 In 1830, he was added as the second bishop of the Diocese of Tromsø.He was a bishop in the Church of Norway for twenty-seven years; first in Tromsø from 1830 to 1848 and later in the Diocese of Bjørgvin from 1848 to 1857.Peder Kjerschow married Johanne Benedicte Collett (1802–1851), daughter of mining director Christian Ancher Collett and cousin of Peter Jonas and Johan Christian Collett.