One of the most influential elders among the Brethren in the first half of the 1800s was George Hoke (1783-1861).  Though not as much is known about Hoke as those who came shortly after him, like Henry Kurtz, John Kline, and Peter Nead, he played significant roles in the church in northeastern Ohio.  He even has a personal connection with me!  He pastored congregations in which my ancestors were members and even officiated the wedding of at least one of my Stoffer ancestors.

Born in Pennsylvania, Hoke moved to Mahoning County, Ohio, where he married Christina Mellinger in 1805.  He was called to the ministry around 1812 and ordained as an elder of the Mill Creek congregation in Mahoning County around 1822.  While still serving the Mill Creek congregation, he also was the presiding elder over the newly organized Canton congregation in 1826.  It is here that Henry Kurtz met Hoke and learned more about Brethren beliefs and practices.  Hoke, in fact, baptized Kurtz in 1828 and officiated at his ordination as an elder. Hoke moved to the East Nimishillen congregation in 1844 and then moved further west, spending his last nine years in the Dickey congregation in Ashland County, Ohio.

Hoke’s significance for the wider church between the 1830s and 1850s is reflected in the roles he played in Annual Meeting.  He was first mentioned in the minutes of Annual Meeting in 1837.  Over the next twenty-two years he was listed as a member of the committee of elders or Standing Committee no less than nineteen times and served as the moderator in 1846-1856 and 1858.  It was during this time that Standing Committee evolved into an entity with greater power to frame the agenda for Annual Meeting and guide its deliberations.  It also should be noted that these years saw the gradual acceptance of Henry Kurtz’s rather controversial publication of the Gospel Visitor, the first paper published in the interests of the German Baptist Brethren.

The one document written by Hoke that has survived was notes that he had prepared arguing for the distinction between the offices of deacon and minister/elder (see the photo of these notes found in Holsinger’s History).  Prior to this time, a deacon was viewed as a kind of first degree of ministry in a process that would lead next to minister and then elder.  His arguments led the church to separate deacon from this process and designate the deaconate as a separate office.  For a period of time after this, the German Baptist Brethren utilized a three-degree ministry: the first degree was a minister “on trial,” to determine his readiness for ministry; the second degree affirmed his calling as a minister; the third degree was the ordination to the eldership.  One of the changes adopted by the newly formed Brethren Church after the division of the early 1880s was the discontinuation of the three-degree ministry with some districts adopting either a single “degree,” election as an elder, or two steps, a minister “on trial” and then ordination as an elder.  It would not be until 1934 that the entire church adopted the process of calling a person to the ministry as a licensed minister to be followed, upon further examination, to ordination as an elder.