A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

ina in 1901. As the work expanded it was largely staffed and supported by the K.M.B. Church until 1949, when all work by foreign missionaries had to be terminated. Other missionaries who served in China are Mr. and Mrs. H. M. Epp (mentioned earlier), Mr. and Mrs. Frank V. Wiebe, Mr. and Mrs. John Wieneke, Mr. and Mrs. A. K. Wiens, Mr. and Mrs. George Willms, Miss THK KRIMMER MENNONITE BRETHREN COME TO NORTH AMERICA 189 Sarah Balzer, Miss Mary Schmidt, Miss Anna Klassen, Miss Elizabeth Hofer, Miss Sarah Heinrichs and Mrs. Helen Duerksen. 46 During the eighty years of K.M.B. conference activity in North America (1880-1960) fifty-two missionaries have been sent out to the "regions beyond." (This does not include mission workers in North Carolina or in the Ozarks.) Since 1960 the missionary activities of the K.M.B. Conference have been integrated with the missions program of the Mennonite Brethren Conference. Support for some programs carried on under interdenomina- tional missions has been gradually phased out. Other fields, such as Peru, for instance, have been accepted by the Board of Missions and Services as a responsibility of the M.B. Conference. The way was prepared for an eventual merger of the missions programs as early as 1946, when a "collaboration plan" was adopted by the mission boards of the two conferences. 41 7. Involvement in Christian Education As in most pioneer Mennonite settlements the Krimmer Mennonite Brethren who settled in Marion County, Kansas established their own private elementary schools. 48 In later years (1915) a secondary school was established by the Zoar congregation as reported earlier. In higher education the K.M.B. Conference cooperated (although on an unofficial basis) with the Mennonite Brethren and with other Mennonite groups. Already at the 1913 K.M.B. Conference D. E. Harder presented a report on Tabor College, and the conference expressed its goodwill toward the new school. 49 In 1916 the conference went on record to support the "Tabor College Corporation." 60 In later years annual reports from Tabor College appear on the conference agenda. In 1940 the K.M.B. Conference officially joined in the support of Tabor College by appointing a member to the college board. When the educational institutions of the Mennonite Brethren in the United States were coordinated and unified in 1955, the K.M.B. Conference also participated in the unified educational program. At the 1957 convention C. F. Plett, the chairman of the Education Committee of the conference summarized the educational involvement of the Krimmer Mennonite Brethren as follows: We recognize two groups of schools where our students and church members participate: First, schools of higher learning and Christian training; among these are the following: Pacific Bible Institute and Junior College, Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary, all of Fresno, California, and Tabor College, Hillsboro, Kansas.