THE MENNONITE BROTHERHOOD IN RUSSIA (1789 - 1910), P. M. Friesen, 1911

have their names on church registers— nevertheless, she still accepts all true believers, and practices patience with those who may lack knowledge (according to the M.B. viewpoint), and with them celebrates the intimate spiritual joys and life experiences at the Lord’s table, after the event which took place around St. Martin’s in Elizabethal, as well as some time before and after (cf. XIII above), s) It is to be said with respect to point (o) above concerning the free celebration of co mmunio n in the wider circle of the brethren, that in the more recent years since 1900 various elders and ministers from the Mennonite Church have repeatedly conducted such services. XXVI. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH OF THE CHORTITZA DISTRICT, FROM 1866 TO 1872: THAT IS, FROM HEINRICH NEUFELD’S DEPARTURE TO THE FIRST GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH 1. Deacon Karl Benzien (freely adapted from Brother Heinrich Epp’s “Reports” and the author’s personal recollections). a) The Einlage Church still could not achieve that harmonious unity for which all members yearned. The two factions, those of Neufeld and of Unger, deriving from the aberrations of 1864-65, to which newly -arriving members joined themselves according to inclination, could not easily cooperate with each other. Br. Unger’s serious, some- what formal but thoroughly sincere manner repelled many who still recalled with pleasure the time of “great enthusiasm.” Even brethren who displayed leadership qualities and felt called to a public ministry, and who would have nothing of those times of excess, found him to be too legalistic and too friendly towards the Baptists. A young brother, Johann Siemens, later highly esteemed and very active in the §199 460 THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH church but long since departed, wove more than a tew thorns into Unger’s crown during those years. “But the Lord does not lack resources." He brought it to pass that in the spring of 1868 a brother named Karl Benzien, deacon of the church of the Hamburg confession at Dirschau in West Prussia, moved into the district of the Einlage Church for business reasons, as an immigrant. At home he had been an industrialist; here he was a farm manager. He was a cordial, gifted, and rather well-educated Christian who was well acquainted with what was a worthy and useful (Christian) church order. b) A church business meeting was scheduled in Einlage for July 10, 1868, at which meeting Br. Benzien was appointed chairman. The following resolutions were passed: 1) that the church bear the name "Einlage Church”; 2) that the church establish “stations,” 250 besides Einlage, Markusland (the brotherhood settlement named after the former owner, now called Andreasfeld?) and Tschomoglas, etc.; 3) “the members of our church who will serve the congregation are named: elders, teachers, and deacons, which the church itself is to elect. The elder of the chur