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

p. Clearly, the process of church renewal depends upon the grace and guidance of our Lord and upon the obedience and commitment of God's people. Faith and life It was the fundamental understanding of Israel that when God spoke there was an effect. By God's Word the world was created. By the word of Yahweh a covenant was made with Israel. Word and deed were inseparable. Words without action were considered disobedience by the prophets and foolishness by the sages. Jesus con- demned the Pharisees for their lack of consistency in knowing and doing. Mere assent to truth without a response in lifestyle leads to a prepositional faith which makes no personal de- mands. A Confession of Faith can become institutional- ized when a considerable gap exists between the profes- sion and the expression of faith. The Mennonite Brethren Church was not born out of commitment to new truths, but out of a concern that one's life should be a true ex- pression of one's faith. The results of the survey point to the following conclu- sions regarding the consistency of faith and practice (as 310 A CALL TO COMMITMENT stated above). 1. There is a continuing, strong affirmation of the basic tenets of the Christian faith among Mennonite Brethren. This is the case regardless of social influences. 2. There is clear evidence of a disparity between faith and practice. This is noticeable particularly in the area of personal piety and social ethics. We submit the following implications from these con- clusions: 1. The first and most appropriate responses to such ev- idence is a celebration of God's faithfulness and a repen- tance for the gap between faith and practice. 2. The Mennonite Brethren Church must develop an extensive program of preaching, teaching and writing re- garding the integration of theology and ethics. Such a thrust must balance the emphasis on evangelism in the past decades. 3. Mennonite Brethren must go beyond conducting business at their conventions and provide a greater focus on faith and discipleship. Jesus called us to radical disci- pleship (Luke 9:23-24). 4. Christian education in bath churches and postsec- ondary institutions must draw out the ethical implications of the gospel for life and vocation. Such themes as sim- plicity of lifestyle need higher visibility in our curricula. If we fail to do so, our ethics will be shaped more by popu- lar culture or by the culture of academia, marketplace and work than the ethic of Jesus. Leadership The Scriptures place responsibility for the spiritual con- dition of God's people upon the le