L i s b o n – In a moving ceremony during Council sessions of the European Baptist Federation (EBF), which met in Lisbon/Portugal from 24 to 27 September, leading representatives of the Baptist Unions of Russia and Georgia assured each other that common faith in Jesus Christ is stronger than all politcal enmity. Malkhaz Songulashvili (Tblissi), Archbishop of the Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia, and Vitaly Vlasenko (Moscow), “Foreign Minister” of the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, embraced each other. Songulashivili presented the absent Yuri Sipko, President of the Russian Union, with an icon created during the recent war which displays Christ as the Prince of Peace. Songulashvili also thanked those foreign Baptist Unions which had sent aid to his country and to the Georgian Baptist church in particular.

He also sharply criticised Baptist humanitarian programmes involving hundreds of thousands of dollars from the USA which combine support for the needy in refugee camps with evangelistic activities. He stated that it is highly uncomfortable when human need is exploited in order to urge the receiver of aid to transfer his religious allegiance. According to Songulashvili, this indirectly also damages the trust of Georgians in the Baptist church of Georgia. The Baptist organisations in question were not named. Songulashvili confessed that he had felt so much hate towards Russia following the outbreak of hostilities in early August, that he considered giving up his position as leader of the Georgian Baptists. Yet he had in the end experienced a renewal of his spiritual calling.

Vlasenko expressed that he had been shaken by the violence, stating: “Russian Christians do not support any wars.” He regretted that the Baptist voice within Russia was not loud enough to halt the actions of the mighty. War is “always a crime”. He also regretted that even before the outbreak of the recent hostilities, relations between the Baptists of both countries had been tense. Baptists in Russia and Georgia have differing styles of worship. Yet bilateral talks are planned for the near future. According to information from both sides, Georgian and Russian Baptists have “felt the Holy Spirit” in conversations on the fringe of the EBF Council sessions.