Terry L. Schnake

"Christians persecuted for their faith will be purified of any duplicity in their walk with Christ."  This conclusion certainly appears logical, but is it really true?  Have we put persecuted Christian brethren on such a pedestal of admiration that we have not objectively analyzed the real effects of religious persecution?  How does religious repression affect Christian organizational structures and the people who manage them?  Did long decades of censure by a hostile government and the society it controlled cause spiritual purification in the Protestant churches of the Soviet Union?

I want to share some rather surprising preliminary observations that I have made while living in the former Soviet Union.  It is my hope to correct some false perceptions held by many Western Christians, which too often have led to serious errors in mission strategies in Soviet successor republics.

While some believers who suffered persecution under the Communists did grow to higher levels of spiritual commitment, this does not appear to have been the norm.  Somehow, in the extreme situation of strong repression by a corrupt and dictatorial government, the persecuted took on certain characteristics of the persecutor.

Communism gave birth to foul moral corruption that ate away the very soul of the people it dominated.  The deep effects of the resulting absence of ethical and moral values in society also seeped through the walls of churches in the Soviet Union and into the very hearts and minds of church leaders who publicly resisted communism the most.

Autocratic Domination
The Soviet government forced the vast majority of registered Protestant churches under a single power structure (the All-Union Council of Evangelical Christians-Baptists) and in essence empowered that autocratic structure to rule over its subjects using the same repressive methods of intimidation and manipulation that the government used to maintain a submissive populace.  Soviet people's lives were controlled by "feudal lords" called "communist party bosses" who obtained obedience by fear of reprisal.  Such domination strategies are still being used today in many Protestant churches.  Pastors who reject the continued dictatorial leadership style of denominational leaders, and church members who reject that same tendency in their pastors, often receive threats of malicious slander, blackmail, shunning, and even excommunication.  Such tactics are still considered acceptable among church leaders who reigned during the Soviet era.

External Righteousness
While many Evangelical churches fiercely upheld their right to exist and even risked civil disobedience to maintain what they felt to be a Christian lifestyle, they also, nevertheless, developed a dual personality, an institutionalized hypocrisy with which they became comfortable.  What other Christians around the world would have considered unconscionable behavior was considered justifiable under oppressive Soviet conditions.

Many Protestants and their leaders developed external, visible standards of "righteousness" (the Pharisee syndrome) that were easily measurable.  This eliminated the struggle with guilt from internal sin.  Wearing the correct clothes, saying the correct things, having certain correct attitudes, and submitting to the autocratic rule of a Protestant "priesthood," all were external behaviors which served to confirm church members as true believers.  In spite of these external standards of holiness, too often misconduct, including dishonesty, corrupt business dealings, deception, slander, and bribery of government officials, were and are considered tolerable among Evangelicals who have been exposed all their lives to Soviet-style "ends justifying means."

A Call for Spiritual Restoration
Christian believers, now released from Soviet oppression, should aspire to higher standards of personal conduct.  We cannot naively continue to pour financial assistance into old, Soviet-era church power structures and into the hands of Soviet-era church leaders, thus fostering the continuation of corrupt autocratic domination.  Even though it will not appear "politically correct" within missiological circles, as Christ's followers, we cannot ignore the Apostle Paul's exhortation, "Brothers if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently.  But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.  Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ."  (Galatians 6:1-2.)

Let us move beyond the myth, beyond the romantic belief that religious persecution always brings deep spiritual growth and purity.  Let us take up the objective diagnostic skills of a spiritual physician.  And then we can begin to ask the right questions:  what is the illness and how can we help to cure it?  It is our duty of love to our fellow believers. 

Terry Schnake, president of Word Ministries International, Muncie, IN, currently serves as a missionary in Kiev, Ukraine.

 Terry L. Schnake, "A Persecuted Church is a Pure Church? Dispelling the Myth," East-West Church & Ministry Report, 1 (Fall 1993), 7-8.

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© 1993 East-West Church and Ministry Report
ISSN 1069-5664