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

e missions, generated rapid growth as new churches were established The new churches, frequently with inadequate leadership, struggled with consistency be- tween spiritual profession and life; the code of ethics adopt- ed by many churches emerged from the circumstances of their environment. The rulings of the conference-the corpo- rate fellowship-became the standard of conduct. Philippians 3:15-l6-nlet us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing"-was seen as a hallmark of a true New Testament church- The many issues on church polity related to their view of the church as a mutually responsible fellowship of believers. There were limited educational opportunities for Menno- nite Brethren at that time. Those wanting advanced training in 1890 had no alternative but to attend schools outside the Mennonite Brethren fold. Responding to the urgent need, John F. Harms in 1892 established a small Bible school at Lehigh, Kansas. There was a second attempt to open a school in the Inman-Buhler area of Kansas under the leader- ship of John F. Duerksen. An affiliation with nearby McPher- son College in 1899 was the first step toward a secondary ed- ucation for Mennonite Brethren. Many of the leaders who emerged in the early 1900s got their training at McPherson College under the influence of J.F. Duerksen. In 1901 and 129 A PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH 1902 the conference took steps towards a school that would meet the specific needs of Mennonite Brethren, In 1908, with the founding of Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kansas, this be- came a reality.27 Change of Leadership A turning point in the coherent articulation of Mennonite Brethren faith and practice was noticeable in the early years of the twentieth century. The leadership of Heinrich Voth, Abraham Schellenberg, Johann Voth and Johann Regehr was succeeded by younger leaders like Henry W. Lohrenz, Peter C. Hiebert, Nickolas N. Hiebert, Martin M. Just, Heinrich S. Vothj Johann Pankratz and Daniel BergthokL The more ad- vanced educational preparation of these leaders and the gen- eral maturing of the church in North America provided a new dynamic that was reflected in conference records and in the content of the Zionsboter the conference periodical. Confession of Faith In 1902 the Russian and North American Mennonite Brethren joined in adopting a new Confession of Faith, thus providing a written form of belief and practice heretofore not available. The first English edition was printed in 1917." Their understanding of being a separated people in the world, however, continued to express itself in iso