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

n some countries for decades without producing a viable indigenous church with national leader- ship. A few years ago Decision magazine carried an article enti- tled "Bavarian Mennonite Brethren Conference Continues to Grow."23 In reality, however, there was only one Mennonite Brethren church registered with a membership of forty-five; the other six churches referred to were small fellowships with memberships of twenty-six, seventeen, fifteen, thirteen, eight and five. The national leadership mentioned in the article had not emerged from the respective communities but had been recruited by the missionaries and subsidized from the North American office. Yet the article suggested seven viable churches organized into a viable conference. The projected public image did not entirely square with the reality of the sit- uation. Moreover, the leaders in Bavaria were themselves private- ly expressing misgivings about the absence of independent national churches. They noted that the situation in Bavaria following World War II was favorable to missionary activity. The population was growing. There were many refugees 269 A PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH "open and searching for fellowship." People did join the young Mennonite Brethren churches but they "officially re- mained in their respective churches and have not remained true to our fellowship. The open church policy where mem- bers and non-members made decisions concerning the life of the church did not work out favorably." Also troubling was the apparent lack of agreement between the North American workers on various theological issues. aThe missionaries of- fered no consistent position in relation to the teachings of Catholicism and the Lutheran Reformed Church. They also lacked a clear position with regard to sectarianism, the charis- matic movement and the position of women in the church." The consequence of the lack of unity among the missionaries was that "the believers did not receive the needed instruc- tions. The testimony of the church in the community was weakened."* While "bandwagon" reporting may prove profitable for fundraising, the reality is distorted. The churches at home do not receive an accurate picture of what is actually happening in the mission they are asked to support MISSION STRATEGY Strategy is fundamental if mission is to achieve its goals. Anthropologist Jacob A. Loewen distinguishes three basic strategies for cross-cultural mission: soul winning, self-replica- tion and the catalyst.25 The Mennonite Brethren mission has followed a strategy that incorporates the first two: Soul win- ning and self-re