Neuenschwander Mennonite Church (Berne, Indiana, USA)
The Neuenschwander Mennonite Church was located at Berne, Indiana. Peter M. Neuenschwander (1854-1946) was ordained to the ministry at the age of 17 at Moron in the Bernese Jura. In 1876 he came with his parents and other families to the United States, settling near Berne, and became an assistant minister in the church there. In 1879, when a large meetinghouse was built, he and several other families withdrew from this church and formed a congregation which was allied throughout its existence with the loosely organized Conference of Swiss Congregations. The reason for Neuenschwander's withdrawal from the larger church was the liberal practice of the other ministers in dress and church policy. In 1883 Peter M. Neuenschwander was ordained a bishop of the Neuenschwander Church by Bishop Christian Sommer of the Sonnenberg Mennonite Church. The group met in a small church located about half a mile (one km) west of Berne, and for many years resisted modern innovations such as automobiles and electricity. The aged bishop preached every other Sunday to his small flock until 1944. The group was served occasionally by ministers from Sonnenberg until about 1950, when the remaining few members joined other Mennonite churches in the vicinity.
Bibliography
Gratz, Delbert L. Bernese Anabaptists and their American descendants. Goshen, IN: Mennonite Historical Society, 1953. Reprinted Elverson, PA: Old Springfield Shoppe, 1994: 155.
Sprunger, Eva F. The First Hundred Years. Berne, IN, 1938: 222-223.
| Author(s) | Delbert L Gratz |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1957 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Gratz, Delbert L. "Neuenschwander Mennonite Church (Berne, Indiana, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1957. Web. 20 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Neuenschwander_Mennonite_Church_(Berne,_Indiana,_USA)&oldid=76171.
APA style
Gratz, Delbert L. (1957). Neuenschwander Mennonite Church (Berne, Indiana, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 20 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Neuenschwander_Mennonite_Church_(Berne,_Indiana,_USA)&oldid=76171.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 848. All rights reserved.
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