Hutterite Church

Hutterites

Hutterite women at work
Total population
45,000+ (2016)
Founder
Jakob Hutter
Regions with significant populations
North America (notably South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Manitoba, and Alberta)
Religions
Anabaptist
Scriptures
The Bible
Languages
Bernese German, Hutterite German, Low Alemannic Alsatian German, English

Hutterites (German: Hutterer) are an ethnoreligious group that is a communal branch of Anabaptists who, like the Amish and Mennonites, trace their roots to the Radical Reformation of the 16th century.

The founder of the Hutterites, Jakob Hutter, "established the Hutterite colonies on the basis of the Schleitheim Confession, a classic Anabaptist statement of faith", with the first communes being formed in 1528. Since the death of their eponym Jakob Hutter in 1536, the beliefs of the Hutterites, especially living in a community of goods and absolute pacifism, have resulted in hundreds of years of diaspora in many countries. They embarked on a series of migrations through central and eastern Europe. Nearly extinct by the 18th and 19th centuries, the Hutterites found a new home in North America. Over 130 years, their population recovered from 400 to around 45,000. Today, most Hutterites live in Western Canada and the upper Great Plains of the United States.

Originating in the Austrian province of Tyrol in the 16th century, the forerunners of the Hutterites migrated to Moravia to escape persecution. There, under the leadership of Jakob Hutter, they developed the communal form of living based on the New Testament books of the Acts of the Apostles (Chapters 2 (especially Verse 44), 4, and 5) and 2 Corinthians—which distinguishes them from other Anabaptists such as the Amish and Mennonites. Their first community settlements were known as Haushaben or Bruderhofs.