Baptistic Theologies, 2009

iblical Course of the Evangelical Christians- Baptists in Russia, 1971, no 3, p. 73. 13 Istoriya Evangelskikh Khristian Baptistov SSSR, p. 169. 14 Ibid., pp. 214-215. 15 Ibid., p. 215. Ivan Kargel and the Fulfilment of Revival 27 took in fifty students and accepted students from the Evangelical Christian Union and the Baptist Union. Ivan Kargel and Ivan Prokhanov again were at the podium accompanied by V.I. Bykov and N.A. Kazakov. The St. Petersburg school continued to operate until 1929, 16 training pastors and missionaries. Kargel taught Doctrine, The Book of Revelation and The Second Coming of Christ. This school received funding from the Baptist World Alliance in 1923. The programme produced good results and by 1929 there were nearly 400 graduates. Graduates of the school looked back on those days as adults with respect for the education they had received 17 from these teachers. Ivan Kargel as a Writer During his life, Ivan Kargel wrote seven books and was a regular contributor to Khristianin, the official journal of the Evangelical Christian Union. All of his books have been reprinted in the past fifteen years and are still widely read amongst Russian-speaking evangelicals. Kargel also wrote a confession of faith for the ‘Second St. Petersburg Community of Evangelical Christians’ which he served as pastor in 1913. When the All Union Council of Evangelical Christians-Baptists adopted their own confession, they chose this statement written by Ivan Kargel over the statements of faith written by Oncken and Prokhanov 19 and continued to use it until 1984. It is not slanted toward any systematic theology but is based in a biblical theology, articulating what is clear in scripture while remaining silent on extrapolations of those truths. Ivan Kargel as an Influencer Ivan Kargel died in 1937 at the age of 88. Bratski Vestnik, the official journal of the All Union Council of Evangelical Christians-Baptists of the Soviet Union (AUCECB) continued to regularly print articles and sections of his books. Alexander Karev, General Secretary of the AUCECB, 1944- 1971, credited Kargel as being a major influence in his theological training. 20 A.M. Bychkov, General Secretary of the AUCECB, 1971-1990, 16 This school was used by the Evangelical Christians and the Baptists until 1927 when the Russian Baptist Union started their own three-year Bible School in Moscow. The St. Petersburg Bible School continued to operate until 1929 when Ivan Kargel was arrested by the Police while he was lecturing. Following the arrest, he was banished from St. Petersburg and the school was closed. The previous year, Prokhanov travelled to Toronto to attend the Baptist World Alliance meetings in Toronto and defected to Canada. He remained president of the Evangelical Christian Union until his death in 1935. 17 Bratski Vestnik, 1979, No. 6 and Kargel, Sobranie Cochinenij, p. 686. 18 Referred to at the time as the ‘Short