Journal of European Baptist Studies, 2007

in Kyrgyzstan followed this way. For Mennonite Churches, who practised baptism by pouring, it became the usual way of legalisation. The time of fellowship, revival, and church restoration showed that the Mennonites and German-speaking Baptists were not an isolated faith community guarded by language and special legislation as in tsarist times. They all became part of one big group of evangelicals in the Soviet Union, oo being united by common church structures and practices. Divisions were caused by non-theological issues. This period produced a shift in identity with certain Mennonites. The most tolerant regarding confessional identity was the AUCECB which included different denominations. Mennonites could choose between several models of cooperation at the church level. Most preferred was the model of a church within a church when the Germans maintained their own leadership and only shared in the use of the building with the Russian part of the church, as in Frunze, Kyrgyzstan. The second model provided separate German services under a common church leadership. While the leadership of the AUCECB stressed the presence of MB’s in the union, its local representatives tried to present all members of Baptist churches, including Mennonites, as Baptists. On the other hand, the CCECB, with its strict leadership, did not tolerate deviations even in the name of its member churches, using the common name of Evangelical Christian-Baptists. 84 With the exception of the MB Churches, the preserving of Mennonite identity in a Baptist environment took place within the family. 81 Istoriya evangel’skikh khristian-baptistov v SSSR, pp. 246-248. 82 K. Gotz, Aufden Spuren meines Lebens (Gummersbach, 1997), pp. 107-112. 83 Ya. Ya. Fast, ‘Istoricheskil put’ razvitiya vzaimootnoshenil bratskikh mennonitov s evangel’sko- baptistskim bratstvom’ [The Historical Way of Development of Mutual Relations of the Mennonite Brethren with the Evangelical-Baptist Brotherhood], Bratskii vestnik, 1(1985), pp. 53-9. 84 Examples in: R.G. Dik, Ogon’palyashchii shisn’ khranit. Istoriya tserkviposelka Rudnik-Dshezkazgan [Scorching Fire Keeps Life. History of the Church in the Settlement of Rudnik-Dshezkazgan] (Gummersbach, 2005), pp. 102, 108. Rebirth in the Valley of Shadow 53 Conclusion Due to Stalin’s purges, the Churches of the Mennonites and German Baptists in the USSR were destroyed. During World War II, most of the German-speaking believers were deported to Siberia, Kazakhstan and Middle Asia. Not until ten years after the end of the war were they allowed to resettle. In spite of harsh oppression, the faith was not completely wiped out. The first manifestations of faith made no denominational distinctions between Baptists, Lutherans and Mennonites. This phase resembled the times of the Pietistic revival one hundred years earlier. Due to political changes, the Germans received their freedom and, at the same time, the ch