Toews, John A. (1912-1979)

Mennonite Brethren Herald obituary: 1979 Feb 16 p. 35

Birth date: 1912 Aug 15

text of obituary:

JOHN A. TOEWS

John AROn Toews was born August 15, 1912 in the village of Ruckenau, Molotschna colony, in southern Russia, the third of four children born to Awn A. and Agnes (nee Harms) Toews. His father was at the time a young, promising and aspiring teacher. As John grew into boyhood and youth, the stable world of the pre-war Russian Mennonites was transformed by war, revolution and civil strife. It was during these years, between 1914 and 1926, that his father found his vocation as minister and evangelist and through him John appropriated for himself the deep faith and core of values and convictions which formed the bedrock of his character and later ministry. His conversion came in 1924 during intense counselling and Bible study with his father.

The family's emigration from the steppes of Russia ended on a small pioneer homestead near Namaka, Alberta in February, 1927. The energy with which John attacked, over came or simply ignored economic hardship and courted the young woman who was to be his wife, set up a family and pursued his education seems quite incredible to a some what pampered generation. He became acquainted with Nettie Willms when both attended the Coaldale Bible School in 1931 and in November, 1935 they were married. Five children were born to them, the first while they were students at Tabor College, in Hillsboro, Kansas. The depression and the years during World War II when he served as chaplain to men in C.O. camps clearly had a decisive impact on his conception of his vocation as a minister, preacher and teacher. His lifelong emphasis on the prophetic, critical role of Christian commitment in the political and social world, on faith as the foundation of social conscience and active service, and the connection between these positions and the historical Anabaptist heritage of the Mennonite Brethren Church was already recognizable in him at the end of the thirties.

In 1940 John accepted a call from the Coaldale Bible School, which began his public ministry as teacher, scholar, church leader and administrator. In 1947 he came to the Mennonite Brethren Bible College, to which he gave twenty years, eight as president. Later he gave three years to the Fraserview Church of Vancouver as pastor, taught at Trinity Western College in Langley, B.C., wrote The History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, and once again returned to the Mennonite Brethren Bible College. During his very active public ministry, he served on numerous conference committees, was moderator of conferences on provincial, national as well as the North American level, and represented Mennonite Brethren on the board of MCC as well as the Mennonite World Conference presidium. He had degrees from several universities, including a doctorate from the University of Minnesota. His spiritual development and personal growth never ended. During the last decade of his life, he was clearly aware that he was entering a new phase of his life, not denying his past but completing it and transcending it. His growing sense of the secondary importance of doctrinal and denominational differences and his concentration on the unity in Christian love reflected this shift in emphasis. The man who insisted that the Christian faith always implies a commitment to spiritual and moral values which can never be compromised did not really disappear. Rather he more and more emphasized that those commitments which we can't compromise are precisely the ones which bind us together in a community of under standing and love. In I Corinthians 13 he found encapsulated the truth which above all he wanted his children, his friends, his colleagues and students to remember, to possess and to live. He went to be with his Lord on January 13, 1979, in Winnipeg.

He leaves to mourn his sudden departure his wife, Nettie; his children, Elfrieda (Mrs. Wayne) Nafziger of Manhattan, Kan., Wilma (Mrs. Barry) Kennedy of Vancouver, John and Eleanor of New York, David and Kathy of Grande Prairie, Alta., and Irene (Mrs. Bill) Maier of Kelowna , B.C.; eight grand children; two sisters; and many who cherish his memory. His interment was in Abbotsford, B.C. on January 18.