A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

TE BRETHREN CHURCH it provided. However, in some areas this "spirit" has weakened the structure and has led to a lack of emphasis on Christian discipleship, church ordinances and social concerns. Baptist Influences In chapter five the influence of the German Baptists during the formative period of the Mennonite Brethren Church received considerable attention. The specific contribution of Baptist teaching to Mennonite Brethren theology, however, needs further clarification and definition. The influence of the German Baptists on the new life movement in Russia prior to 1860 was practically nonexistent. By 1860 literature advocating baptism by immersion had reached the Mennonite Brethren. Both Jacob Reimer and Johann Claassen were in possession of tracts and pamphlets dealing with the subject of baptism. In the Einlage (Chortitza) M.B. Church Baptist influence was strong from the very inception of the church. In addition to the active correspondence which Abraham Unger carried on with J. G. Oncken, the father of the German Baptist movement, Baptist preachers such as August Liebig and Karl Benzien ministered to the young M.B. Church for prolonged periods of time. Baptist influence during this earlier period is observable in several areas of Mennonite Brethren doctrine and practice. Although some of the early Brethren claimed to have discovered baptism by immersion in the writings of Menno Simons," Baptist influence on the mode of baptism in the M.B. Church cannot be denied. "In view of the fact," Bender observes, "that Baptist influence was present at the beginning of the M.B. movement, it is probably correct to assume that immersion came from that source."" If it did not originate from that source, it was certainly confirmed by Baptist literature and teaching. The fact that the Chortitza Brethren, who had had direct contacts with the German Baptists, became the proponents of strict immersionism in the M.B. Church, would give added support to that assumption. The Einlage Confession of Faith, prepared in 1873 and published by Abraham Unger in 1876, also bears the stamp of Baptist influence." In order to convince government officials in 1873 that the Mennonite Brethren Church was fully equipped with a confession of faith of its own, certain brethren took a Baptist confession and rewrote it to include Mennonite distinctives (e.g. footwashing, nonresistance). This Baptist-Mennonite confession (as A. H. Unruh calls it) proved to be a deterrent in the development of the young church. Soon protests were heard in the Molotschna Mennonite Brethren Church concerning the strong Baptist views expressed in the confession. Russian officials were UNDERSTANDING BIBLICAL REVELATION 367 no less confused and repeatedly requested information as to which Mennonites belonged to the Baptist Church. 25 This problem was not resolved until the Chortitza Brethren, with the assistance of P. M. Friesen and Johann