Baptistic Theologies, 2009

meless’. 44 In Sochaczew, near Warsaw, Robert Klutting started a work among Jews, proclaiming Jesus Christ as the expected Messiah. The impact was so great, with up to one hundred people attending, that the Police terminated his meetings. Later Klutting became a missionary among Jews. 45 Revival meetings were also held. Often these revivals were led by travelling preachers. One of these described a typical event in 1925: ... it was dark when we arrived but our sisters and brothers were waiting for us. They welcomed us wholeheartedly. After supper we had been invited to a meeting in a large house. After sermons which I preached in both the Polish and Russian languages we were ready to answer questions asked by both Orthodox believers and Jews, but our time together had to stop because it was midnight. The next day the believers were asked to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, which we did, returning to the train station in the afternoon. 46 Donald Miller wrote about another local revival: ‘Not only did the members of the household open their hearts to God, but members of the community as well. Soon revival meetings were held in a nearby school, 41 Interview with Wlodzimierz Jowko, Born in 1909, Nursing Home in Bialystok, 06.02.2002. 42 Baptysci w Polsce, Gazeta Koscielna, 1938, p. 813. 43 Aleksander Huryn, Dzieje zboru i budowy w Rudce, Slowo Prawdy, no. 11, November 1990, p. 15. 44 Ibid., p. 16. 45 Robert Klutting’s experiences among Jews are in Bednarczyk, Historici Zborow Baptystycznych w Polsce do 1939 roku, p. 327. 46 Trip Report , Slowo Prawdy, September 1925, No. 9, p. 61. Between the Wars: Golden Years of Polish Baptists 95 and in a short time many people were converted.’ 47 The visiting preachers usually had services in the villages in one of the member’s homes, and led the Sunday School for children. During the time when the Slavic Baptist congregations in Poland were growing, the Germans also experienced growth. They had their own paper called ‘Der Hausfreund’, published in Lodz. 49 Donald Miller wrote about the German Baptists in Volhynia: At that time the church began to grow again. In 1921-1922 they baptized eighty people. In 1923 when Gustav G. Alf’s son visited the area, they baptized another fifty-six. Later, they baptized ninety-five, then another eighty-two. Gradually things got better. One year they baptized 336 people. Membership in the nearby church of Kolowert also began to grow...By the mid-1920s the church in Lucinow had forty preaching stations and thirty-one regular stations. 50 An enormous contribution was made by women. In December 1922 Polish Baptist women bought a hospital in Lodz and then a house for deaconesses - ‘Tabea’. In 1923 they established the ‘Women’s Association’ and in 1930 the Nurses’ Association. They also edited a songbook in Polish to be used in Bible schools and at youth meetings. 51 Among other social ventures was an Old People’s Home, esta