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GV Baptist Church in Moscow
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GV INTERIOR PAN DOWN FROM line of chandeliers to congregation of delegates from throughout Europe singing (6 shots)
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SV Mitropolitian Yuvenali of Russian Orthodox Church (at left) in pew listening to speech from General Secretary for the Council of European Churches, Glenn Williams, in English, with Russian translation following (5 shots)
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SCU General Secretary of Council of Evangelical Christian Baptist Churches Alexei Bychkov speaking in Russian (2 shots)
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WILLIAMS: "Dear brothers and sisters, I bring to you this morning the greetings of one hundred and twelve churches throughout the European continent, united in the Conference of European Churches." "And I want to underline that is not simply a formal greeting in any sense." "..because what is happening to you here today is happening to the church of God throughout Europe, and throughout the world."




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Background: The 42nd All-Union congress of Evangelical Christian Baptists opened in the Moscow Baptist Church on Tuesday (18 December). A total of five hundred and twenty-five delegates from all parts of the Soviet Union attended. And Baptist leaders were there from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Rumania, Canada, the United States and West Germany. A noted guest was Mitropolitian Yuvenali of the Russian Orthodox Church.

SYNOPSIS: The Moscow Baptist Church. In this largely atheist country, the Russian Baptist Union is estimated to contain about one percent of the Christian population.

There were prayers and hymn singing in the opening ceremony, with the Soviet delegates in good voices. Delegates were to hear a speech of welcome from the General Secretary of the Council of European Churches, Mr Glenn Williams, with Metropolitan Yuvenali of the Russian Orthodox Church an intent listener.

The General Secretary of the Council of Evangelical Christian Baptists, Mr Alexei Bychkov, reported on the church's activities in the Soviet Union during the past five years, when twenty-three new Baptist communities were founded.