Soviet Evangelicals Since World War II, Walter Sawatsky, 1981

obtainable except on the black market. Often local officials were simply waiting for a Christian to give in to temptation to buy the doors anyway and then would pounce on him. That also helped to guarantee that church discipline would be swift for anyone trying to serve God and mammon at the same time. In short, deciding to become a Christian, to risk a baptism, and to continue to live and identify with Christians made life difficult. But that is precisely why it is possible to say that the evangelical church in the Soviet Union is a strong church. As Zhidkov remarked, “Better a small group but true followers of Christ, than a large congregation, but such on whom we cannot depend,”’47 Believers still recall with fond memories the early period before the Khrushchev persecution set in, For many believers, that was the period of “first love.” It was a time when revival swept the countryside, when the simple joy of hearing God’s Word read and preached produced indescrib- able emotions. Then people rejoiced if a companion was also a believer without caring to know his denominational affiliation, Personally many re- Soviet Evangelicals Since World War II 74 membered the bitter tears of repentance at their own conversion and the tears of joy at forgiveness experienced.4® The physical accommodations for worship were extremely primitive but never was the fellowship as warm as then. Many participants recall miraculous experiences and include among these the discovery of a courage not their own, sometimes even the dis- covery of a preaching gift not their own. In spite of everything, there had been the unconquerable conviction that God would triumph. That was when they had realized that God had not forgotten them after all, that He still spoke to them with love and forgiveness. That was when hope was renewed that someday Russia would be won for Christ. The revivals had come in waves because their character and essence was emotional. The state authorities responded emotionally because their own atheism was really anti-theism. That meant a stable church must main- tain a momentum of growth or else lose ground to atheist activists, It re- quired new techniques for church growth. The flashy, hard-sell techniques for evangelism so common in North America were inappropriate. Each member and each potential church member knew that it would cost something to espouse the faith. Notes to Chapter 2 I, John Paterson, The Book for Every Land (London, 2d ed., 1858), p. 192. . BV, 3/47, p. 82. ; 3 BY ae I 60. BV, 1/47, p. 15, states that baptisms took place in almost all churches: in some churches the newly baptized constituted 30% or more of the hi 4 . . pa “BY. 1/46, pp. 35-86. In the 70th-anniversary report on Evangelical-Baptist publications Zhidkov stated: “Now we have the necessary quantity of Bibles and when these are used up we can again publ