A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

s of the conference. Consequently, some of these requested rebaptism by immersion, others withdrew from the public ministry. Seven years later, in 1946, the Ontario Conference joined the Canadian Conference as a provincial conference, thereby giving up its status as a district in the General Conference. The second district conference to join the General Conference during this period was located on another continent and in another hemisphere. The Mennonite Brethren churches in Brazil and Paraguay, established by immigrants from Russia who had settled there in 1930, met in 1948 and organized as a Mennonite Brethren Conference. That same year they also took steps to affiliate with the Mennonite Brethren Conference of North America. Two leading brethren, Kornelius Voth (Paraguay) and Gerhard H. Rosenfeld (Brazil), were sent as representatives to attend the General Conference sessions in Mountain Lake, Minnesota. The conference responded positively to the request of the South American brotherhood (through its Committee of Reference and Counsel) as follows: (1) We recommend that on the basis of Brother (B. B.) Janz's report con- cerning the reoriented church " . . . and the constitution of the churches of South America we accept the churches of South America as a District Conference of the Conference of the Mennonite Brethren Church of North America. (2) That we extend the hand of fellowship to the Brethren Gerhard H. Rosenfeld and Kornelius Voth. who are present at this Conference representing the churches of South America. r,u The relationship of the General Conference to this district conference in South America is unique and differs markedly from that to all other 212 HISTORY OF THE MENNON1TE BRETHREN CHURCH district conferences. The South American Conference has no representatives on any conference boards or committees. Geographical distance makes practical participation in the work of the General Conference impossible. There has been cooperation, however, in the work of missions, especially among the Indians of the Paraguayan Chaco. In recent years this "district conference" has developed into a kind of "general conference" for South America, with its own district conferences in Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Visits by fraternal delegates to the brotherhood in North America (and vice versa) have strengthened the bonds of a common faith and a common mission in both North and South. Expansion in Missionary Activity The enlargement of the "missionary borders" of the Mennonite Brethren Church from its original large field in India to include China (1919) and the Belgian Congo (1943) has already been noted. During the years of World War II (1939-45) it had become very apparent that the doors to mission fields can be closed overnight. This consciousness of the brevity of time for the task of world evangelism, coupled with a widening missionary horizon in the brotherhood, gave a sense of urgenc