A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

he fires of persecution and suffering, the young Mennonite Brethren Church in the Congo continues to serve the Lord with sincere dedication. Although the average per capita annual income in the Congo is about eighty-seven dollars, the churches operate with very little foreign subsidy. The entire primary school system has been taken over by the churches. Teachers and administrators through junior high school are Congolese. The national churches still need help in education (senior high) and theological training. A new school, L 'Ecole de Theologie Evangelique de 416 HISTORY OF THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH Kinshasa, has been established jointly by ten denominations, including the Mennonite Brethren, to meet the need for trained pastors and church workers. In the radio ministry, literature production, and medical work, continued assistance is also needed. One of the most pressing problems the church faces at the present time is the fusion of church and mission. Even more problematic appear to be the new measures taken by leading men in the Protestant Congo Council to establish one united "Church of Christ" in Zaire. Under God, the Mennonite Brethren Church in the Congo will also weather these new storms, arising partly out of a strong feeling of nationalism. According to a 1970 field report, the Mennonite Brethren Church in the Congo has a membership of over 9,000, in sixty local churches and eighty-eight outposts. Nelson concludes his analysis of the Congo crisis with the following optimistic note: "Christianity has enough of a foothold in Congo that it should survive and grow. It does not necessarily follow that it will. The continuing role of Christian missionaries and the churches that support them will play a very decisive part." 30 LATIN AMERICA Latin America consists of twenty republics, ten of which are north and ten south of Panama. In most of these countries political colonialism was overthrown 150 years ago. Spanish is the prevailing language in eighteen of these republics. In Brazil the official language is Portuguese and in Haiti it is French. Instability and change are characteristic of the political life in most Latin American countries. Roman Catholicism has been the dominant religion ever since the coming of the Portuguese and Spaniards in the sixteenth century. However, in the last two decades the Protestant church in Latin America has been growing faster than anywhere else in the world. Today there is also a Mennonite Brethren Church in seven of these republics. Only a brief glimpse of the emerging M.B. Church in Latin America will be presented. Mennonite Brethren in Brazil Brazil, the fifth largest country in the world and the giant of South America, opened its doors to Mennonites and Mennonite Brethren in 1930. They came from the "Gates of Moscow" via Germany to the state of Santa Catarina in Southern Brazil. 31 Although the larger contingent of refugees had decide