Soviet Evangelicals Since World War II, Walter Sawatsky, 1981

se and some of their churches received copies of Brats Vestnik and Bibles.*° During the same period relations with the Mennonite Brethren had also developed increased tensions. In the Omsk region were many Men- nonite Brethren congregations that opposed registration. Others in the union threatened withdrawal because of Moscow's connections with the ecumenical movement. At the 1979 Congress German spokesman Abram Fast had urged a change to observer status. When German delegates met in caucus during the congress, they explained to foreign guests that they an- ticipated local church splits if they returned home with no change to report. Andrei Klimenko reported that there were now 58 congregations of German-speaking Mennonites in the union and that a number of Germans had been elected as assistant senior presbyters.® Klimenko, however, felt that the work toward unity remained inadequate. Those Mennonite Brethren not in the union were “very poorly acquainted with our confession of faith and statutes.’ And they also received very limited information by aaa Eee 440 Soviet Evangelicals Since World War Il letter from the Mennonite Brethren. Jacob Fast, Traugott Kviring, and Vik- tor Kriger had visited many churches, “but we consider that such visits should be increased, since at the congress it was said: ‘We elect brethren so that they will visit us.’ 62 Beginning in 1978 there was a new breakthrough in the strongly Mennonite Orenburg Oblast. Klimenko and Kriger were able to visit, and Bratskii Vestnik reported the existence of at least seven churches.® The appointment of a separate senior presbyter is anticipated. Must the unity formulas of 1944 and 1945 which produced the Union of Evangelical Christians, Baptists, and Pentecostals remain forever? In 1977 leading Pentecostal spokesmen were still proposing a structural change in the union in order to reduce tensions between Pentecostals and Baptists. This appeared to be threatening to the Moscow leadership and they advised that instead of structural change regional senior presbyters and local presbyters should work harder at improving relations between Baptists and Pentecostals. Rather than relying on organizational structures, they hope to maintain unity by relying on personalities. Some restructuring is, however, underway, and more will be necessary in the future. In May 1979 an administrative system based on the Ukrainian model had been introduced for the RSFSR. Would this be a step forward or backward? It will clearly strengthen church administration in an area that was long neglected because the All-Union Council leaders were preoc- cupied with national and international issues and could not devote the necessary attention to provincial matters. Since 1978 the northern and eastern areas of the RSFSR have experienced major revivals and a more coordinated administrative structure may help retain the new growth a