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

ribed the confusion of the initial years re- garding the identity of the Mennonite Brethren. One such writer, in part, attributed the problems to the absence of a clear group of leaders.50 Not until June 1865 was there a clearly defined leadership and polity. The Mennonite Brethren had developed considerable ma- turity by the time they assembled on June 26-27, 1865 to re- solve the issues that had troubled the new group since its emergence five years earlier. Peter M, Friesen described this meeting, which began at noon on Saturday and remained in session all night and throughout Sunday, as a day where the "church united for a day of prayer, repentance and fasting.*51 Having survived the initial struggle for the right to exist, as well as the pain of internal aberrations, this "jwit Reform" be- came the beginning of the Mennonite Brethren Church as a functional body, with a defined leadership, authority and polity. The subsequent letter from this body to the government representative can be seen as an official confirmation of the birth. The document reviewed the struggle to survive the per- secutions and oppression from the civil and religious leader- ship of the Mennonite community. It recognized the provi- dence of God who had assigned a place for the Mennonite 14 A PHENOMENON OF RENEWAL Brethren as a renewal movement It expressed deep repen- tance and shame over the failures of those early years; it listed failures in reaction to those who oppressed them and re- solved to order their future according to Scripture.52 It is here where we recognize the historic beginning of the Mennonite Brethren Church. Abraham H. Unruh summa- rized the lessons that the Mennonite Brethren movement learned from these early troubled years: (1) The need for sys- tematic Bible teaching- An overemphasis on the personal ex- periential dimension of salvation-free grace and joy in re- demption-breeds an emotional imbalance that is inconsistent with true discipleship. (2) The importance of mutual admoni- tion to test the spirits whether they are of God (1 John 4:1). (3) The need for leadership with knowledge and commitment to Scripture. (4) The importance of a firm church polity to give direction in questions of faith and life. (5) The centrality of ethics in the expression of a scriptural faith. (6) A form of meaningful worship, consistent with the character of God** The birth of the Mennonite Brethren was significant not only for the emergence of the new group but also for the broader Mennonite church. Robert Kreider noted that the "struggle with basic spi