A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

ave been inclined to magnify the narrow conservatism and Kultur-Feindlichkeit (opposition to culture) of this movement, thereby overlooking its emphasis on personal experience and piety. The treatise by Heinrich Balzer of the Kleine Gemeinde on "Faith and Reason" 5 reflects an intimate and personal relationship to Jesus Christ. His "testimony" would have found a warm response among the early Mennonite Brethren: When in a reborn heart the Holy Spirit exclaims, "Abba, our Father," divine gifts effuse into the believer and enter his understanding. They fill him with a new wisdom and a knowledge of Jesus Christ. The more and the freer the heart of man is opened to the Spirit, the more knowledge will he gain, the greater riches of divine gifts will he receive, and the more will his heart be prepared as an abode of the Triune God. 6 The present Mennonite Brethren Conference has a historic connection with this movement through the former Krimmer Mennonite Brethren who formed a part of the Kleine Gemeinde prior to their separate organization in 1869. 2. Fellowship Center at Ohrloff After the withdrawal of the large body of ultra-conservative members from the Ohrloff Mennonite Church, Ohrloff became a center of new light and new life under the progressive leadership of elder Bernhard Fast. If Gnadenfeld can be considered as the center of the pietistic revival movement, OhrlofT may be designated as the center of an "intellectual Renaissance" among the Molotschna Mennonites. The origin and early history of the Mennonite Brethren cannot be fully understood apart from the fellowship center at Ohrloff. Of great significance for the religious developments in the colony was the establishment of a Vereinsschule in 1820 under the auspices of an educational society headed by Johann Cornies, the great Mennonite organizer and colonizer.' The first teacher was Tobias Voth, whom Cornies invited to come from Prussia. Several years prior to his coming to Russia in 1822, he reported in his diary that he and his wife had been converted through Jung Stilling's writings, and then had fellowship with other Pietists. Voth was not only a gifted educator but also a spiritual leader who was deeply concerned about the religious welfare of the community. According to P. M. Friesen, Voth organized prayer meetings, in which "free prayers" (not memorized or read) were the rule.*' He also 28 HISTORY OF THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH sponsored mission meetings {Missionsstunden) and organized a Christian Literature Society (Leseverein) for the express purpose of distributing Christian books and writings. Heinrich Huebert, first elder of the Mennonite Brethren Church, as well as many other students of Tobias Voth, attribute to him their first indelible impressions of the Christian faith, as well as their appreciation for higher education and culture." Voth's interest in the distribution of good Christian literature became t