156 / The Role of Conference in Transitions and Expansions

gelism as the church's main concern. Steiner's compassion for the lost made him a fervent evangelist, and he frequently showed impatience with persons or conferences who were "slow" in this regard.

Steiner also lamented an attitude found among church people who were repeatedly influenced by the expectation of the end of the world. In the July 15, 1887, Herald of Truth he said:

The opinion that the world is soon coming to an end, and there is ono. use of trying to build up the church any more, for the people will not heed our teaching anyway, is gaining ground too fast among us. There are at this time too many who fold their arms, shut their eyes and take the sleeping car on the

Gospel train.

That the Ohio Mennonite Conference had wide fraternal relations with the brotherhood is apparent in the records which tell of visiting ministers to the conference. In 1904 J. S. Shoemaker of Illinois preached the annual conference sermon. In 1906 it was preached by Daniel Kauffman of Scottdale, and in 1907 by T. M. Erb of Kansas. In 1910 C. M. Brackbill of Gap, Pennsylvania, and in 1913 L. J. Heatwole of Dale Enterprise, Virginia, brought the keynote message to the assembled delegates.

The influence of Daniel Kauffman in the life of the conference can be noted in that he also preached the conference sermon in 1916 and again in 1918. The conference discussions and resolutions during these years took the turn of opposing a salaried ministry as well as a "neglected" ministry. "Worldward drift" was denounced, deeper spiritual life was advocated, and membership in labor unions and granges was considered inappropriate.

Thus well into the twentieth century the Ohio Mennonite Conference continued its separatistic emphases, though the record is also clear that its members and leaders felt a call to evangelism and witness and also answered it.

Early Amish Venture in Conference Organization

From 1862 to 1878 the Amish congregations of Ohio joined with their brethren from Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa to hold annual conferences (except in 1877) known as Diener Versammlungen.' These conferences were deemed necessary for the unity of the Amish faith and practice which was undergoing tests and changes in the latter part of the nineteenth century.