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

world cannot be maintained by cultural isolation. Today more than ever before, Mennonite Brethren find themselves card-carrying citi- zens of the modern world. Critical in their struggle against principalities and powers is the ability to discern between good and evil. The coming Messiah in the prophetic vision of 293 A PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH Isaiah is described as one who would "know to refuse the evil, and choose the good" (Is. 7:15). The young King Solomon, overwhelmed by the magnitude of his assignment, prayed for the gift "that I may discern between good and bad" (1 Kings 3:9). The Old Testament concludes with a descrip- tion of the people of God who discern between the righteous and the wicked, those who serve God and those who serve him not (Mai. 3:16-18). The Book of Hebrews exhorts the church towards maturity "who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil" (Heb. 5:14). Discerning the spirits, one of the gifts to the church (1 Cor. 12:10), becomes a special need in the context of change and religious pluralism. The relativistic and pluralistic spirit of our day cannot be brushed off as a passing phenomenon. The church must rec- ognize it as a force that endangers the very foundations of its calling. Identifying with a culture that removes the absolutes rooted in the character of God, expressed in the redemption through Jesus Christ and recorded in Scripture, presents a greater danger for the church than all the centuries of perse- cutions of the past. EXAMINING WHETHER WE ARE IN THE FAITH An inter-Mennonite church membership survey in 197228 revealed trends among Mennonite Brethren that gave cause for concern. With the encouragement of the Mennonite Brethren Board of Spiritual and Social Concerns in Canada and the Board of Reference and Counsel of the General Con- ference, the Historical Commission of the General Conference conducted a second membership study of its own in 1982, with only Mennonite Brethren churches participating. The re- sults were published in Direction.19 A follow-up study of the original five Mennonite denom- inations was conducted in 1989 to chart the changes that had occurred during the interval.30 In general the 1989 profile af- 294 FAITH IN TENSION firmed the observations emerging from the 1982 Mennonite Brethren profile. These studies show that seventy-three percent of Menno- nite Brethren live in urban centers. The rapidity of change from the rural to the urban environment begs the question, to what degree have Mennonite Brethren retained a rural mind- set in th