Baptistic Theologies, 2009

aptist church. These requirements were based on I Timothy 2:1-18. A candidate ‘had to have a spirit of prayer for all people’, he was to ‘preach the Word of God’, and he should ‘have a testimony of his own deeds, which meant having clean hands’.“ The emphasis was on spiritual sensitivity, ability and proven character. Some who had left Poland for America returned to Poland to serve in the Baptist churches. One of these was Karol W. Strzelec, who was born in Russian Poland in 1869. Before going to the USA he led a Polish-Czech group of Baptists in the German Baptist Church in Lodz. They had their own choir, in which Poles and Czechs sang together. There were a number of Czechs in the small colonies scattered around Zelow near Lodz. 22 Strzelec went to the USA in 1893 and from the Polish Baptist Mission in Buffalo, New York, he was recommended to Rochester Theological Seminary in 1894. After five years of study, Strzelec was ordained to the ministry by the First Polish Baptist Church of Buffalo, New York. The first five years of ministry were spent in Detroit, Michigan, and Pound, Wisconsin. During his career he organised four Baptist congregations, welcomed nearly 400 Polish converts into membership, and developed the Polish department of the National Baptist Seminary Theological School. He was also the first Polish Protestant writer on 18 Konstanty Wiazowski, Interview, Wyzsze Seminarium Baptystyczne, Warszawa, 20 lh March 2002. 19 Robert G. Torbet, A History of the Baptists (Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1973, third ed.), p. 188. 20 Letter of Waldemar Gutsche, The Beginning of my work in Poland, Geschichte Der Deutschen Baptisten in Poland von 1858 - 1945, Von Robert L. Klutting, Im Sellbstverlag des Verfassers, translated by Siegmund Karczewski, p. 21. 21 Bohdan Jaroszewicz, Zarys Dziejow Kosciofa Baptystow w Polsce (Warszawa, 1955), p. 107. 22 Baptysci w Polsce, Gazeta Koscielna, 1938, p. 813. Between the Wars: Golden Years of Polish Baptists 91 religious and social topics in the United States. 23 Strzelec returned to Poland in 1919 and was a pioneer of the Polish mission that was supported 24 by the Northern Baptist Convention. One of the American representatives of the Northern Baptist Convention who took an interest in Poland was Dr Lewis. By means of his 9 S financial support, a publishing house ‘Kompas’ (Compass) was set up. Strzelec helped with the establishing of ‘Kompas’. He was also, like Lewis, committed to social ministry, and helped to collect an amount of money each year that was given to farmers and poor students. His work resulted in 485 scholarships for students, 150 subsistence allowances, and clothes and shoes worth about 600,000 dollars. Baptist churches were able to help 3,874 families and 8,983 single people. 26 The Central Committee for Baptist Aid also assisted Baptists and Evangelical Christians with the construction and physical upkeep of buildings. With Strze