Eastern European Baptist History: New Perspectives, 2007

British Holiness theology. Church Polity From the late 1860s to the early 1880s, all of Kargel’s work with the church had been denominational, specifically German Baptist. In Poland he pastored a Baptist church; in St Petersburg, he pastored and registered a Baptist Church. In Bulgaria, he re-baptised Congregationalists into the new Baptist church and proceeded to organise several small groups into Baptist Churches. That changed in 1884. When Pashkov and Korff were banished from Russia, Kargel abandoned the fledgling Baptist movement in Bulgaria to assist the Pashkovite movement, then centred at the mansion of Prin- cess Natalie Lieven. This palace became the meeting point for locals and foreigners involved in the European Evangelical Alliance and in the Holi- ness movement in general. It also became the venue for the larger meetings of the Pashkovites and Bible classes taught by Kargel. While working in St Petersburg from 1884 until 1888, Kargel made no attempt to organise the cell groups into churches. He preached at various locations in the city and held Bible Studies in the Lieven home. He also became acquainted with the foreign guests who stayed at the Lieven home who practised a pietistic approach to Christian ministry. These guests included members of the Evangelical Alliance such as Friedrich Baedeker, teachers and preachers of the Holiness Movement such as Jessie Penn- Lewis, Otto Stockmayer and H. Grattan Guinness, interdenominational student leaders such as Baron Paul Nicolay and John Mott, and social workers such as George Mueller and Mildred Duff of the Salvation Army. These relationships influenced Kargel’s view of the universal church, rela- tionships between local congregation, and denominations in general. He began to sense a strength and unity in organic relationships, which he had not experienced in denominational structures. There is no record that he ever returned to his German Baptist congregation or re-established contact with the German Baptist Union. Nor did he re-establish his contacts with the proto-Baptist group he had helped found with Wieler. In 1885, one year after they had founded the group, Wieler was forced to flee to Romania to escape persecution, the result of his consistent evangelistic activity among 83 the Russian population.” Despite the fact that Kargel was vice-president of this organisation, there is no record that he attempted to continue its activity.” During the persecutions and political turmoil of the late 1880s and early 1890s in the Russian Empire, Kargel and his family took up residence in Finland. From there he continued his work as a translator with Baedeker, and helped organise the Russian Evangelical Free Churches in Finland. He also made several trips back to the Mennonite Brethren Communities in southern Russia to hold month-long Bible classes. During these years, many of his theological writings were published in Zionsbote, a journal of