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

this view of church discipline, Johann Harder, elder of the Men- nonite church in OhriofFt in writing to the Molotschna Menno- nite area administrative office to make the case for the right of the Mennonite Brethren to exist as a separate fellowship in the larger Mennonite community, also commended their com- mitment to responsibly disciplining their own members,3 A Lutheran pastor from Prischib named Dobbert, respond- ed to the division among the Mennonites in a document dated July 1864. He affirmed the legitimacy of the Mennonite Brethren because their call for discipline was lacking in the mother church. Johann Claassen and his followers, Dobben said, "did not enter the conflict with carnal weapons" but "had clearly articulated and denounced the breakdown of church discipline, the Achilles heel [the weakest point] of the church-and had insisted upon reform/14 Peter M, Friesen contended that the stress on a consistent lifestyle as the testimony of true salvation attracted more and 43 A PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH more people from the congregations of the mother church- In fact, this emphasis could be seen as a major reason for the movement's effective evangelism and rapid growth during the first quarter century after I860. Some saw a clear parallel with Acts 2:47 which describes the believers "praising God and hav- ing favor with all people/ and to whom "the Lord added . . . daily such as should be saved." The Mennonite Brethren view of interrelatedness and church discipline did not prevail without difficulty. It faced its share of testing. In the early years (1862-1864) it became the redeeming element during the great crisis known as the "Exu- berant Movement" (Die FrChltche Jttchtung), which was an overreaction to the formality and tradition of the institutional- ized Russian Mennonite church. In 1907-1909 the interdependence of the local congrega- tion and larger church was also seriously strained in the disci- plining of church elder David Schellenberg, accused of finan- cial indiscretions. Nonetheless, the principle prevailed, The question of the relationship between the local church and the larger fellowship continued to resurface in subsequent years.15 Mennonite Brethren use of church discipline was not al- ways loving and redemptive. On occasions it lapsed into strict legalism. The basic principle of mutual caring and nur- ture, however, remained a major dynamic in the life of the movement. In its better moments it matched Abraham H, Un- ruh s description when he wrote: "In the church every mem- ber is to be concerned for the welfare of f