A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

act with the Brethren. In the course of time the older congregations appropriated many ideas and practices which they considered to be right and scriptural in the new church. 3 " Krahn states the most important contribution of the Menno- nite Brethren as follows: "What it gave the Russian Mennonites was a rebirth of personal piety, a living piety in which the individual believer receives assurance of the forgiveness of his sins, and orders his life defi- nitely according to the teachings of Christ, particularly the Sermon on the Mount." After enumerating other blessings which the new religious movement brought to the Mennonites, he concludes with these words: "So we see that the new religious life that came into Russian Mennonitism through the Brueder-Gemeinde movement exerted a powerful influence both upon the religious life and the social attitudes of the group." 40 The observance of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Mennonite Brethren Church on January 6, 1885, in Rueckenau, Molotschna, constitutes a significant milestone in the growth and progress of the brotherhood. This festive event, attended by approximately one thousand people, was marked by a spirit of praise and thanksgiving. A brief history of the church, prepared by Johann Wieler and Johann Fast, was read on this occasion. The church statistics compiled for this anniversary contain the following: six main congregations — Molotschna, Einlage, Kuban, Friedensfeld-Zagradowka, the Don Settlement, and the Volga Settlement; groups affiliated with the main churches — seventeen; houses of worship — seven; ordained elders — four; other ministers — thirty-five; total church membership — eighteen hundred. (In addition, there were approximately twelve hundred members in America at this time.) The highlight of this celebration was a public acknowledgement of indebtedness and gratitude to the Ohrloff Mennonite Church for its benevolent attitude toward the early Brethren and its courageous intervention on their behalf. The entire audience expressed their CONSOLIDATION AND EXPANSION (1865-1885) 85 appreciation first by rising to their feet, and later by prayers of thanksgiving on bended knee. 4 ' By this time the Brethren had developed a certain "historical consciousness" which found practical expression in a conference resolution to ask P. M. Friesen to write a definitive history of the Mennonite Brethren Church. One prominent member of the church (a former administrator of the colony) commented: "This is a nice work for Friesen, and he will make good money on this assignment, for he will complete it in two weeks." 42 It may be of interest that P. M. Friesen worked on this magnum opus with some interruptions for twenty-five years (1886-1911)! While he was engaged in this difficult task of research and writing, the Mennonite Brethren Church enjoyed an unprecedented period of prosperity and progress. The developments of these three decades