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

ite church mem- bership profile, subsequently published as Anabaptists Four iil Centuries Later: A Profile of Five Mennontte and Brethren in Christ Denominations (1975), were unsettling to Mennonite Brethren. The profile showed vividly that major cultural changes had adversely impacted the life of the church. The jolting movement from a rural, ethnically homogeneous peo- ple to a new environment of individualism and modernity produced sobering changes that raised many alarms. The committees of reference and counsel of the Canadi- an, U.S. and bi- national conferences suggested a need to replicate the Kauffman and Harder study a decade later to test the trends indicated in the 1972 profile. The 1982 profile, ad- ministered only to Mennonite Brethren, provided strong proof of the accuracy of the earlier survey. The second inter-Men- nonite profile of 1989, published as The Mennonite Mosaic- Identity and Modernization (1991), further confirmed the 1972 and the 1982 data. The response of the Historical Commission of the Gener- al Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches to the findings of the profiles provided the incentive to undertake this re- search related to the faith and life of the Mennonite Brethren Church. Unless indicated otherwise, all Scripture references used in this book are from the King James Version. This translation was used when the 1903 Mennonite Brethren Confession of Faith was translated into English. Many people subsequently assisted with the research. The task could not have been accomplished without the par- ticipation of teachers from our institutions, pastors, missiolo- gists, missionaries and individual church members. Each chapter was read by three people who had special compe- tence in the topic under review. Their contributions and cri- tiques are part of the final manuscript. Special recognition must be given to former Mennonite Brethren Herald editors Herb Kopp (Edmonton) and Harold Jantz (Winnipeg) who read the full manuscript and offered suggestions and corrections- Former Christian Leader editor Wally Kroeker, now edi- iv tor of The Marketplace in Winnipeg, undertook the task of editing the manuscript. I remain his debtor for this labor of love, Kevin Enns-Rempel, Archivist of the Center for Merino- nite Brethren Studies (Fresno), and student assistants Rhonda (Warkentin) Langiey and Joanne Kiassen, worked to system- atize the documentation. The years of research and final publication of this vol- ume were made possible through the financial resources pro- vided by the Kroeker Foundation of Winkler, Manitoba, and the continuo