Mennonite Weekly Review

On my desk is A Generation of Vigilance: The Lives and Work of Johannes and Tina Harder by T.D. Regehr, published by Canadian Mennonite University, Winnipeg, 340 pages, $19.50.

Funk Wiebe

Certain stories need to be told to keep records straight for future generations. They also can help those who lived at the time reconcile their own experiences with the account.

This biography of Johannes and Tina Harder is such a narrative. T.D. Regehr tells the story of these controversial Canadian Mennonite Brethren leaders as neither a harsh debunking nor a bestowal of sainthood. He maintains a fair stance in between.

Among those who knew the Harders well are both “staunch supporters and harsh critics who suffered under [their] quest for perfection in church and family” within the MB church in mid­century. While many MWR readers may never have heard of this couple, I value this book for the insights it has given me about aspects of my own experience growing up MB in Canada.

Regehr follows the Harders’ story beginning with their early married life in Russia, to Canada in 1924, through years of hardship with a growing family, during a time of low wages and ill health, ending up in Yarrow, B.C., in 1930.

John Harder, with Tina at his side, came on the Canadian MB scene at a time when the Mennonite Brethren were undergoing tre­mendous change because of the large influx of new immigrants and a search for leaders who strongly endorsed MB values forged in Russia.

The Harders were willing to sacrifice personal comfort for the kingdom of God. John’s influence had far-reaching effect at the local, national and international MB structures — and indirectly to other Mennonite branches because of the strength of his personality, spiritual commitment and integrity.

The Harders came to Canada with a well-developed theology of the Christian life and the church. These two gifted individuals faced the huge task of establishing God’s kingdom as they had known it in Russia in the strange land of Canada — sort of like Joshua upon entering the land of Canaan.

The Harders set themselves up as “watchmen unto the house of Israel,” with two main goals. The first was to maintain MB boundary lines that contemporary culture could not penetrate. This included keeping out the English language.

The second goal was to develop a strong pattern of Seelsorge (soul care), or spiritual nurture. Although this might be considered pastoral care today, Seelsorge, when I was a young person, was somehow more intense, more personal, more pointed, more deliberate in taking time to discuss people’s behavior with them and edging them back into the kingdom of God. It was almost something to be feared.