A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

month is set aside for worship and communion of the Mennonite Brethren group alone. In primary and secondary education all three groups cooperate. Of great significance in the past for church and community has been the Zentralschule which was based on a six-year primary school program and offered a four-year high school course and two years of teacher training. At present the high school program, expanded to six years, provides in- struction in both German and Spanish. In addition there is an accredited two-year teacher training course. The local Bible school has done much MENNONITE BRETHREN AROUND THE WORLD 423 52. Baptismal candidates at the outdoor baptistry at the Filadelfia M.B. Church in Paraguay. to raise the spiritual life in the congregations and to stimulate mission- ary interest. Among the brethren from North America who rendered valuable services in Fernheim were C. C. Peters, G. Sukkau, V. D. Toews, Jacob Franz, and Waldo Hiebert. During the early 1940's Fernheim, and to a lesser extent Friesland, was seriously affected by the German Nazi program and philosophy. The Mennonite Brethren Church split over this issue. In 1947, through a pro- longed spiritual ministry of B. B. Janz from Canada, the groups were rec- onciled through repentance and forgiveness. Friesland The M.B. church in Friesland was founded on October 3, 1937, under the leadership of Kornelius Voth by members who had left the Fernheim settlement in the Chaco. The original membership of 153 had increased to 234 by 1953. With North American aid, a brick church building with a seating capacity of 400 has been constructed in the village of Rueckenau. Church life and services are patterned after those in Fernheim. Since Friesland is located in the eastern and more heavily populated section of Paraguay, the Mennonites in this colony are exposed to the in- roads of Paraguayan manners and morals. On the other hand the close proximity of several larger Paraguayan communities provides an oppor- tunity for Mennonite Brethren to offer a positive Christian witness. 424 HISTORY OF THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH Neuland The Gnadental Mennonite Brethren Church (named after the vil- lage in which the church building was located) was officially organized on April 8, 1948, under the leadership of Wilhelm Loewen by members who were mostly recent immigrants from Russia and Poland. By 1955 the membership had risen to 317, less than half the number of members in the Mennonite Church. The separation of families caused by the war constituted a major moral and social problem for church and community in the early years. The total population of the colony in 1950 was 2,314, composed of 641 family units, of which 253 families were without father or husband. In the sixties a relatively large number of settlers from Neuland emigrated to Canada and Germany to be reunited with relatives or to look for better economic opportunitie