Page:Mennonite Handbook of Information 1925.djvu/74

 Iowa and Illinois, and still later reinforced by several thousand Russian Mennonites who came to America in the early seventies. The present strength of this church is rated at about 136 ministers and 20,000 members.

5. Church of God in Christ, Mennonite—organized by John Holdeman in 1859. The present strength of this church is rated at 5 bishops, 48 ministers, 19 deacons, and 2100 members.

6. Defenceless Mennonites—organized in 1866 by Henry Egli, an Amish Mennonite minister in Indiana. Present statistics give the strength of this church as follows: bishops, 7; ministers, 18; deacons, 19; members, 1040.

7. Wisler Mennonites—organized in 1871 by Jacob Wisler and others, in Indiana, and later reinforced by a number of congregations in Ontario, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Latest statistics available assign this church the following strength: bishops, 11; ministers, 34; deacons, 22; members, 1940.

8. Mennonite Brethren in Christ—organized in 1883 by Daniel Brenneman, Solomon Eby, William Gehman, and others; being a union of "Evangelical Mennonites of Eastern Pennsylvania," who had withdrawn from the Oberholtzer faction in 1859, the "Reformed Mennonites" in Indiana who had withdrawn from the Mennonite Church in 1874, the "Evangelical Mennonites" in Canada, and the "Brethren in Christ" in Ohio. This church is credited with 31 bishops, 148 ministers, and 7587 members.

9. Central Illinois Conference of Mennonites—also known as "Stuckey Mennonites," organized by