Soviet Evangelicals Since World War II, Walter Sawatsky, 1981

of detail and an understanding of its historical background. Karev concluded that not all Christian churches had joined the WCC; Roman Catholics were opposed, only a few Orthodox churches had joined, and the majority of Baptists were not members. Then he went on: The greatest insufficiency of the World Council of Churches is its very narrow base as a result of the lack of ecurnenical awareness among the masses of believers. In point of fact, the ecumenical enthusiasts are pri- marily archbishops, bishops, theologians and other churcly leaders and church organizations, but local churches and the broad level of Chris- tians have not been touched till now in any significant measure by the idea of one universal church and the ideals of the ecumenical movement. 368 Soviet Evangelicals Since World War Il Three years later, Bratskii Vestnik announced that Jacob Zhidkov and Alexei Stoian had represented the AUCECB at a meeting of the WCC Central Committee in Paris, where the AUCECB, as well as the Armenian Orthodox Church, the Georgian Orthodox Church, the Evangelical Lu- therans of Latvia and of Estonia were accepted into membership. Zhidkov was pictured in a full-page photo with the British Baptist Ernest Payne, who was then vice-chairman of the Central Committee.*> Zhidkov explained that the WCC represents the voice of the majority of churches in the world and will become the voice of the universal church. As argument for joining he cited Luke 9:50—“He who is not against us is for us’ —and expressed the conviction that by joining, the AUCECB would experience much bless- ing as.they cooperated in the great work of building the kingdom of God. The decision to join did not involve a decision of the AUCECB council or even its presidium; apparently there was: no discussion. At the 1966 Congress Karev reviewed the history of the ecumenical movement, noting that some did not participate because of the modernistic theology of many of the leaders. But Karev felt there was no need to fear. It is the task of the Christian to be light and salt in the world, and that, he felt, also means to other Christians. This was not a fusion of churches but simply a fellowship of churches, therefore there was no need to worry. The arguments he gave for participating in the WCC were that this allowed them to participate in actions of Christian love: to help the hungry, those reduced to poverty due to catastrophe, and to serve as bridge-builders between enemies.3* At the end of the 1963 Congress a general resolution had been read and approved expressing appreciation for the work of the AUCECB. This included the sentence: “The All-Union Congress welcomes the contacts between the AUCECB and the Baptist World Alliance and the entrance of the AUCECGB into the World Council of Churches.’’” That made it possible to say that the delegates official