Soviet Evangelicals Since World War II, Walter Sawatsky, 1981

local authorities! Sunday school : and youth groups were legally forbidden, but birthday parties and choir practices became de facto substitutes. Elsewhere the atmosphere of an evangelistic meeting might be inappropriate at a funeral, but for Soviet evangelicals it was a major opportunity to hold an evangelistic rally out- doors with a guarantee that many unbelievers would be present. In spite of the wavelike character of these revivals, their persistence produced a new hope for the conversion of Russia. The new Soviet evangelicals tried to present a united front. Earlier unity attempts had been complicated by minor theological differences which the evangelicals took so seriously. But the chief difficulties had been due to too many leaders with prickly personalities and to the competition for church members which was jeopardizing their attempts to exercise church discipline. The new union was shaky from the start because its crea- tion violated the principle of congregationalism. Congregationalism was not restored till 1966. A further problem that refuses to go away is the distrust of the leadership because state officials continue to interfere in elections and Philip Borinskil’s family on their knees in prayer for him following his arrest for transporting paper other church decisions. . for Khristianin. (Photo courtesy of Friedensstimme) In one sense unity has withstood the test of time because the AUCECB still exists today. But it is also evident that not only did the 464 466 Soviet Evangelicals Since World War Il Reform Baptist split deal the union a powerful blow, the AUCECB is a more unstable union today than it was in 1945, It was a state requirement that all evangelicals should be in one union, therefore the Pentecostals were forced to join in order to be able to exist legally. Perhaps the state specified some of the anti-Pentecostal restrictions expressed in the August Agreement, but the staunch Baptists in the union have also maintained an anti-Pentecostal bias. Perhaps the emphasis on a fusion of the different de- nominations into one new denomination was too demanding. A unification of different denominational unions, while still maintaining some sense of distinctness, might have proved more successful. As it is, the Pentecostals are seriously considering leaving the AUCECB (they were never welcome in the CCECB) and that will very likely set the Mennonite Brethren to reeyaluating their relationship, Soviet evangelical involvement in society has been restricted to war and peace. From a movement where the majority were pacifist, they were transformed into proud soldiers defending the motherland, who proclaimed that pacifists were untrue to their constitution and to the message of the Bi- ble! Then came another metamorphosis when AUCECB leaders became active in the peace movement. Now they affirmed that “peace is the will of God” but they continued to reject pacifism—t