A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

same year Richard Nixon, the President of the United States, gave expression to his appreciation in a warm personal letter of recognition to the MDS Committee. The above ministries do not exhaust the nature and scope of involvement of Mennonite Brethren in "voluntary service." Many services are performed on a congregational level in the community. As Christians who give their primary allegiance to Jesus Christ and his kingdom, Mennonite Brethren can make one of their greatest contributions to state and society through intercessory prayer and ministries of compassion. Chapter 21 Understanding Biblical Revelation: Developments and Distinctives In Mennonite Brethren Theology The Mennonite Brethren Church, throughout its history, has emphasized biblical authority in all matters of faith and practice. The early Brethren recovered much of the biblical orientation of apostolic Christianity and of the early Anabaptist movement. They became people of the Word. This meant, according to Hugo W. Jantz, that they allowed God's Word to shine its warm and holy light into their lives within the cultural and social milieu in which their lives had to be lived. Together and alone they asked, openly and honestly: "How does God want us to think about him, and us, and the world? What is God telling us to do?" 1 That the Bible constituted the final authority in faith and life for the Brethren is evident from the confessional documents. In the Document of Secession the Brethren cite or quote at least seventeen passages of Scripture to support their convictions. The "Brief Statement of the Rules and Outward Regulations of Our Church" submitted to the authorities by elder Heinrich Huebert in 1868, again makes constant reference to Scripture. 3 The first definitive Confession of Faith of the Mennonite Brethren 3 published in 1902 begins with the words: "We believe with the heart and confess with the mouth before all men according to the contents of the Holy Scriptures, the Word of God. . . The Confession is characterized by the use of biblical terminology and extensive quotations from Scripture. Like their early Anabaptist-Mennonite forefathers, the Mennonite Brethren were biblicists with a kind of intuitive apprehension about creeds and confessions. Hence they have never attached as much weight to them as many other denominations have. To safeguard the brotherhood against the snares of creedalism which can easily develop 361 362 HISTORY OF THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH into a dead and barren orthodoxy, the brethren appended the following conclusion to the 1902 Confession: Every confession of faith, as every other teaching and exposition of Scripture, is subject at all times to examination and estimation under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, according to the Holy Scriptures . . . the only infallible written preserved resource of the necessary and sufficient revelation of God to humanity for our