Soviet Evangelicals Since World War II, Walter Sawatsky, 1981

of os ne ia aoe The baptism took place because the warden, who orted this to the authorities, got to the scen S oanne ! , e of the “crime” ten sealed se late. a role : the warden and the disinclination of the older © spend a second term in prison finally | it wi y led to a split with th ee preacher and the young people forming a separate church. . r ne is a typical ven The brave and zealous young people had less fear consequences, but it is unfair to dismiss all regi tered presbyt cowards. The task of the byter i i fovthe laces, presbyter is an onerous one. Exce ) pt for the lar saat ars in ae city, the presbyter works for his living in the fac. on the collective farm like his fellow members ) and can only devot his free time to church work. That means that after the sihaisticne of the 324 Soviet Evangelicals Since World War Il day’s labor and of standing in line to buy food and other necessities, he is still expected to have the energy and creativity to provide forward-looking leadership. The church’s expectations of him are considerable. ‘Assistant General Secretary Mitskevich described these expectations in a recent article.2? Above all, he must serve as pastor or shepherd of the flock, which is a high honor but also very difficult. He has a responsibility for each soul; he must be as a father to the church. That means, too, that he must be concerned that the members receive good spiritual food. By means of visita- tion and conversation he should be personally acquainted with the experiences, illnesses, and suffering of each member. According to Mitske- vich, the presbyter must also have the gift of administration. This gift, as he and others such as Karev and Levindanto regularly emphasize,*° must not lead to dictatorial ruling over the others, but he should be able to rely on assistants and should create an atmosphere of mutual understanding and unity. But as administrator ‘he is responsible to take the initiative on all church activity and should also plan ahead. Mitskevich in particular criticized the tendency to wait until the minute before the start of the service, when the preachers met for pre-service prayer, to find out who would be assigned to preach. Preaching quality would be better if the presbyter had assigned a preaching rota in advance. The Moscow leadership has regularly encouraged an improvement in the quality of the leadership by printing helpful articles in the journal. In 1958 they also sent a handbook for ministers to all the churches, which was replete with practical advice.*! ; Although the evangelicals emphasize the priesthood of all believers, in practice it is not only the Baptist presbyter who has a tendency to dominate his flock, Worship in a typical Pentecostal service is as follows: Following the congregational singing, the presbyter or elder preaches an introductory sermon, During th