Soviet Evangelicals Since World War II, Walter Sawatsky, 1981

d local groups of zealous young people, he was anticipating an extensive program of church growth which included systematic teaching. It will probably be decades before evangelical isolation in this region comes to an end and a network of churches similar to that in the Ukraine becomes established. Already in 1966 senior presbyter Raevski had invited young, energetic presbyters to move to his region because they were badly needed.®® Few, apparently, have responded so far, for that is nearly equivalent to asking affluent Westerners to accept the rigors of a Third World country. Soviet or Russian Evangelicals? At best, these brief comments provide insight into the tremendous Life in the Provinces 269 diversity of evangelical life in the Soviet Union. In contrast to the more dominant Russian Orthodox Church, which is almost exclusively Slavic, So- viet evangelicals have become almost as international as the Communist Party itself. That is why they are regarded as a potentially dangerous challenge since the Great Russians will soon lose their status as representing more than 50 percent of the population. It is apparent that the AUCECB leadership is still dominated by the Great Russians, but the 1974 congress reflected growing sentiments of na- tionalism. That calls for selfless leadership if the union is to avoid further di- vision. One of the Ukrainian delegates turned to his own, and with the elo- quence of poetry urged them to forego their deep desire to read the Bible in their mother tongue but rather support the general effort so that they would at least get more Bibles even if they were Russian.® Those local sentiments indicate that as the Moscow leadership continues to gain more concessions for the church, the new freedom may eventually permit the luxury of na- tionalist division. The restlessness under Great Russian leadership from Moscow is an underlying factor in the movement toward denominational autonomy to which we now turn. Notes to Chapter 9 1. BV, 1/47, p. 14. 2, Author's personal notes as observer based on report from mandate com- mission. 3, Kahle, pp. 204-85 306-309. 4. BV, 4/48, p 5. EBPS, April *, 1977. Ray Oppenheim, American chaplain in Moscow who traveled widely in the Ukraine, estimated it to be 60 percent—200,000 members in 1975. 6. Lialina, p. 16. On the Uniiate Church, see Bohdan Bociurkiw, “The Uniate Church in the Soviet Ukraine: A Case Study in Soviet Church Policy,” Canadian Slavonic Papers, VII, 1965, 89-113; and his forthcoming book, The Ukrainian. Greek-Catholic Church and the Soviet State Since World War II. 7. D. I. Ponomarchuk (1892-1968); converted 1915; Baptist preacher in Dnepropetrovsk Oblast; joined Pentecostals in 1925 and became member of All- Ukrainian Council of Pentecostal Union; leader of Pentecostal Union 1944-45; assistant SP for Ukraine 1947-57; SP for Moldavia 1957-61. Biographical data (true also for others mentioned: in this c