Baptistic Theologies, 2009

rch, the Baptist community grew, and services took place in Polish and Ukrainian. However, one of the pastors who followed Czaplik, M. Luty, was accused of showing favouritism to Ukrainian church members. In 1934 the Baptist church in Lwow divided into two churches - Polish and Ukrainian - and a strong witness was weakened. ^ German Baptists in Poland also received help from the United States. A letter to the German Baptist Churches of North America written in 1930 says: ‘If it wasn’t for the help we receive from America, it would be impossible to carry on the work’ , 34 Support from America was clearly beneficial, but it was also at times problematic. The help received from the USA led to the Baptist community being known in some quarters as ‘a church run by Americans’. Some Poles started to believe that the Baptist churches’ main aim was to receive money. One Roman Catholic newspaper ‘Gazeta Koscielna’ spoke in 1932 of a Baptist called Gitlin, who was described as a Jew from Ukraine, and a citizen of the United States, but who lived in Warsaw. His address was or given as ‘Ogrodowa 53’. The article, which had a strong anti-Jewish tone, went on to say that people were being shown ‘a few movies to hook them’ and at the end of meetings children were given ‘clothing and candies’/ An article ‘Baptists and their teaching’, which was written just after the Second World War, put forward a view adopted by many Polish commentators in the interwar period. The article portrayed Baptists as a very dangerous sect. 30 Bednarczyk, Prezbiter W. Peretianko", pp 14-17. 31 Gutsche, The Beginning of my work in Poland, p. 6. 32 Ibid., p. 24. 33 Ibid., p. 25. 34 N. Donald Miller, In The Midst Of Wolves (Oregon: Multnomah Printing, 2000), p. 226. 35 Jozef Dajczak, Sekty cliiljastvczno-judaistyczne, p. 39. 36 Ibid. Between the Wars: Golden Years of Polish Baptists 93 The author informed the readers that Baptist groups aimed to weaken and ultimately destroy the unity of the nation. According to the article. Baptists were being backed by rich people and were sending their missionaries from America and England. In Poland their desire, allegedly, was to ‘compete with the Catholic Church’ and they were described as ‘the largest sect in Poland’. There were both advantages and disadvantages in receiving help from America. Indigenous Mission Although there was considerable support from America for Polish Baptists, there was also widespread mission activity which was not the result of American partnership. This was true for both Slavic and German Baptists. World War I ended first in the eastern part of the country, between Russia and Poland. This enabled many people to come back to their native lands in that region and seek to rebuild their lives. Numbers of people became evangelical believers during their deportation or while they were captives during the war. In many cases this happened through encountering Rus