Soviet Evangelicals Since World War II, Walter Sawatsky, 1981

consisting of volunteers. Obviously the choir needs to practice regularly in order to sing well. In many congregations the choir practice is carefully planned to serve as a substitute for the youth meetings. Many unconverted young people enjoy singing and the local church choir provides an opportunity for this as well as an opportunity to meet members of the opposite sex, Choir practice begins with a short Scripture meditation and prayer. Often during the middle of the rehearsal, time will be taken for another “sermon,” often devoted to a topic of special interest to young people. Not only does this make the choir an important teaching vehicle for the young people, it also means that the choir leader must be a person of special capabilities, His ability to relate to young people and to expound the Word may be as important as his musical skills. There are two human phenomena that will always continue and which are uniquely suited to reflecting on questions of life and death. For the human race to procreate, men and women must marry. Marriages in the Soviet Union are formalized in a simple civil procedure but a growing number of young people demand the addititional romance of a religious marriage ceremony.*! Christian weddings are special occasions for evange- lism. Both bride and groom will invite unconverted friends and relatives, as ~& Renewal and Church Growth, 1944-1957 71 continue to exist, yet enough difficult : ulties to ensu t i was a church of the highly committed only, ee tego 72 Soviet Evangelicals Since World War Il little babushka promised to ask around. The priest that he did meet quite different from the stereotypes he had read about and he cecilia ; was interesting to talk to the priest. In fact the priest had a more roun education than he had himself. The priest gave him a New eee which he started to read with great interest but was obliged to hide it = that his wife who was teaching in an institute of Marxism-Leninism wou e find out about it. After a while he discovered that his wife was ue the Bible secretly but was hiding it from him the way he had hidden : ie her. Then he discovered she had been baptized and had baptize a child. Since he also believed the words of the Book, he decided - 4 a remained to be done was for him to be baptized. When he selene = tism, they asked to see his passport. Soon people at work called a vin informed him that if they had known he was a believer they wou be i given him the apartment he had received recently. The letter ende : wi 4 the plucky young man asserting that he would continue with his newfoun i atter what. ae aot story illustrates the numerous disadvantages in se Chris- tianity, especially for young career-oriented persons. In spite of t many determined to join as did this young man. Many new conver ees baptized into the new evangelical churches after the war. Soon the AU-