When Baptists reconcile....
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One more Break-away congregation comes back
On June 24th a special service took place at the First Baptist Church in Stalin’s home city of Gori. This particular congregation had spent 7 years in separation from the Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia. The split was caused by the undermining activities of fundamentalist groups in Germany namely Friedensbote represented by somebody called Viktor Rogalski. They had stirred up the congregation against Ecumenical movement of which Evangelical Baptist Church is an active part.
The congregation was founded in Soviet time. It was the second Georgian speaking Baptist Church to be established in Georgia. For a long period of time the church was led by the Revd Vladimir Songulashvili, later senior pastor of the Cathedral Baptist Church and Bishop of Tbilisi region.
A statement signed by all the members of the congregation was read before the service started. It said: “After seven years of estrangement we come back to the Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia and admit that it was wrong and sinful to break away from the Church for which we seek forgiveness both the Lord and the Church of Georgia. We would like to forget the past and think of the future...”
The Archbishop and the President of the EBCG re-consecrated the church building and than anointed all the members of the congregation with oil as a sign of the renewal of the church. At the end of the service the Archbishop Malkhaz celebrated the Eucharist in con-celebration with the President and representatives of the regional clergy.
In Georgia everything ends with a party. At the party the toast-mastership was carried out by Revd Sulkhan Murmanishvili, a newly appointed interim minister of the Gori congregation.
Labels: Baptists, Discipleship
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