A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

te Brethren established their own high school in Winnipeg in 1945, they were actively involved in the support of the Mennonite Collegiate Institute (MCI) located at Gretna, Manitoba. The Steinbach Bible Institute had its beginning in the fall of 1931 when Jacob W. Reimer, a leading Mennonite Brethren theologian and educator, and Isaac Ediger, a minister of the "Alliance" Mennonite Church, began to conduct both day and evening classes. In 1938 a Bible School Association was organized, composed of members of four Mennonite churches (including the Mennonite Brethren) of the Steinbach area. The "Tabor" Bible School of Dalmeny, Saskatchewan (now extinct) was also a cooperative venture of the M.B. and E.M.B. churches of that community. Mennonite Brethren have also cooperated with other Mennonite groups in medical care. A number of hospitals have been established on an inter-Mennonite basis. In Manitoba, for instance, Mennonite Brethren have cooperated in the founding and maintenance of the following institutions: Concordia at Winnipeg (1930), Bethel at Winkler (1935), and Bethesda at Steinbach (1937). 4 Another important aspect of Mennonite Brethren involvement in inter-church cooperation on a local level is the work of evangelism and community outreach. In the forties and fifties these "community crusades" in the M.B. constituency were largely sponsored by inter-Mennonite organizations. The "tent evangelism" campaigns COOPERATING WITH OTHER GROUPS 383 conducted by George Brunk (OM) in the late fifties at Winkler, Steinbach and Winnipeg (Manitoba) and at Chilliwack, Abbotsford and Vancouver (British Columbia) were sponsored by the various Mennonite churches of those areas. A few years later, however, when the Janz Brothers Evangelistic Team came to Winnipeg, the base of operations and support had been broadened to include non-Mennonite church groups. Nearly 100 metropolitan area churches cooperated in the Greater Winnipeg Crusade for Christ conducted from April 22 to May 6, 1962. All M.B. churches of the city (five at that time) took an active part in this effort. The same pattern of inter-church cooperation in evangelism was evident in the Greater Fresno Crusade for Christ with Bill Glass (September 26 to October 3, 1971). In Fresno all M.B. churches except one participated in this city-wide evangelistic effort which involved more than 100 churches. A somewhat new and different pattern of inter-church cooperation in evangelism has emerged in the city of Vancouver (Canada) in recent years. There about fifteen churches in the South-Vancouver area established a more permanent organization in 1969 by joining forces in the Christian Witness Crusade. The four M.B. churches of this area cooperate with three Mennonite churches, four Baptist churches, one Alliance, one Presbyterian, one Free Methodist and one independent congregation. The organization has sought to project and to maintain a sustain