A Pilgrimage Of Faith, J.B. Toews, 1993

to a new life have left the Men- nonite churches? Does not the Mennonite Brethren Church in its confession [1902] stress: "that their organiza- tion does not annul the Confession of Faith of other An- abaptist Mennonites in Russia, but that they protest against the church practices of these churches? All preaching and writing against "separation" will remain fruitless since the Bible under certain circumstances, commands separation (2 Cor. 6:14ff).8 The growth of the Mennonite Brethren came from the re- newal movement within the old church in Russia as well as in North America. The beginning of the Mennonite Brethren churches in Hillsboro and Goessel, Kansas, in 1880 and 1882 followed the pattern of I860. Groups of people who were converted in the French Creek and the Alexanderwohl Men- nonite churches did not find nurture in existing congrega- tions.9 Nineteenth-century Mennonitism, in both Russia and North America, hungered for a new vitality, an energizing piety, more intentional conversion and a renewed disciple- ship. In Russia P.M. Friesen thought that "the good house of Menno had become practically desolate and empty and was about to collapse/'10 The old church, however, resisted the new currents sweeping through the Russian Mennonite colonies. Secession rather than reform, schism rather than co- 135 A PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH operation became necessary as the differing currents carried Mennonites towards differing kinds of faith understandings. For the Mennonite Brethren, being born again of the Spirit was a requirement for biblical faith. They hungered for a per- sonal experience of salvation that stood in contrast to what they thought had become a Volkskirche. Human Failure and God's Mercy The Mennonite Brethren were not without blemish in their departure from the institutional church. Their sweeping condemnation of the old church in the secession document reflected a judgmental spirit that came to typify them in the early days. This spirit of judgment was fed by the addition of other disgruntled defectors from the old church. No doubt this self-righteous "holier than thou" attitude has been a griev- ance to the Holy Spirit. Even so the Mennonite Brethren Church by the beginning of the twentieth century encom- passed nearly twenty-five percent of all the Mennonites in Russia/1 In North America they grew from a small nucleus of two hundred in 1875 to 4,700 by 1909- 12 Their commitment to nurturing the inner life in Bible studies, worship, fellowship and discipline attracted other Mennonites who found new life in personal conversion. In the