BC Synod - ELCIC: Our Bishop

Bishop Gerhard Alois Preibisch

Gerhard Alois Preibisch was born in Lotz, Poland in 1942. At the age of two, Gerhard and his family were uprooted and forced to flee the country. In the spring of 1945, his mother, he and two older sisters arrived as refugees in Germany, searching for their father. The family were reunited in 1948 and in 1953 emigrated to Canada. They made their home in Rosthern, Saskatchewan.

After his father's untimely death in 1954 and his mother's remarriage in 1957, the family moved to Medicine Hat, Alberta where Gerhard affirmed his baptism and attended junior and senior high school. After grade eleven, he interrupted his education, working for several years in construction, a brick plant and operating his own business.

In 1965, in response to God's call to the ordained ministry, he attended Luther College in Regina, Saskatchewan where he completed high school. In 1966, Winnifred Jacob and he were married. The marriage has been blessed with four children, Cathy, Kerry, Paul and Pamela. Winn, an active partner in ministry, attended the Canadian Lutheran Bible Institute in Camrose, Alberta and is a trained parish worker

In 1969, Gerhard received his Bachelor of Arts and Science degree from the University of Saskatchewan, at Saskatoon. After receiving a Master of Divinity degree from Lutheran Theological Seminary at Saskatoon in 1972, he interned at Martin Luther Lutheran Church in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Gerhard's mother died tragically in an automobile accident a year before his ordination. He was ordained in Medicine Hat, Alberta in July of 1973. From 1973 to 1979, he served a two-point parish in Saskatchewan: St. John's Lutheran Church, Strasbourg, and Norrona Lutheran near Bulyea. From 1979 to 1988 he served as senior pastor at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

From September 1988 until September 2001 he served Christ Lutheran Church in Chilliwack, B.C. During this time, he also served as back-up Protestant chaplain for Corrections Canada at Mountain, Kent, and Matsqui Institutions in the Fraser Valley. In September of 2001 Gerhard was appointed to serve as acting Bishop of the British Columbia Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.

On June 7, 2002, Gerhard was ordained as Bishop of the British Columbia Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.

Gerhard's commitment to the national church and the synod has been expressed over the years as:

- Bishop, British Columbia Synod, ELCIC

- Acting Bishop, BC Synod ELCIC

- Vice chairperson of the BC Synod

- a member of the national working group for Missions.

- a member of synod council

- chairperson of the National Working Group for World Mission

- a board member and chairperson of the Division for World Mission,

- as board member and treasurer of Canadian Lutheran World Relief

- a member of the Merger Task Force for Church and Society,

- chairperson of Forward in Mission,

- a board member and chairperson of the ELCC Division of Social Service

Gerhard has also served as board member and chairperson of the Strasbourg and District Health Centre, as well as other community activities, such as coaching an elementary-age girls' baseball team.

His hobbies include gardening, wood working, reading and playing bridge.