A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

ration so that singing be- comes a lifeless and unenjoyable experience for both the congregation and the choir. Attempts to use electronic amplification have been in- adequate. It was fortunate, however, that music infused itself so deeply into t he fabric of the Mennonite Brethren, for it helped to bring together the spiritual power of their daily life with their worship life. It breathed life, vitality, and meaning into their spiritual pilgrimage. Chapter 16 Training for Life and Service: Institutional Education in the Mennonite Brethren Church Educational institutions have been established by the Mennonite Brethren Church to meet specific needs in the brotherhood. These needs were conceived of as being directly related to the primary task of the church. Among Mennonite Brethren in North America the basic moti- vation to establish and support Christian academies (high schools), Bible institutes, the Bible College, Christian liberal arts colleges, and the seminary, has been the conviction that "school and mission" are inseparably linked in the redemptive purposes of God. At certain times and in certain institutions the desire for the preservation of cultural values may have overshadowed the primary objective of Christian education as stated above. This usually happened, however, when these cultural values were considered to be vitally related to the mission of the church. 1 In general, Mennonite Brethren have subscribed to the principle enunciated by George Konrad, Professor of Christian Education at the Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary: ". . . the Christian legitimacy of any educational institution (and agency or organization) must be determined by the degree in which it participates in the essential nature and mission of the church." 2 The involvement of Mennonite Brethren in institutional education in the Mennonite colonies in Russia has been described earlier. It should be remembered that in Russia religious instruction formed an integral part of the curriculum in all primary and secondary schools. Thus all children and young people were introduced to an integrated Christian world view. The one distinctively Mennonite Brethren institution in South Russia was the Tschongraw Bible School (Crimea) founded in 1918. Its 254 TRAININC. FOR LIFE AND SERVICE 255 program was related directly to the mission of the church in the immediate post-war era. When its doors were closed by government decree in 1924, institutional education for Mennonite Brethren in Russia came to an end. Among Mennonite Brethren in America cultural forces and spiritual needs have given rise to several distinct types of institutional education. At the risk of oversimplification, the Christian schools of the Mennonite Brethren will be described under three broad categories: Bible schools and Bible academies, liberal arts and Bible colleges, and the seminary. I. The Concern for Biblical Instruction: