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

and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations" (Man. 28:18-19). In a culture of rampant individualism and pragmatism, Mennonite Brethren along with other believers need to contin- ually reevaluate their commitment to and practice of mission. The Lausanne Covenant, adopted in 1974 at an international gathering of evangelicals, suggested the basic principles for such an ongoing evaluation: (1) Is the mission characterized by a life of discipleship and self-denial? (2) Is the message one that transforms persons; does it imply judgment on every form of alienation, oppression and discrimination, denouncing evil and injustice wherever they exist? (3) Is the mission enter- prise and its growing partnership of churches continuously seeking to reflect the true character of Christ's church?2 Most Mennonite Brethren today would affirm these principles. For the early Mennonite Brethren, missionary outreach was spontaneous; they had no explicit theology of mission. Their general motivation was simple: millions had never heard the gospel, and needed to hear It was their task as followers of 261 A PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH Christ to make known the salvation of God, Some of the most gifted missionaries would not even wait on the readiness of the Mennonite Brethren Conference to officially send them. They were convinced God was sending them and would provide for their needs. During the first fifty years of Mennonite Brethren missions the administrative structure was limited to a church at home that recognized the various mission interests and assured those that went of the needed support.3 The target of missions from 1890 to the 1950s were the poor who had never heard-in North America the native Americans, in India the outcasts, in Africa the tribal people of the interior, in Colombia the people along the San Juan River, and in Paraguay the nomadic Indian tribes of the Chaco. During the late nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth reports from missionaries provided a major part of the content of the early denominational periodicals. Few Mennonite Brethren would have disagreed with David J, Hes- selgrave's assertion that Christian mission is the greatest enter- prise on earth: conceived in heaven, with its final outcome anchored in the redemptive purpose of God.4 Mennonite Brethren Missions, 1950-1990 Rapid changes in the second half of the twentieth century profoundly affected the character, strategy, methods and rela- tionships of Mennonite Brethren missions. Between 1945 and 1990 the tradition of Western colonialism was seriously chal- lenged