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

ed large tracts of land and made them available to Mennonites who needed land. By 1910 there were thirty new settlements scattered from the Crimea in the south to areas in central Russia, to Samara, Orenburg and Siberia in the northeast and Turkestan in the southeast. Some 4,900 Mennonite families had moved out and established new communities.2 Meanwhile, the renewal movement born in the mid-nine- teenth century continued. Many from the old church who came to a new life of faith had already sought fellowship in the Mennonite Brethren Church. Now the movement acceler- ated as pioneering Mennonites who migrated to the new ar- eas broke with their old environment and sought new begin- nings, both spiritually and geographically, Thus, geographical 115 A PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH expansion contributed to the growth of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Hie movement toward larger land hold- ings, particularly in Chortitza and Molotschna, produced large estates with much wealth.5 Educational Emphasis The spirit of progress reflected in the geographical expan- sion nourished a new appreciation for education. Peter M. Friesen graphically described the Mennonite attitude toward education before the expansion of the colonies: Two mortal enemies have constantly threatened our Men- nonitism: dull "orthodox" (but not truly believing) obscu- rantism, hating education; and, superficial and pragmatic rationalism and deism, which ascribe to education the be- all and end-all. The former enemy is like a swamp, and we have wallowed long enough in this nauseating mess.4 Cultural and spiritual renewal dramatically altered the per- ceptions related to education though it must be noted that a new regard for education had already begun to emerge from the early renewal movements in Ohrloff and Gnadenfeld. The implications of this change in the context of the renewal that gave birth to the Mennonite Brethren Church were again ably expressed by R M. Friesen: We firmly believe that living faith and true knowledge are two forms of the same divine truth, Faith may be regard- ed as the soul; education as the body-or, as body and gar- ment. Because our fathers in general despised education especially for their ministers, they sank gradually into the "swamp," and rescue came only through the believers of those churches and circles who valued both faith and ed- ucation highly: through Moravian Brethren, Pietists, and so on. For us who battle for the faith there remains only 116 MENNONITE BRETHREN AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY one alternative: to win "education" over to the Christian