A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

stance. During the first forty years (1874-1914) of their church life in America the brethren did not have to face the question of the draft or military service. Although the conference in 1902 had accepted the Confession of Faith of the M. B. Church in Russia, which contains the sentence, "We also do not consider ourselves to have the right to wield the sword," the matter did not come up for discussion on the floor of the General Conference until 1919. At that time a committee on non- resistance was created, and a formal statement was accepted by the conference which forbade participation in military service on scriptural grounds." III. A Changing Constituency and Polarization (1924-1954) By 1924 Hillsboro (Kansas) had become the undisputed center of General Conference activity among the Mennonite Brethren. The conference publishing house and Tabor College, the only institution of higher education in the brotherhood, were located here. The Southern District, moreover, at that time included the area of heaviest concentration of Mennonite Brethren on the North American continent. During the course of the next thirty years the distribution of Mennonite Brethren membership changed considerably. As a result of immigration on a large scale, the Northern District Conference grew rapidly and by 1951 its membership exceeded that of the other three district conferences combined. A similar shift in the distribution of membership occurred within the United States itself. By 1953 the membership in the Pacific District had surpassed that of the Southern District.'" These new "realities" were perhaps not sufficiently recognized in conference representation, organization, and policy, and hence certain tensions developed between North and South and also between the Midwest and the Pacific Coast. Or, to state it another way, the leadership in the Canadian M. B. Conference began to feel that existing General Conference agencies and institutions were not adequately meeting the need of the large and growing constituency in the North. In the Pacific District Conference similar sentiments began to be voiced, although somewhat later perhaps than in Canada. It was also during this period, that the Ontario Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches joined the General Conference, adding another dimension to the pattern of development of conference structures and 206 HISTORY OF THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH activities. These changes in the constituency and their implications for the brotherhood as a whole shall now be considered briefly. 1. Developments in Canada The geographical expansion and numerical growth of the Canadian Conference during this period had parallel developments in the founding of institutions and in increasing activities. The nature and scope of these activities were strongly influenced in earlier years by economic factors. A large number of the Russlaender Mennonite Brethren had incurred a heav