Soviet Evangelicals Since World War II, Walter Sawatsky, 1981

yer a major tool of evangelism to the present. Soviet legislation requires that not only the church but also the clergymen must be registered. The clergyman or presbyter is registered with a given congregation and he is not permitted to preach in the neigh- boring parish.4° With this stipulation the 1929 legislators tried to restrain the activities of the Baptist evangelists who systematically traveled about trying to gain converts and start new church fellowships. Many evangelists ar- rested by authorities during the 1950s were punished for violating this legis- lation. In order to avoid this charge, Soviet evangelicals quickly developed a terminology suited to the occasion, At the end of the service the presiding minister invited visitors from other churches to share greetings, The con- gregation then stood in formal acceptance of the greetings and asked the visitors to take greetings back in return, If the person bringing the greeting is a minister, the local leader will invite the guest to step forward to the pulpit to share the greetings with the entire congregation. The visitor then begins giving greetings from his family and his church, describing some of their activities and concerns, As he continues with his greetings he also adds greetings from Paul or Peter or Jesus. Naturally, to share specific greetings from Jesus involves reading a Soviet Evangelicals Since World War ll 70 passage of Scripture and explaining what it means and what significance it has for this greeting. In short, the visitor will have used up the equivalent of a twenty-minute sermon for his greeting. The initiated foreign visitor will not be offended if he is simply invited to give a greeting and will know what to do, Several rather creative techniques have developed to suit the Soviet context for evangelism. Whereas many American churches attribute their high growth rate to a strong emphasis on the Sunday school, the Sunday school is forbidden in the Soviet Union and is in any case not a part of the historical tradition. But in an average church, twelve children ages six to nine will have twelve birthdays, probably one a month on an average. Birthday parties are very important in the Soviet Union. In a believing family friends of the believing child will gather fora party. They will play games which may include Bible quizzes, treasure hunts where the treasure is a Bible verse beautifully printed on a Piece of paper, or similar religious didactic games. Mother or Father will surely be present and may read a Scripture passage or lead in prayer, although very often the children will wish to do this themselves, In short, a carefully planned system of birthday parties has provided an excellent Sunday school substitute. Special youth meetings are also forbidden by law. Every evangelical congregation has a choir