Dirk Philips and the teaching of a gathered church

Dirk Philips was born at Leeuwarden in 1504 and was the younger brother of Obbe Philips. He joined the Anabaptist movement in the winter of 1533–1534 and later worked as an elder in the northern Netherlands, East Friesland, and northern Germany. The supplied chart also associates Dirk and Menno Simons with the organization of congregations in the Danzig–Prussian region.

His writings addressed baptism, communion, the incarnation, new birth, the ministry, marriage, and church discipline. Many were collected in the Enchiridion, or Handbook, in 1564. Philips emphasized obedience to Scripture and a visible fellowship whose members should live consistently with their confession. The application of the ban and shunning became a central concern in his work and in the disagreements among later Dutch groups. He died near Emden in 1568.