Perilous Journey: The Mennonite Brethren in Russia 1860-1910, John B. Toews, 1988

d flow of life experience. The results were gratifying. Holiness was corporately, not individually defined. It was difficult for dominant personalities to impose narrow definitions of piety upon a participatory church democracy. Further, the situation allowed neither the formalization of a dogmatic theology nor the pursuit of mystical ecstasy. The inner life, however radiant and glorious, found its outlet in obligation to the larger community. Individuals inclined towards spiritual pretense and artificiality or a public display of their piety might find the congregation probing the vitality of their personal pilgrimage. The Brethren "house church" necessarily generated an existential theology. There was another practice which helped to solidify the Brethren — the itinerant ministry. The first conference held in 1872 elected five itinerant preachers. Their task: to contact and nurture all the scattered Brethren adherents. Their agenda of activity soon included home visitation, conducting meetings and Bible studies in schools and private residences, and participation in large assemblies at mission and thanksgiving festivals. It was an effective strategy designed to overcome the problems of a minority movement scattered throughout Russia. In some villages the Brethren consisted of only a few families. In 1891 Jacob Fast met with six adults and some children in Blumstein, Wilhelm Loewen spoke to a house meeting 50 of twenty persons in Tiegerweide, while Heinrich Friesen thought it worthwhile to visit a remote village where only seven families lived. 15 Even well established congregations were small. In 1894 the Sparrau Mennonite Brethren Church consisted of only 32 members 16 while the Margenau congregation numbered 73. 17 In the same year the minister, David Duerksen, reported that there were only 48 Brethren families in the entire Ufa settlement. 18 Services in private homes or schools nurtured these small groups of believers and for decades constituted a modest but effective mode of evangelism. The carefully planned schedules of some five or six traveling ministers ensured annual contact with virtually all adherents. Such activity was crucial. Brethren emergence and growth coincided with the establishment of new Mennonite settlements throughout European Russia. The young church was naturally involved in this dispersion process and the new frontiers threatened its cohesiveness. The itinerant ministry constituted a realistic response to the crisis. Dedicated men, usually working for meager salaries, sequentially visited all congre-gations. By their cultivation of personal and public religion they generated a steady reaffirmation of a distinct Brethren identity. The ministry created a sense of the common faith and established uniform practices in worship and liturgy. It produced a strong sense of belonging, even in small, remote communities. Some indication of how well the itinerant ministers