Eastern European Baptist History: New Perspectives, 2007

ly declined”.® Analysing the church's work in that timeframe, we see several reasons for the decline of churches. A few of the reasons were discussed at the headquarters of the Polish Baptist Union and outlined in their 1971 report at the Baptist Church’s twenty-second conference. First of all, the report claimed, local churches had lost their attractive- ness. They were no longer the only places where people could learn to read and write or sing and read music.*' As the world around the churches changed, each local church needed to find new forms of serving God and fellow people. Another problem noted was that people stopped being *? Adam Gutsche, “Powojenny Baptyzm Polski’, p. 25. 8 “Przedstawiamy zespoly’, Slowo Prawdy, no. 1 (January 1978), p. 17. * In 1970, the Baptist Church in Poland had 2301 members in fifty local churches and 102 daughter churches. Michat Stankiewicz, “Kosciél Baptyst6w w Polsce” in Stowo i Praca: Kalendarz “Stowa Prawdy” 1974, pp. 52-60. ® Stankiewicz, Kalendarz “Stowa Prawdy”, p. 92. *! Stankiewicz, Kalendarz “Stowa Prawdy”, p. 90. 179 involved and dedicated to church work. Many members just watched others working. This was discouraging to those who wanted to work for Christ and to involve others in that mission. In worship the church members became increasingly passive as a select group of pastors and preachers usually led the worship and held active roles. Much attention was paid to personal spiritual life. “Spiritual” discipline was practiced in all Baptists churches, which helped keep the church pure in the society. To become a member of a Baptist congregation, it was neces- sary to give up bad habits, such as alcohol and cigarettes. If these behav- iours returned later in a member's life, he or she was immediately excluded from the congregation. This was not only theory in Polish Baptist churches, but reality. The church during this time appeared almost comical in some areas. Baptist churches in Poland experienced a huge wave of emigration abroad, as believers took advantage of opportunities to escape the difficult economic situation. Many of those who emigrated had been key people in the churches. At the same time, during the period of Communism, believers often declared poverty to be positive example to follow, based on the Marxist ideology transposed into the thinking of the church. Slowo Prawdy sympathised with some slogans of the Communist party. For example, the monthly paper printed poems praising labour.” Some of the articles indicate a spirit of collectivism and socialism.” IDENTITY AND WorsHIP AFTER 1980 After 1980, extraordinary things took place throughout Eastern Europe. Poland was the first domino that started the fall of Communism. It took about nine years for the Communists to realise their defeat. After World War II, the Baptist Church in Poland had achieved its goal of recognition as a church, but still seemed too loose to be a movement