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

idified, the school also began a move 185 A PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH toward a distinct Anabaptist/Mennonite Brethren identity. The 1966- 1967 catalog identified the seminary as a gradu- ate school with a biblical theology emphasis, The 1967-1968 year expanded its identity as being a graduate school of bibli- cal theology, with a Christian experiential focus, and an An- abaptist understanding of ecclesiology. The Anabaptist identi- fication helped reopen conversations between the U.S. and Canadian conferences which led to the full integration of the- ological education at the General Conference level. The Canadians, who had observers on the administrative board for some years, officially became co-owners in 1975. Being identified as Anabaptist, however, does not mean the process of ''becoming'* has been fully realteed. To fashion a distinctly Anabaptist seminary that is distinct from the model of the mainline denominational and evangelical seminaries re- quires continuous innovative thinking. Most of the pressures on institutions are towards conformity rather than articulating a distinctive denominational position. A graduate school de- pendent on the broad literary resources of contemporary scholarship with limited sources of Anabaptist literature, faces a continuous task of biblical interpretation to focus the distinct understanding and application of Scripture in the light of pre- sent realities. The Mennonite Brethren Church, with a world-wide con- stituency in an age of religious pluralism, cannot continue to sustain itself with an implicit, experiential theology. The chal- lenge for Mennonite Brethren as the twenty -first century nears, is to renew the process of a community hermeneutics to interpret their faith and life in the context of modernity. The seminary, together with conference leadership, will need to accept major responsibility for this vital process. OBSERVATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS Education has been central in the life of the Mennonite Brethren Church in North America. James DeForest Murch 186 MENNONITE BRETHREN EDUCATION has identified the importance of education in his book Teach or Perish: An Imperative for Christian Education at the Local Church Level The process of education requires a continu- ous re-examination to remain faithful to the unchanging Word in a rapidly changing world. "The Church's paramount need is to become aware of the changed world situation in which it functions. It must then reorientate its educational function to the modern cultural situation in such a manner as to achieve more realistically and effectively its God-given pu