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

gnetic center for those who called themselves 'brethren1 long before the Mennonite Brethren Church was organized. Many members of other Mennonite congregations formally joined Gnadenfeld because they sympathized with its position."53 During this time there also sprang up private study groups interested in outreach. These included mission sewing circles, Bible studies and peri- odic mission festivals, all of which generated considerable op- position. In 1845, Eduard WOst, a Lutheran Pietist from WO item- berg, Germany, came on the scene.54 A frequent preacher at the mission festivals in Gnadenfeld, his powerful messages fanned the flame of revival. Wust's ministry, though brief (he died in 1858), made a significant contribution to the renewal movement. Peter M. Friesen's statement-^Next to God's Word and his spirit, Merino and Wust have actually made the Men- nonite Brethren Church what it is and will be in the church of Christy-overstated Wiist's historic significance. To be sure, his emphasis on a personal salvation experience and mission was important for the renewal movement. His ministry did not, however, provide a biblical theology of the church and the pathway of discipleship. The absence of these founda- 10 A PHENOMENON OF RENEWAL tions in the renewal movements prior to I860 was a major factor in the struggles during the initial years of the Mennonite Brethren movement,36 According to John A. Toews, Wiist was a ""Moses* who led many people out of the bondage of a life- less tradition and dead orthodoxy to a joyous assurance of a personal faith. But by training and experience he was not equipped to be the 'Joshua1 to lead these redeemed people into the promised land of a believers church.*3* Reports of the renewal movement in Neu Kronsweide, Chortitza, in 1853 illustrated the distortion that can result when personal salvation is stressed without corresponding emphasis on the biblical implications for a life of faith. The church there, under the jurisdiction of Elder Jakob Hildebrand (1795-1867), experienced a spiritual revival. Komelius Hilde- brand, son of Elder Hildebrand, recounted the events and ex- pression of the movement. He reported that his father "re- joiced with the newly converted, who openly declared the as- surance of forgiveness of sin in the blood of Jesus and hoped that these people would become the salt of the church, "M The younger Hildebrand expressed his father's satisfaction that the adherents of this group were the most ardent church- goers. "Apparently they sought to translate their Christianity into practice and to