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

"poorer" minis- ters of the church; he was not advocating that those of inde- pendent means be remunerated for preaching. He continued: "Each church should have a minister, adequately provided forr in charge of the regular services, alongside the largest possible number of ministers of equal stature, but who preach for the love of preaching1. "u This position was commonly linked with that of the early Anabaptists, whose elders and preachers did not receive a fixed salary, Cornelius Krahn described them as being "strongly opposed" to the practice that pre- vailed in the state churches. He further noted that "the pre- vailing corruption and lack of Integrity, religious convictions, and sincerity [was] linked to the practice of hiring and paying the ministry for its services. A voluntary church membership and a voluntary ministry with personal convictions and high moral integrity was the [Anabaptist] aim/*25 THE MULTIPLE MINISTRY A statement by Elder Heinrich Huebert addressed to the government authorities in June 1868 expressed the Mennonite 61 A PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH Brethren understanding of the ministry in the church: In our assemblies and inspirational meetings we have tried to follow the rule and order given in 1 Cor. 14, i.e., that one or two or a maximum of three persons present their lectures-messages-and that in succession. We recog- nize herein the loving purpose of the apostle: that the church be edified, the gifts stirred up, and the saints pre- pared for the work of the ministry, in order that the body of Christ may be built up, 'til we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the full- ness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and the cunning crafti- ness, whereby they lay and wait to deceive (Eph. 4:12- l4).2fi For the Mennonite Brethren, a multiple ministry was basic to building up the body of Christ. The gifts God gave the church were for the equipping of the saints and the stability of the body so "that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doc- trine," (Eph- 4:14). The corporate multiple ministry provided strength through a community hermeneutic and a consultative body of leaders. In the same document Huebett defined the functional principles of the elders, ministers and deacons who shared the official duties of baptism, communion and leader- ship.27 The emphasis wa