Journal of European Baptist Studies, 2007

earlier than August 1964. 54 Nevertheless, even in these four difficult years, Grozdanov was able to continue with Baptist activity and consolidate the Skopje mission as a centre for work in the region. At this time, the church began to grow and Strahil was taking care of the Radovis and Leskovac churches until the 1970s, and also frequently ministering in the Methodist churches in Strumica, Kolesino and Skopje. 55 There were significant signs of activity in the church, and even the secret police noticed that ‘in contrast with the Methodist church it has quite lively activity lately’. 56 In the 1960s several new Baptist churches in this region were S7 established. Throughout his ministry in all of these churches, Strahil had a 50 Christ Anastasoff, The Truth About Macedonia: American Missionaries’ Testimony (Indianapolis: MPO, 1964), p. 31. 51 Report (16.11.1960). SG, UDBA. 52 Neal, Titoism in Action: the reforms in Yugoslavia after 1948, p. 220. 53 Report, (4.1.1962, 10.5.1962, 10.6.1963), SG, UDBA. 54 Ibid., (13.8.1964). 55 Ibid., (28.2.1957). 56 Ibid., (24.5.1963). 57 McConnell, Indigenous Baptists and Foreign Missionaries , p. 150. The life and legacy of Strahil Grozdanov 31 special emphasis on educating the children. In a few of his sermons preserved in the UDBA police record, he repeatedly encouraged members r o to bring their children to the special children’s lessons he would hold/ It was to this ministry that Strahil would devote much of his energy. His experience as a child in the home of his father had theologically projected into him the importance of educating children in the faith of their parents. His ministry also had a strong emphasis on the devotional life. Reading scripture, and morning, evening and meal-time prayer, were all indispensable parts of the life of faith. Every meal time of the family would begin with a prayer and reading from the Bible, and it would end with a song. In his testament to his children and grandchildren he urged them to do three things: a daily reading of the Bible, a daily prayer hour, and to do the above two with real faith in God. 59 It was this attitude that propelled him as a pastoral figure in all of the churches he visited. He was a very pastoral and approachable man, taking care of the needs of the people, which made him a likeable man by the members of the churches in which he served. His theology, in spite of being trained in a seminary, never reached the academic sophistication of some of his peers. In one of his writings, for example, he confuses the theological term amillennialism with a realised eschatology meaning. 60 His knowledge of academic theology was also limited by his lack of speaking a world language, thus limiting his use of theological literature. 61 But for the people he was caring for, this meant very little. The repressive communist system had set in motion difficult living standards for Christians, and