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

stantism. The vision statement presented to the Men- nonite Brethren Conference in 1990 is a call for reexamina- tion, reorientation, affirmation and recommitment. Perhaps this statement could be seen as a parallel of the words to the angel of the church of Ephesus (Rev. 2:1-7) which recognized the many good works of the church but nonetheless called for repentance because they had abandoned their first love. 281 A PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH "Repent, and do the first works" (ySX What does it mean, as we approach the threshold of the twenty-first century, to be the Mennonite Brethren people of God? To answer that question we must look at our crisis of identity from a threefold perspective: 1. Contending for the Faith Qude 3); 2. Wrestling against principalities and powers (Eph. 6:12); 3. Examining whether we are in the faith (2 Cor. 13:5). CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH Mennonite Brethren in North America are highly cog- nizant of the revolutionary cultural changes that followed the Second World War. The traditional way to address these changes has been to draw leaders together in a study confer- ence to examine the church's scriptural understanding in the face of social and religious shifts. The study conference has been one of the ways by which Mennonite Brethren have contended for the faith. In the post-war era fourteen such conferences have been held by the General Conference and many more at other conference levels,3 Bland as they may sound, study conferences have pro- vided an important mechanism to tap into the consciousness of the constituency and attempt to forge a biblical consensus on important issues. The process for these events has largely been the same. Pastors or teachers in the various denomina- tional schools wrote the study papers on specific subjects un- der examination. The papers were then distributed for evalu- ation to the participants representing area conferences and churches. There the papers were examined for their consis- tency with Mennonite Brethren scriptural understanding. Lat- er, the papers would be further studied, discussed and possi- bly revised at a public assembly of representative leaders. The results of these studies were frequendy brought in the form of resolutions to conferences for possible adoption. 282 FAITH IN TENSION The fact that this thorough and sometimes tedious process has been followed with such frequency and regularity bears important testimony to the seriousness with which Men- nonite Brethren took cultural change and its possible effects on basic principles of faith, polity and lifestyle, A