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

person would give an overview of the passage and put it into context. Then the men would seek to expound the Scripture verse by verse. The women were usually silent listeners. The meaning of the passage for individual faith and life received major emphasis. Prayer fol- lowed some forty minutes of Bible study, with a strong focus on relating the truth gleaned from Scripture to the believer's life. Usually many participated in such prayer sessions. An- other song, from memory, brought the meeting to a closed The Bible study conferences {Bibelbetfyrechungeri) were held in the assembly houses (Versammlungsbatis)* The min- isters-teachers of the Wordr-and brothers and sisters from the neighboring congregations would assemble for a study con- ference lasting from three days to a week. A leading minister led the discussions. They studied a longer portion of Scrip- ture, possibly several chapters from a book in the New Testa- ment or one of the Epistles. A minister provided a general in- troduction, placing the scriptural passage into its historical and exegetical context. The ministers, alternating between them- selves, interpreted its meaning and particularly sought out the implications for the life of the believers, Participation from all present was constandy encouraged. These study conferences were coordinated to occur at spaced intervals in various localities to enable members to at- tend a series of such events each yean Such participation in the study of the Word provided an effective training in biblical interpretation for the members of the fellowship and those chosen from their midst to be teachers of the Word. The Bible study hour, so basic for the life of the move- ment in Russia and North America, remained at the heart of the Mennonite Brethren fellowship even beyond 1910. Among the congregations coming out of Russia to Western Europe in recent years, this practice continues to be a vital source of spiritual nurture and edification. 27 CHAPTER 3 The Mennonite Brethren Understanding of Salvation and Baptism A central concern in the Mennonite Brethren move- ment was the salvation of the individual in a per- sonal experience of repentance, conversion and new birth. When the German sociologist Ernst Troeltsch articulated his concept of a sect he could well have been describing the theological character of the Mennonite Brethren: "The sect is a voluntary society, composed of strict and definite Christian believers bound to each other by the fact that all have experienced 'the new birth'."1 Nineteenth- century historian Max Gobel characterized