John Benjamin Toews

September 24, 1906--May 9, 1998

1906: Born in Molotschna Colony, Russia to Johann and Margaret Toews

1926: B.S. (University of Ukraine)

1926-28: Graduate studies at University of Amsterdam and University of London

1928: Arrived in Coaldale, Alta.

1930-44: Studied at Tabor College (B.A.), Western Baptist Theological Seminary (B.D. and Th.M.) and Southwestern Baptist Seminary

1932-38: Professor and President, Bethany Bible Institute, Hepburn, Sask.

1933: Married Nettie Unruh of Freeman, S.D.

1940-42: Professor, Freeman Junior College

1942-45: Pastor, Mennonite Brethren Church, Buhler, Kan.

1945-48: President, Mennonite Brethren Bible College, Winnipeg

1948-53: Pastor, Mennonite Brethren Church, Reedley, Calif.

1953-63: Administrator, Mennonite Brethren Missions, Hillsboro, Kan.

1963-78: Professor of Missions and Practical Theology (and President 1964-72), Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary, Fresno, Calif.

1972-82: Director, Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies, Fresno, Calif.

1972-86: Executive Director, Historical Commission of the General Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches

* The Key to Fruitful Christian Service (1959).

* The Mennonite Brethren Church in Zaire (1978).

* Chair of the editorial and translation committee for P.M. Friesen's The Mennonite Brotherhood in Russia 1789-1910 (1978).

* A Pilgrimage of Faith: The Mennonite Brethren Church in Russia and North America 1860-1990 (Kindred Productions, 1993).

* JB: The Autobiography of a Twentieth-Century Mennonite Pilgrim (Center for MB Studies, 1995).

* The Mennonite Brethren Church: A Missionary Movement (video, MB Historical Commission, 1988).

* The Fall, 1997 issue of Direction, the MB scholarly journal, contains further articles and information on the life of J.B. Toews.

Many prominent leaders and members of the Mennonite Brethren Church gathered May 13 at Butler Ave. MB Church in Fresno, Calif. to bid farewell to prominent MB leader, John Benjamin (J.B.) Toews, who died May 9 at age 91.

His eldest son, John E. Toews, president of Conrad Grebel College in Waterloo, Ont., described the "uncommon life" of his father. While many Mennonite Brethren have known J.B. as a missions administrator, conference leader, historian or personal mentor, most MBs knew J.B. as a powerful preacher, he said. "We hear regularly that Father changed people's lives through his preaching."

As his health declined in the past two years, J.B. spoke often of his "translation" to eternity, not his "death". In his next-to-last call to John E., he said, "I'm looking forward to my future."

John E. also read from his father's autobiography, JB: A Twentieth-Century Mennonite Pilgrim: "Now, in the late evening of my life, I am more convinced than ever that our human search to understand the mysteries of existence, the universe, and our place within it, leaves us groping in darkness unless we accept the most basic of formulations--`In the beginning, God . . .' (Genesis 1:1)."

Further glimpses into J.B.'s life were offered through readings by his other sons, Paul, director of the Center for MB Studies in Fresno, and James, assistant administrator of the Developmental Disabilities Program Office for the state of Oregon.

Paul read from J.B.'s autobiography the story of hardships faced in J.B.'s early life following the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. J.B.'s grandfather secretly sent supplies of food to the family, which were then hidden behind a secret wall in their root cellar. However, J.B's father, John A. Toews, insisted that they share the food with their starving neighbours: "Father would remind us. `We cannot keep food for ourselves while other people are dying. We must share in their suffering. If other people die, we too must die with them.' This was how my father understood the Christian faith."

In his sermons, J.B. often recalled a spiritual crisis in 1927, when he studied at the Volks University of Amsterdam. (This was after his family's escape from Russia in 1926 and prior to their immigration to Coaldale, Alta. in 1928) J.B. suffered various "assaults on my belief system" through the Rationalism of the university. One night in fall, 1927, he found himself walking through Rotterdam city square and sitting on a bench in the shadow of a monument to William of Orange.

"In recognition of his deep religious commitment, an open Bible was placed under glass at the foot of the monument," J.B. later wrote. "A spotlight illuminated the page, open to Psalm 119:89. In bold Dutch script I saw the words, `Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: Thou has established the earth and it abideth.' It was midnight. Under the monument of William of Orange . . . I found the answer to my search for an absolute. There God convinced me that there is an absolute and the mystery of this absolute rests in Him."

James Toews read excerpts from the autobiography concerning J.B.'s courtship of his wife, Nettie. Their courtship initially caused concern for both sides of the family--his family was wary about J.B. marrying an American girl, and Nettie's wealthier family was worried about her facing virtual poverty and frequent moves if she married a minister.

In February of 1932, two job opportunities faced J.B. He could either work for Shell Oil Company, which offered financial security, or join the faculty of Bethany Bible Institute in Hepburn, Sask. and begin a life of ministry. A crisis arose when Nettie confessed to J.B. her worries about facing a life of poverty if he took the Bethany post.

At the time, J.B. was at Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kan., and Nettie was doing a nursing practicuum at Salem Hospital in Hillsboro. One evening, J.B. met Nettie when her shift ended at 9 p.m. As they walked in the park, she began to cry and said, "It is all right."

J.B. asked, "What is all right?"

Nettie said, "It is all right to be poor."

J.B. accepted the call to Bethany in 1932, and Nettie remained to finish her education. After more than a year apart, they were married in Coaldale, Alta. on Aug. 27, 1933.

John E. then read from the autobiography's Epilogue about the focus of his father's ministry: calling the Mennonite Brethren Church to faith, discipleship and repentance. J.B. was concerned about dangerous trends he saw in the MB Church: individualism (in contrast to the interdependent community the MB Church had once been); American evangelicalism (which was preoccupied with "being saved" and receiving the benefits of the gospel without the attendant costs in ethics and lifestyle); and the loss of commitment to biblical discipleship (which calls Christians to obey Jesus' command to "take up your cross and follow Me").

Three others also offered tributes--Henry J. Schmidt, president of MB Biblical Seminary; Abraham Friesen, professor of history at the University of California, Santa Barbara; and John B. Toews, professor at Regent College in Vancouver. John B. Toews spoke from the perspective of the extended family, pointing out that J.B. brought a calming presence to family members, while having the courage to confront in love when necessary: "He was our friend."

Bringing the meditation at the service was Elmer A. Martens, professor emeritus of Old Testament at MBBS, and a long-time colleague of Toews. Martens compared J.B. to the Old Testament prophet Elijah--austere, piercing eyes, with a long forefinger and an authoritative demeanour. Both men experienced God as living, interactive, complex and all-sufficient. Martens concluded, "On the Sunday before his death, we visited [J.B.]. He could not speak, but as I took my leave and looked back over my shoulder, I saw him with his finger pointed heavenward, and I saw his lips mouthing the words, `It's all right.' "

Predeceased by his wife Nettie in 1986, three sisters and one brother, J.B. is survived by three sons, five grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and one brother. -- from an MBBS news release

J.B. Toews was the last of the MB leaders who went through the Russian Mennonite holocaust. Those who experienced the horrors of World War I, the Russian Revolution, the civil war and the coming of the communist regime had their characters shaped by these shattering events. Great character is often forged in adversity. What else was there to fear if one had survived that?

I first encountered J.B. as a preacher in Winnipeg in the 1940s. He was an event! The dramatics--much more pronounced in his early years--matched the depth of the message. As the years passed, the dramatics waned somewhat, but never the message. That became deeper, more profound, more powerful. The last time I heard J.B. preach was in 1990. Already somewhat frail, J.B. made his way haltingly to the pulpit. Grasping the sides of the pulpit with both hands, he pulled his frame erect. The audience--expecting to hear the frail voice of an aging saint--was startled by the voice that thundered from the pulpit. The message was of the grace of God that worked mightily in the lives of God's saints.

J.B. was preeminently a man of the eternal, unchanging Word of God. It was the rule against which changing human history and even the church had to be measured.

Toward the end of his life, J.B. became an historian. The waywardness of his church was what probably motivated him. He wished to understand its development and the extent to which it had remained true to the unchanging Word of God. When he had reached an understanding, he wrote his history. It was no sanitized account glossing over the church's failures, but a ringing call to repentance. I think his greatest disappointment must have been that his church paid such little heed to his warnings.

The legacy J.B. would wish most to leave behind is a living legacy: that we love the Word of God and obey it, as he did; that we love the church and serve it, as he did; that we reach out to those on the periphery and to those preparing to come after us, as he did; and that we dedicate ourselves to making the MB Church as Christ-like as possible. -- Abe Friesen, Chair, General MB Conference Historical Commission

With the death of J.B. Toews, the Mennonite Brethren family has lost a spiritual guardian and patriarch. His passion for God translated into a love for the church, specifically the Mennonite Brethren Church.

Because of his serious, even authoritative appearance, he was thought by some to be distant and aloof. Yet his colleagues experienced J.B. as warm and personal. In his prime years, when he travelled the churches extensively, he knew hosts of persons by name.

While he had decided views, and was never in doubt that they were correct, he was always gracious. When certain Seminary faculty would "take him on", he listened. Differences of viewpoint did not threaten relationships. He retained a most remarkable openness to change.

While some in their advanced years become fossilized intellectually, Toews continued until the last to navigate between an older world and an ever-changing one.

In his earlier years, Toews conducted revival services and extensive Bible teaching services in the North American constituency. His preaching was dynamic, Scripture-based, persuasive and often illustrated from his personal life. Hundreds were turned into the narrow path of the kingdom of God. (As a spiritually apathetic teenager, I responded to his altar call in the 1940s.) His forceful biblical exposition was also the centrepiece of his pastoral ministries.

As a colleague has noted, whatever project occupied Toews at the moment was clearly the most important project in all the world. He was an intense, almost driven person. Toews was not without criticism. In the changes which he implemented, people were hurt. In his passionate focus on advancing God's work, he may not have noticed some of the fallout.

His legacy as an MB educator is perhaps unparalleled. At Tabor College, his course on Christian Foundations was legendary. His tenure as president at Bethany Bible Institute, MB Bible College and MB Biblical Seminary was marked by movement and change.

In his teaching and preaching, he frequently talked about the "historical frame of reference". He never tired of saying, "He who does not know his past does not understand the present and has no direction for the future."

History and the preservation of history became one of his preoccupations in the last two decades of his life. The project of collecting historical materials from local churches in Canada and the United States was a gigantic one. Toews's persistence and credibility made it happen. Because of him, Mennonite Brethren became conscious of their history and their heritage.

But while institutions such as the historical centres may be the shadow of the man, it is the man himself who leaves the deepest mark upon his generation. He was authentic, a man of integrity, credible and passionate.

For me, his sermon on Philippians 3:10 in a south Saskatchewan town on a Sunday afternoon in the 1950s remains his trademark: "That I may know [Christ] and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings." J.B. had a sanctified obsession for God. He was not a saint, but he was a man of God. He longed for Mennonite Brethren to walk in godly ways. He agonized about the possible fragmentation of North American Mennonite Brethren, and especially their drift from an Anabaptist emphasis on discipleship to a shallow evangelicalism. He said he wrote the book Pilgrimage of Faith so that when Mennonite Brethren in the future would once more ask for the ancient paths of righteousness, they would have a map to lead them back. -- Elmer A. Martens

In many ways, J.B. Toews's homegoing represents the end of an era. My generation knows history through books, but J.B. was living history. He embodied, experienced and shaped the history of the Mennonite Brethren denomination. He was a magnetic force, a statesman, a prophet and a powerful preacher and teacher. We can learn important lessons from his life. I offer three:

1. J.B. was a purpose-driven leader. He always had a cause and a purpose. His direction was clear. His timing and ability to often have the last word in convention discussions was amazing. When J.B. spoke, most MBs listened.

It is striking that in every ministry he undertook, J.B. was never status quo. He leveraged ministries, agencies and institutions in new directions. In his eight years as President of MB Biblical Seminary, he recast the theology and curriculum from a mainstream, fundamentalist-evangelical orientation to a more Anabaptist, evangelical emphasis.

2. J.B. was a leader with a prophetic call to biblical discipleship. His ministry was Bible-centred, Christ-centred, church-centred and mission-centred. His teaching and preaching consistently called for a commitment to biblical conversion, to biblical discipleship and to the church. In his life and ministry, he modelled cross-bearing, self-denial and self-sacrifice. His consistent call to the church was for radical disciples who were willing to take an unpopular stance against comforts, greed, self-fulfillment, individualism, independence and poverty.

3. J.B. was a leader who loved and related to people. While many admired and benefited from J.B.'s public ministry, his greatest influence came through personal relationships. He knew that leadership is a trust, and that trust is built on a relational base. At the Seminary, we experienced him as a friend and colleague who invited students to his home, asked about our children, came to pray with us in time of need, called us on the phone or wrote us a note. While Seminary students benefitted from his lectures, they never forgot his personal interest or his ability and willingness to ask tough questions.

Many of his friends also experienced his "tough love". As a Seminary student in 1971, I conducted an evangelistic crusade in Raisin City, Calif. J.B. arrived at the evening meeting unannounced, tape recorder in hand. The next week, he took me to breakfast, affirmed what was good in my preaching, but then, with a long pointing finger, gave directives on ways to improve. I received it from him because I knew he cared and was committed to help me become a more effective communicator.

Many Seminary students and conference leaders have similar stories of J.B.'s mentoring, training influence in their lives. -- Henry Schmidt, President, MB Biblical Seminary

J.B. Toews has left a legacy of Bible-centred mission that greatly impacted the Mennonite Brethren Church around the world.

Toews was Executive Secretary for MB missions 1953-1963, and served as a member of the MB mission board 1966-72. While Executive Secretary, Toews began a transition in some of the ways mission was carried out. One new emphasis was to use different approaches and church models to suit the different cultures hearing the message.

The most significant change, according to MBMS International General Director Harold Ens, was toward a model in which national churches were discipled to become independent and to one day join in mission partnerships with North American churches. "The 17 MB conferences that are now involved in the International Committee of Mennonite Brethren began their journey to independence many years ago," says Ens. "J.B. recognized that if we are to have effective missions, we must work in partnership with national churches, and disciple new Christians so they can form multiplying church movements."

Toews also advocated mission efforts that reflect Christ's compassion for people's physical as well as spiritual needs. He stressed that we must both show our neighbour compassion and also speak clearly of the need for a personal commitment to Christ.

Toews was also responsible for bringing to North American MB churches a strong message of global mission. Clarence Hiebert, who served on the mission board for many years, recalls, "His dramatic and impassioned sermons included vivid reports of administrative mission visits abroad. His illustrations and storytelling, alongside the Bible-based mandates, were very influential." Long after his formal relationship with the mission board ended, J.B. continued to mentor people in the area of missions.

"J.B.'s wisdom, knowledge, influence and insights will continue to leave their mark on the Church and its mission for years to come," says Neil Fast, chair of the MBMS International Board. "We thank Brother Toews for his spiritual leadership and dedicated service." -- from an MBMS International news release