Soviet Evangelicals Since World War II, Walter Sawatsky, 1981

Exterior view of Frunze Baptist Church. The sanctua ry floor is below ground level so that the ing his share of the 25,000 Bibles imported in December 1978. building will not tower above the neighboring houses. ing ' : ; BOTTOM: External view of the central (lamskaia) church in Kiev. This building belongs to the Ad- BOTTOM: Bratskii Vestnik, AUCECB biomontily journal. ventists, the Baptists only recently receiving permission to build their own suitably large building. 171 170 TOP (both pages): All three choirs in the Central Moscow Church combine for the final festive program at the 1979 AUCECB congress. BOTTOM: A youthful spokesman from Kiev urging delegates at the 1979 congress to take the concerns of young people to heart. 172 BOTTOM: Interior of Tashkent ECB risen”; “lam coming soon.” Church, 1974. The Signs proclaim: “God is love”; “Christ is 173 irgizia. TOP: Preparations for thanksgiving in the newly bullt church In Frunze, Kirg | lor presbyter. Leaders of the 1,000-member church in Frunze In the offices of the senior p BOTTOM: Lea F for Kirgizia), A. A. Seated left to right are: Vasil’ev (presbyter), N. N. Sizov (senior presbyter 9 Warkentin (assistant presbyter). 174 TOP: Graduating class of the Bible correspondence s In the second row Center is AUCEC choo! in 1974, together with Moscow leaders, B president tia G. Ivanov. (Photo Courtesy of Keston College) building in Frunze, buil ground level sanctuary BOTTOM: The new church Ground reflects the below- the neighboring houses. t with voluntary Jabor on! y. The entrance in fore- So that the entire buildin 9 does not tower above 175 1. Mitske- An additional preacher ordained in Moscow by Presbyter Michael Zhidkov (right) and A.1 vich. (Photo courtesy of Keston College) 176 Dissent Begins, 1960-1965 177 Tsurkan, and A. §. Goncherov (1895) were senior people w experience in church leadership.3 But none of them had led churches belonging to the AUCECB for any length of time. This means that the Init- siationiki movement crystallized out of older leaders and younger men who had one thing in common—they were unaccustomed to a church that was not free. The new statute of 1960 really shocked them. ith considerable The Issue: Separation of Church and State All sources agree that the new AUCECB statute dispatched to the churches in the summer of 1960 and the accompanying secret letter of instructions to the senior presbyters precipitated the split. This letter warned about “unhealthy missionary tendencies,” asserting that a membership drive “must be decisively terminated.” Baptism of young people between eighteen and thirty must be kept “to a complete minimum.” Believers should also be encouraged to abandon their negative views on art, literature, radio, movies, and television. The instruction in- cluded advice to ensure that children