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

the Anabaptist movement in a way that also applied to the Mennonite Brethren: 'The essential and distinguishing characteristic of this church is its great emphasis upon the actual personal con- version and regeneration of every Christian through the Holy Spirit."2 Historically the Mennonite Brethren have their roots in the Dutch-Russian stream of Anabaptism, among whom personal experiential conversion was prominent* Cornelius J. Dyck observed that the conversion experience of Menno "is differ- ent from what we find in Swiss Anabaptism and tends to fit into the classical Protestant and later Pietist models Conver- sion changed the direction of life, and refocused commitment, all of which are central to the biblical meaning of conversion as described in Matthew 1315 and 2 Corinthians 5:17-20. Dyck states that "clearly, the new creature is the sine qua non [essential characteristic! of the church of the restitution as 29 A PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH Menno envisioned it/5 But the desire to recapture the fundamental belief and ex- perience of their forebears did not alone explain the view of salvation that overtook the Mennonite Brethren, Their state- ment in the I860 secession document-"In the articles, we are in agreement with our dear Menno, according to our convic- tions from the Holy Scripture" -provided only a partial expla- nation- Nor did the influence of Pietism, with its strong em- phasis on repentance, conversion and the new birth7, com- plete the explanation. The main source of their understand- ing of salvation was Scripture itself Their bibliocentric orientation enabled the Mennonite Brethren to retrieve a lapsed doctrine from their own Anabap- tist history and affirm again their forebears' understanding of personal salvation. Terms reflecting this understanding spoke of becoming "renewed/ "justified," "regenerated "born anew" and "transplanted."8 This new awareness of the mean- ing of salvation helped them restore the historic Anabaptist linkage of inward renewal with membership in the corporate body of believers. Myron Augsburger's mid-twentieth century statement that for the Anabaptists conversion and church membership were "cause and effect"9 was understood among the early Mennonite Brethren. THE VIEW OF SALVATION REFLECTED IN THE CONFESSION OF FAITH The Mennonite Brethren statement on salvation in the 1902 Confession of Faith, translated into English in 1917, be- gan with the focus on humanity's lost condition under the "curse of eternal death, the wages of sin and the wrath of God" and an emphasis on the sufficiency of the atoning sacri- fice of Jesu