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

: 1) That our churches heed our Lord's directive for worker recruitment as given in Matthew 9:38, "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth la- borers into his harvest." 2) That local churches seek earnestly the gifts of min- istry in their own ranks, encourage persons possessing the gifts and offer support and assistance in their further train- ing and development. 3) That our theological schools should be supported ac- tively and be encouraged to recruit ministers, pastors and church workers, as the Spirit directs.20 A resolution from the 1981 General Conference directed another appeal to the churches: We urge our congregations to work much more diligently at discerning potential pastors in their midst and at assist- 231 A PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH ing them in the development of their gifts in preparation for ministry within the congregation. We encourage congregations to undertake a study of pas- toral leadership to help them understand the biblical mod- el and function of the pastor21 These concerns were not limited to official resolutions. Between I960 and 1989, no fewer than 110 shorter and longer articles appeared in the conference periodicals, The Christian Leader and Mennonite Brethren Herald, on the question of leadership and the preaching ministry.22 Among the authors were seasoned leaders like Waldo Hiebert, Orlan- do Harms, Henry Schmidt, Frank Peters, John Regehi, Henry Regehr, Henry Brucks and Elmer Martens, Three study con- ferences called by the General Conference Board of Reference and Counsel in 1970, 1980 and 1986 addressed the question of ministry and church polity,23 District and provincial conferences have also wrestled with questions of leadership, In 1983 Marvin Hein presented a study on "The Present State of Leadership in the Pacific District Con- ference." He found that during the 1970s the district imported twenty-eight percent of its pastors from outside the Mennonite Brethren Church, The report of Hein's study concluded: L Some interchange of leaders between districts and ar- eas should be seen as normal and desirable. 2, Importation of pastoral leadership from non-MB ori- gins is not necessarily bad and has its benefits. One ben- efit is that new ideas, methods and practices that can en- rich our church lives are brought to us. A potential prob- lem exists in that non-MB-origin leaders may not under- stand our doctrine and practices well enough to prevent tension in the churches. A greater diversity of theology and practice may also result in the district, 3* Our goal should be to produce