Soviet Evangelicals Since World War II, Walter Sawatsky, 1981

e regional unions often maintained a staff of full-time evangelists. By 1927 this evangelization ministry was so well organized in the Ukraine that there were no less than 56 evangelists supported by the Ukrainian Baptist Union. At that time there were ap- proximately 1,000 congregations of Baptists and 2,000 congregations or groups of Evangelical Christians in the Ukraine.** As early as 1921. the All- Russian Baptist Union had an expense budget of 45 million rubles, most of this for support of evangelists. The importance of literature in their ministry is also illustrated by the 35-million-ruble income from the sale of literature published by the Baptists. In 1926 the council of the Baptist Union was so enthusiastic as to adopt as motto: “Christ for the pagans and Moslems liv- ing in the USSR.“ In April 1927 a mission society named “Friends of Mission to Heathen and Moslems’ was founded in Moscow; by September 40 Soviet Evangelicals Since World War Il 1928 Ivanov-Klyshnikov reported some success with seven trained workers in Moslem areas. Apparently Baptists also set up a five-year plan of mission to Kirgizia. Evangelical Christian missionary and expansion activity relied heavily on a literature program. Ivan Prokhanov and his associate Jacob Zhidkov devoted much time to writing, publication, importation, and distribution of periodicals, Bibles, songbooks, and tracts. Using money raised in America, they completed the printing of 25,000 copies of the complete Bible in 1926, printed 10,000 copies of a concordance in 1928 and numerous songbooks. Prokhanov was particularly prolific as a songwriter. Ten thousand copies of an incomplete Bible were printed in Kiev in 1927, and 25,000 copies of the New Testament were printed.®° This was the last time Bibles were printed in the Soviet Union till 1956. The Baptist Union’s range of activity was also extensive. In 1922 it or- ganized ten commissions to facilitate its work. These were: evangelism, literature and publishing, music, material aid, care of preachers, prepara- tion of workers and evangelists, moral education, finance, judicial affairs, and church order.5! Bible schools for ministers were organized by the Evan- gelical Christians in Leningrad and by the Baptists in Moscow and Kiev. Local leaders such as M. A. Orlov in Orel Oblast personally conducted a school for ministers where 90 persons participated. According to Prokhanov, 429, preachers were trained at the St. Petersburg school.*? None of these theological institutions were highly developed academically but they were the only schools the evangelicals had till a small correspondence course was started 40 years later. In some areas Evangelical Christians and Baptists competed. During the famine of 1920-22 both bodies distributed aid from abroad. Baptists limited their aid to fellow Baptists, while Evangelical Christians were more open. As a result the Baptists accused them of