A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

nt the Mennonite Brethren on the three-man commission. The common experience of incredible hardships during the period of anarchy and civil war (1917-1921) brought the two Mennonite church bodies even closer together. During the "second awakening" among the Russian Mennonites in the 1920's the evangelistic teams that traveled from village to village, and from colony to colony, were usually com- posed of representatives of both groups. 3 The Evangelical Mennonite Brethren also wholeheartedly participated in this new form of coopera- tive evangelism. During their almost one-hundred-year history in North America Mennonite Brethren have entered into fraternal association and cooperation with various Mennonite and non-Mennonite groups for a closer fellowship and for a more efficient execution of their God-given task. Since these inter-church and inter-group relations have been established on various levels, the survey of these associations will move from the local to the inter-continental level. I. Cooperation on a Local Level In most Mennonite settlements as well as in many urban communities Mennonite Brethren churches are usually found in close proximity to other Mennonite churches. Moreover, since Mennonite settlements in North America were generally not as compact as those in Russia, other evangelical churches were often established in the same geographical area. This pattern of settlement and development provided a natural setting for increasing contacts and associations between the Mennonite Brethren and other groups. On the local level a working fellowship has often been established in areas of common interest. In the area of education Mennonite Brethren have cooperated with 382 HISTORY OF THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH other Mennonite churches in the founding of Christian (private) schools. The Mountain Lake Bible School (formerly known as the Mountain Lake Preparatory School) started in 1886, has been supported through the years by the various churches of this Minnesota community. A leading Mennonite Brethren educator, Cornelius Wall, was a teacher of this school from 1936 to 1946. The Immanuel Academy at Reedley, California, has been sponsored as a joint-venture of the Reedley and Dinuba Mennonite Brethren Churches, and the Zion Krimmer Mennonite Brethren Church. (The latter joined the M.B. Conference in 1960.) The Lustre Bible Academy (formerly Lustre Bible School) has for many years been an inter-Mennonite institution in which the Mennonite Brethren, the Evangelical Mennonite Brethren, and the General Conference Mennonites have cooperated closely. The Salem College and Academy, opened in 1945 in Salem, Oregon, also operates on an inter-Mennonite basis. In Canada the Mennonite Educational Institute (MEI) at Clearbrook, British Columbia, has from its beginning been supported not only by six local M.B. churches, but also by the West-Abbotsford Mennonite Church. Before the Mennoni