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

uences. 2. "There is clear evidence of a disparity between faith and practice. This is noticeable particularly in the area of per- sonal piety and social ethics."16 A number of persons in Mennonite Brethren leadership positions participated in evaluating the data from the 1985 survey. John Redekop, political science professor, reflecting on the "Influence of Rising Educational Levels," expressed the hope that Mennonite Brethren with higher levels of education may be able to help the brotherhood formulate and adhere to a set of ethical principles based essentially on Biblical im- peratives. But in order to have credibility, they may need to take more seriously certain traditional Mennonite Brethren ethical norms which, according to the data, are now being increasingly set aside. The stretching of liberty weakens credibility. In order to overcome accusations of 'cheap grace-right belief is easy-words must be sustained by action. This admonition applies to all members, regardless of educa- tional level In all ethical assessments, the brotherhood must determine what is essential and it must also address the problem of superficial compliance which may be 307 A PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH nothing more than lingering conformity/9 Roland Reimer, a veteran pastor and district minister of the Southern District, lamented the fact that "the trends per- ceived in our congregational life have brought about increas- ing tensions between our belief system and our patterns of behavior," It was his observation that the gap between faith and practice was growing wider. The data reflected "increas- ing diversity of faith and behavior in congregations and be- tween countries (U.S. and Canada), some more and others less compatible with the historic faith and practices of the Mennonite Brethren Church and its current Confession of Faith:*20 Abe Dueck, for many years professor at the Mennonite Brethren Bible College in Winnipeg, found "disturbing" the findings in the 1972 profile that whiie the Mennonite Brethren ranked highest of the various Mennonite groups on devodon- alismr they ranked lowest in the area of social concern. In the area of stewardship there seemed to be "a general erosion of communal discipline. . . . Individualism is on the in- crease."21 Several important reflections were given by John E. Toews, professor of New Testament at the Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary. In summary the "feeling tone" of Mennonite Brethren piety was more positive, but the more objective criteria of authentic piety-conversion, Bible knowledge, evangelism, service-showed clear signs