A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

nts to the Kanaedier group was in many ways as difficult as adjustment to society at large. In the words of E. K. Francis: The two Mennonite groups were divided by cultural and class differences. In the eyes of the native Mennonites the newcomers appeared worldly, overbearing, and unwilling to do manual labor. The Russlaender people, on the other hand, found their benefactors, on whose good will they were dependent . . . backward . . . and uneducated. 1 Although these views must be modified somewhat in the context of the Mennonite Brethren community, they reflect some popular attitudes which prevailed in the twenties and thirties. Since education, and especially theological education, appears to have been a focal issue in these tensions, it is understandable that some of the more obvious differences came to the fore in the Hepburn and Winkler areas, where Bible schools were founded which originally were staffed largely by the Russlaender brethren. As time progressed, however, the dialogue between the two groups proved to be mutually beneficial: The Russlaender were stimulated by the Kanaedier to become more concerned about evangelism and missions; and the latter were stimulated by the former to become more interested in education and culture. The coming of the Russian Mennonites marks a new chapter in the expansion of the Mennonite Brethren Church in the Canadian West. Until 1925 there was not a single M. B. church in the two western provinces."' Ten years later, thirteen churches had been established in these provinces by the immigrants from Russia." The westward movement of Mennonites, and particularly of the Mennonite Brethren, MKNNON1TR BRKTHRKN COME TO CANADA 165 which began in the twenties and thirties has continued to the present day, though at a greatly reduced pace. IV. Mennonite Brethren Come to Alberta 38 The Mennonite Brethren were not the first to arrive in "sunny Alberta." Between 1890 and 1920 Mennonite settlers belonging to the (Old) Mennonite Church established congregations at High River, Carstairs, Olds, Tofield and Duchess. The Mennonite Brethren in Christ (now United Missionary Church) also coming from Ontario after 1893, established churches at Didsbury and other places in central Alberta. Members of the Bergthal Mennonite Church from the West Reserve in Manitoba also settled in the Didsbury area after 1901, as did a Church of God in Christ, Mennonite (Holdeman) group at Linden in 1902. Most of the Mennonite Brethren who first arrived in Alberta in the mid-twenties did not establish themselves in or near the older Mennonite settlements in the central part of the province. The Canada Colonization Association, a subsidiary of the Department of Immigra- tion and Colonization of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, played a vital part in directing many Mennonites to settle on "C.P.R. land" in southern Alberta. 39 In this area the railway company had recently complete