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

ing and practice within the Mennonite fellowship without dis- claiming the common heritage of the sbaeenth-century An- abaptist movement.24 But in North America the old tensions still simmered, Mennonite Brethren persisted in identifying the General Con- ference Mennonites with the Kirchliche Gemeinde in Russia, Though historically incorrect (the GC church began in North America in I860, the same year as the founding of the MB), this was for them a circumstantial deduction. When renewals in General Conference circles brought members into new Mennonite Brethren congregations, the belief grew that the Russian experience was being repeated, The French Creek renewal movement near Hillsboro, Kansas, created new stress, A group from this community, in- cluding some leaders of the Johannesthal General Conference congregation, became the founders of the Hillsboro Menno- nite Brethren Church in 1880- 1882. 25 Cornelius P. Wedel, a minister from the Alexanderwohl General Conference congre- gation in Goessel, along with a group of people from that fel- lowship, founded the Goessel Mennonite Brethren Church in 1881. One of his sons, Cornelius H. Wedel, became the presi- dent of Bethel, a General Conference college. The second son, Peter H. Wedel, was a very effective evangelist who preached renewal and the need for conversion among Men- nonites and became the first Mennonite Brethren missionary to Cameroon in Africa.26 The birth of the Mennonite Brethren Church in Canada in 1886 was the fruit of the evangelistic ministry of Heinrich Voth, a Mennonite Brethren from Minnesota, who worked diligently among the Mennonite communities in southern Manitoba. He experienced much opposition there from Old Colony Mennonites, Events leading to the organization of the first Mennonite Brethren Church at Burwalde, near Winkler, 161 A PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH Manitoba, produced considerable tension. In many cases, the continued growth of Mennonite Brethren churches in Canada and the United States came from other Mennonites who expe- rienced personal conversion, were rebaptized and joined the Mennonite Brethren.27 RENEWAL IN THE BROADER MENNONITE COMMUNITY It must be noted that renewal focusing on repentance and conversion was not unique to the Mennonite Brethren in North America, History records a broad stream of identical concern elsewhere, Martin Boehm (1725-1812), with his evangelistic fervor in Pennsylvania, brought to life the Brethren in Christ (River Brethren) in 1770, The Church of God in Christ Mennonite group was a renewal movement un- der the leadership of John Holdeman, John F. Funk