A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

osition of executive secretary of MCC (Canada). Prior to his appointment Klassen had served as MCC director in Korea for three years, and as assistant director of the Foreign Relief and Service department at the MCC office in Akron for two years. Klassen served in COOPERATING WITH OTHER GROUPS 389 this new capacity for seven years (1964-1971) and did much to promote cooperation and goodwill among the various groups who had united for ministries of compassion and for a united voice to government in areas of common concern. In 1971 Klassen returned to teaching and was succeeded by Daniel Zehr from Ontario. The cooperation of Mennonite Brethren with the other Mennonite groups in the Alternative Service program during World War II has been described in the chapter on church-state relations, and thus need not be discussed here. In recent years Mennonite Brethren in Canada have tried to relate more meaningfully to other evangelical groups in the country. A new day dawned for inter-evangelical association in 1964 with the organization of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC). Begun as the vision of a few Canadians who had participated in the National Association of Evangelicals, the EFC endeavored to unite the scattered evangelicals of Canada and to strengthen a positive Christian witness. Individual Mennonite Brethren leaders, mostly from the province of Ontario, were active in the establishment and development of the EFC from the beginning. In 1969 the Board of Spiritual and Social Concerns of the Canadian M.B. Conference made a special study of various inter-church relationships. In response to questions from several churches with regard to the attitude of the conference to the EFC, the board sent out the following statement: "Having considered the position and purpose of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada we would encourage churches and individuals of our Conference to become involved in this united evangelical witness in Canada if they so desire." 18 Evangelicals in general, and Mennonite Brethren in particular, have been slow in responding to this challenge of pooling their human resources for a stronger evangelical witness in the country. This is especially true of the Mennonite Brethren in Western Canada. Geographical distance may be one reason, since the annual conventions of EFC have been held in Toronto — rather far removed from British Columbia — the province with the strongest concentration of Mennonite Brethren. In order to strengthen the organizational base of the EFC the 1972 annual assembly decided that membership in the organization should be opened to denominations. However, denominations will be entitled to send a maximum of two representatives only to the General Council of the EFC." At present (1972) the following Mennonite Brethren serve on the Council of EFC: Harold Jantz, John G. Baerg, and F. C. Peters. Victor Adrian is chairman of the EFC Commission on Christi