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When I have done my seminars on a Christian view of communism in Vietnam I have told my friends from the unregistered churches (so-called ‘underground’ churches) that even if by temperament if I was in Vietnam I would have been part of their group, in my opinion, the registered churches, in spite of the inherent risks they have encountered of compromising with the regime, they were much better prepared to live and have an impact in the coming democracy, because of their aquired skills of continually negotiating their status.

I was also saying that those who will be unable to do so, will not only not have a witness for the gospel in the newly found freedom, but will in fact slowly disappear. I was giving them as an example the unregistered churches in Russia, who continue to refuse to register even today and live in a sort of alternative universe, with no connection with reality.

The study below, on the strange  and often ridiculous situation of  Russian unregistered Baptists and Pentecostals living in the US, is a proof that I was right in my evaluation. Here is a scary story of Evangelical inadequacy.

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“Our Hands are Tied“
Conditions for youth among the unregistered Baptists and  Pentecostals 

Commentary

M o s c o w – The government is still the adversary for the  unregistered Baptists and Pentecostals of the former Soviet Union – but other  governments are now involved. Thanks to the 30-year-old emigration wave, most of  the government adversaries are now located in Germany and in the USA’s Pacific  Northwest. Russia still has roughly 25.000 unregistered, adult Baptists – about  16% of the number present in the USSR in 1966. A good 100.000 Slavic Baptists  and Pentecostals are now gathered in the region of Portland/Oregon; a similar  number has gravitated towards Sacramento/California. Consequently, unregistered  Baptists now call themselves „International Council of  Evangelical Christians-Baptists“.

A report out of Portland, which was published by Moscow’s  “Portal-Credo” press service on 28 February, describes in harrowing terms the  emotional plight of immigrant Russian and Ukrainian parents who now need to come  to terms with offspring in a completely different cultural context. This report  claims that half to two-thirds of their high schoolers are now leading a double  life. Long stints are needed in school bathrooms before and after class to  undertake the changes necessary to meet the approval of two very different  surroundings.

But drugs, prostitution  and violent crime are also topics. David Klassen, the pastor of a Slavic  congregation in Gresham/Oregon, stated: “Many from the older generation had  spent time in Soviet prisons for their faith. But now their children qualify as  bandits and are imprisoned for that reason. This of course breaks their parents’  hearts.”

The longing for material prosperity lured these people abroad. But  primary was also the desire to retain one’s Soviet-inspired faith in new  surroundings fully free of atheistic and Orthodox repression. Yet all parties  had apparently not been consulted – the offspring for ex. The West’s cultural  steamroller now quickly and deftly detaches these children from their parents.  One succinct sentence states: “Emigration has increased the gap between the  generations.”

Having the fortified and united congregation turn back surrounding  forces appears much less effective in the North American context. Untrained lay  pastors from back home are no match for the challenges of a new society. Yet it  would be a disgrace for these mentally-needy families to seek the aid of  secular, state-controlled social services. The father and pastor – the  patriarchs – are called to take care of affairs. These new arrivals head for  construction sites and car repair garages in their search for quick cash; their  women are called to take care of the flock of children. There is no space for  extensive cultural training.

A suffering mother from the Carpathian region of Ukraine complained  that her children threatened her with the police when she spoke of possible  corporal punishment. In America, children are able to dictate the terms to their  parents. A Russian-speaking school social worker claimed: “Some parents don’t  even ask their children about the homework out of fear that the state might take  away their children.”

The court proceedings in Salem

That fear is not groundless. During the second half of 2009, the  world was able to witness via Internet (for ex. www.examiner.com) court  proceedings in Salem/Oregon which ended with the parents of seven children being  sentenced to more than seven years in prison. Following floggings, the three  oldest children of Oleksandr and Lyudmila Kozlov had reported affairs to the  police. A gut-wrenching spectacle resulted by which the six minors testified  against their parents in court. (The seventh child was then only several months  old.) One heading in the local media read: “Parents on Trial Use Bible to  Justify Child Abuse.” Four near-by immigrant congregations supplied up to 100  protesters to picket the courthouse.

Sentences were heightened by the parent’s unwillingness to recognise  the apparent folly of their ways. Bible-toting Lyudmila Kozlova compared herself  to the Prophet Daniel surrounded by lions and human enemies. The couple refused  to respect court etiquette and judge-ordered instructions. Without even the  slightest of evidence, the father accused state officials of drugging his  children prior to testimony and using Photoshop to digitally worsen the photos  of the flogging wounds. A deacon from the couple’s congregation, “First Slavic  Church”, assured that he would have refused to report to the police if he  personally had discovered any photos of this kind – even if this would have  meant his imprisonment.

Transatlantic support arrived – also from Russia. A letter on the  “International Council’s” website (http://iucecb.com) from 26 August 2009 addressed to US-President  Barack Obama vouched for the couple’s complete innocence. This mostly  Russian-language site contains an increasing number of protests against measures  taken by Western governments against their own members. It also appeals for the  rights of those parents campaigning for home-schooling in Germany (where it is  still illegal). A letter of 19 February 2011 addressed to the German Chancellor  Angela Merkel regarding seven parents jailed for short terms states: “We are  very concerned about the persecution of our brothers and sisters in the faith .  . . in Salzkotten. They are being persecuted because they desire to bring up  their children in the Christian faith and in obedience to God’s word. They have  not permitted their children to participate in class instruction on sex and in  godless theatre plays.”

Conclusion

Events in Salem 2009 and elsewhere have seriously compromised  suffering at the hands of Soviet authorities as portrayed by the non-registered.  Had these people truly been persecuted for their faith, or had they on occasion  confused their own (sub)cultural values with the Christian faith? That would  appear to be the case in the USA – and was the situation in the by-gone USSR  always entirely different from the present one? Has this mix-up only come into  being since 1990?

The saga has many tragic elements. Parents have done what they  regarded as the best for their children – yet the result was imprisonment.  (Though I cannot claim that this was the case in Salem.) Non-registered Baptists  and Pentecostals believe they have been motivated by love – yet those on the  other side have sometimes interpreted that as contempt. A US-missionary in  Russia even claims that relations of the non-registered to other evangelicals  are governed “by hate”. Obviously, much distance can accrue between our  intentions and their results. „Our hands are tied!“ the suffering mother from  the Carpathian mountains moaned. Yet that sentence is pregnant with multiple  interpretations. One side can respond with sadness, the other with joy and  relief.

These developments are not new – reports circulated early in the  1990s about tensions between the differing generations of recent Slavic  immigrants in Pennsylvania. But there are also hopeful signs on the horizon.  Olga Parker, a therapist for “Lutheran Community Services Northwest”, noted that flexibility could  be the key to greater success. “Russian-speaking parents need to understand that  rapport with children is much more important than strictness and  precision.”

William Yoder,  Ph.D.
Moscow, 16 March  2011
Press service of the  Russian Evangelical Alliance

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