Walter Sawatsky

Dance or Die

History & Biography

“All Christian traditions have been shaped by context and re-shaped many times by new contexts. The genius of Toivo Pilli's Dance or Die story of the Estonian Evangelicals, worth reading as a deeply insightful and sensitive story in itself, is how it causes the reader to re-frame thinking about Evangelical history as a whole, especially the Soviet and Eastern European Evangelical story, which is not yet incorporated into the global Evangelical story. External factors, such as the Soviet war on Christianity that resulted in millions of martyrs, forced even the Estonian Evangelicals to dance and to die, both options changed things. Internal factors shaped the dance the rest of us need to learn. It meant consent to be remolded by the best of the distinctive emphases and practices that four Estonian evangelical traditions had learned between 1945 and 1991. Dr Pilli's four dance steps were called Unity out of Diversity, Word and Spirit Tension, Common Goal for Evangelism and Mission, and Bear Fruit through Ethical Testing. Praise God for the winsome way Pilli helps us watch the dance from many angles.”

Factors Behind the Ukrainian Evangelical Missionary Surge from 1989 to 1999

Evangelism & Missions

“At the time, a surprised Western missionary likened the sudden search for God across the Soviet Union as a supernova. Everyone noticed the explosion of Christian witness and ministries, over five hundred mission agencies from the West were everywhere, but as Don Fairbairn correctly states in the foreword, their long-term results ‘were very mixed,’ too many ignorant foreign missionaries flashing through, then gone. John White was among the few who stayed, came to know the people. His focus is on the indigenous missionaries, the Ukrainian evangelicals.”

Ministries of Compassion among Russian Evangelicals, 1905–1929

History & Biography

“When a famous Russian writer fell heavily on ice, where for hours all who saw him 'walked by on the other side,' he called for the return of miloserdie ('compassion'). Within a year more than a thousand charity societies had sprung up. What has come more slowly has been the theological and practical foundation for doing charity and social service well. Mary Raber's book provides that historical, practical, and theological foundation for Russian evangelicals, setting it in the comparative context of similar Orthodox ministries. Raber's book is therefore the long-awaited guide for a post-communist society where compassion ministry remains a major challenge. Sensitive Western readers will be helped to imagine what partnership roles to play, and Russians reading English will use the book in teaching seminars. Raber offers a thoroughly researched study--including archival and oral sources--and as teacher and friend to so many evangelicals in post-Soviet locales since 1990, she knows the setting like no other. Hers is certain to be a book they will trust.”

The Development of Russian Evangelical Spirituality

History & Biography

“"Gregory Nichols's careful probing of the developing spirituality and theology of Ivan V. Kargel, who was both German and Russian, is an important contribution from an American historian-theologian who has earned the right to be heard. It will help shape thinking and discussion . . . Nichols's book earns him a respected place in ongoing theological conversations among current east European evangelical theologians.”