008 <http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/B4763.html>

APA style: Schmucker, N. J. (1953). "Berne Evangelical Mennonite Church (Berne, Indiana, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 23 July 2008 <http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/B4763.html>