Eastern European Baptist History: New Perspectives, 2007

in America a century ago, from a mission into a denomination.** ECB repre- sentatives at such interdenominational meetings played a modest role, but their attendance served to keep communication lines open. The desired cooperation has so far not really materialised. In 2003 there was an attempt to organise a Russian Evangelical Alli- ance, which affected mostly the Moscow region and, more recently, the Novosibirsk region. In this case, the initiative came largely from abroad.” Since the Evangelical Alliance has traditionally been based on individual membership rather than membership as church unions, it remains to be seen what role current leaders of the alliance will achieve in shaping evan- gelical denominations in general. Slavic Evangelical Future in a World of Orthodox Predominance and Overwhelming Secularism When the great transformation of 1989 came, some evangelical leaders *” Both Logos and Aquila tried to avoid the partisanship of earlier missions toward either registered or unregistered churches. Baptist Unions and Mennonite bodies such as Men- nonite Central Committee and Mennonite Brethren Mission Services International were frequently part of the supporting base for these projects. ** The present designation is Association of Missionary Evangelical Churches. * Founding chairperson of the Russian Evangelical Alliance is Dr Vladimir Riaguzov, prin- cipal of the Baptist Moscow Theological Institute, the re-organised correspondence school. The German Evangelische Allianz has provided support. 205 imagined that now Prokhanovs grand vision of winning Russia for Christ might truly come to pass. Both Orthodox and evangelical leaders were pressed to near exhaustion by a spiritually seeking public asking the way to God. It seemed, too, that whatever need there was for mission, fellow believers in Western Europe and America stood ready to assist financially. By 1996, a profound pessimism had set in among the general public, and church leaders concentrated on realistic programmes and policies. None of the theological schools could survive without some continued foreign support, but support from the local churches has been building. Many of the mission initiatives are also making do with limited funds. Expensive radio programming, for example, receives less emphasis, nor are large evan- gelistic rallies popular. By 2005 it has become clear, as we attempt to assess the extent of Orthodox believers who actually practice their faith, that this dominant church has a very low active membership, closer to 4% than 80% of the Russian population; and that in Ukraine, there is a religious pluralism of Orthodox, Uniates, Evangelicals and Catholics, each significant enough to shape the culture.“ Russia has remained above all an overwhelmingly secular society, with social problems of overwhelming proportions and few broadly supported social-economic strategies for recovery. This is the world in which t