The United Evangelical Church of the Polish People's Republic was a religious organization existing from 1947 to 1988, comprising five Polish Protestant communities characterized by evangelical piety and the practice of baptizing only those who were conscious of their faith. Two of them had a Pentecostal character. During the Polish People's Republic period, it was the largest evangelical church in Poland – the second largest denomination of this profile at the time was the Baptist Christian Church of the Republic of Poland. Since 1967, the church's headquarters had been located at in Warsaw. Until 1953, the church was a federation, within which each group retained its distinctiveness; in 1953, these distinctions were abolished. In 1981, the United Evangelical Church returned to a federative structure.
The first post-war unification initiatives among evangelical Christians in Poland emerged as early as 1945 when the Baptist Christian Church of the Republic of Poland was founded, bringing together various strands, but within the next two years, all groups withdrew from it, leaving only the Baptists. Soon after, a new unification initiative emerged, resulting in the establishment of the United Evangelical Church in 1947. Initially, three churches belonged to it, and from 1953, five. In 1956, some of the former Union of Evangelical Christians' congregations attempted to leave the United Evangelical Church and appealed to the authorities to legalize their association. The authorities responded with repression, and the congregations were forced to return to the United Evangelical Church. The "Lublin group" resisted the longest, until the late 1960s. Until 1975, Free Christians (Plymouth Brethren) dominated, and from 1981, Pentecostals. The change in the political situation after 1980 allowed the individual confessions to become subjects within one church. In 1981, a group of Free Christians left, forming a separate religious association called the . From then on, the United Evangelical Church encompassed four communities. In 1987, at the church's last synod, it was decided to dissolve the United Evangelical Church. Towards the end of its existence, it exceeded 17,000 believers, with the largest numerical growth occurring in the 1980s. As a result of its dissolution, four separate churches were formed: the , the , the , and the Pentecostal Church in Poland.
The basic unit in the United Evangelical Church was an autonomous congregation with legal personality. The congregation had the right to decide on the admission or exclusion of its own members. Among the Church's major achievements were the construction of a central chapel in Warsaw, the establishment of a Home for the Elderly in Ostróda, and publishing activities, including the publication of the monthly magazine . The United Evangelical Church was a member of the Polish Ecumenical Council.
History
First unification initiatives
In the Evangelical-Baptist communities in Polish territories, the first unification idea emerged after the end of the Polish-Bolshevik War and concerned the and the . In 1923, the Evangelical Christian and Baptist Union in Poland was established in Brest, but after two years, due to different attitudes towards military service, the Baptists decided to pursue independent activities.
The unification ideas resurfaced during World War II and were relevant immediately after its end. The biblical motto that they may all be one (John 17:21) was often cited. A significant obstacle to realizing this idea was the ambitions of leaders of individual groups.
After World War II, the first unification initiative came from the Baptists, at that time the largest Evangelical group in Poland. As a result, in May 1945, a religious union was formed, bringing together several Evangelical groups with similar doctrines under the name . Pentecostals did not join this church. The union was recognized by the state authorities in May 1946. Already in January 1946 (before its legal situation was regulated), a group of Evangelical Christians led by withdrew from it, and in November 1946, the Church Union of Christ with as president also withdrew. , who visited Poland in 1946, contributed to the separation of the Christ group, encouraged the leaders of the Church of Christ to break away from the Baptist Christian Church and promised them financial assistance. The Free Christians withdrew in June 1947. The decision to withdraw was influenced, among other things, by a personal conflict between Free Christian and Baptist Emil Jeske. Each of them wanted to be the leader for the Silesian region. Mrózek convened a conference for Free Christians in Chorzów, where the decision to withdraw from the Polish Church of Evangelical Christian Baptists was made. Only the Baptists remained in the union, retaining their legalization and name. Soon after, the term "Evangelical" was removed from the name, thus creating the name . Another reason for the dissolution of this church was the numerical dominance of the Baptists. The number of Baptists at that time was about 2,000 members, while the remaining groups had a total of 1,500 members.
Still, during the existence of the Polish Church of Evangelical Christian Baptists, a competing unification initiative emerged. In November 1946, a conference of five Evangelical communities was held in Ustroń. The Baptists did not participate. On 16 February 1947, the Temporary Committee of the Union of Evangelical Churches in Poland was established. It included the , the , the , the (still part of the Polish Church of Evangelical Christian Baptists), and the . Stanisław Krakiewicz became its president. Shortly thereafter, the Church Union and the Evangelical Faith Union withdrew from the committee's work.
From 24 to 26 May 1947, Krakiewicz and Szenderowski organized the "Brotherly Conference" in Ustroń. The Baptists were invited to the conference several times but declined, as did the Church Union of Christ and the Evangelical Faith Union due to negative experiences with the previous cooperation with the union. As a result, a federation of only three unions was formed under the name United Evangelical Church. On 23 June 1947, at the last meeting of the Polish Church of Evangelical Christian Baptists, Krakiewicz informed the Baptists about the establishment of the new church and the withdrawal of Free Christians from the Polish Church of Evangelical Christian Baptists. He shifted the responsibility for creating the new church onto his "brothers". Krakiewicz served as secretary in the Polish Church of Evangelical Christian Baptists and became president in the United Evangelical Church.
Obtaining legalization became a top priority for the newly established church. On 15 October 1947, the statutes of the United Evangelical Church were submitted to the authorities. The Ministry of Public Security ordered changes to certain provisions of the statute concerning cooperation with foreign religious communities. Despite making amendments and submitting the necessary documents in September 1948, the legalization process was not completed until July 1959. Shortly after the establishment of the United Evangelical Church, it joined the Polish Ecumenical Council. Membership in the council was understood as cooperation "in administrative terms" rather than "spiritual or doctrinal".
Arrests of clergymen
Despite the fact that the unification idea was supported by the state authorities, the church was denied legalization, and its activists were persecuted. Already at the turn of 1947 and 1948, information about the church's activists began to be collected. On the night of 19 to 20 September 1950, the church leaders were arrested by the Security Office, and all the religious facilities belonging to the church were closed. As a result of this action, 199 people from Evangelical-Baptist Churches (i.e., United Evangelical Church, Church of Christians of the Evangelical Faith, and Church Union of Christ) were arrested. Not only church clergy but also particularly active believers were arrested. Some chapels, literature, hymnals, and church equipment were confiscated. The majority of the property confiscated as a result of this action was never returned to its owners.
The activists of these "sects" were alleged to have established contacts "with their operational centers in the United States and Sweden" and were portrayed as "spies of Anglo-American imperialism". They were accused of conducting a broad anti-Soviet campaign, criticizing the people's power and agricultural cooperatives. Two individuals most involved in this action were pointed out – Władysław Kołodziej and Teodor Maksymowicz. The Security Office intended to prepare a show trial. Despite the use of torture in prisons and intimidation, the clergy did not confess to the charges against them.
Most of the arrested were released after several days or weeks of detention, some were released after several months, while "evidence" was gathered against others. Everyone signed a statement of no claims against the Security Office before leaving custody. Sixteen people were sentenced to prison. Stanisław Krakiewicz was detained on charges of conducting "intelligence work" and sentenced for "anti-state activity". Ludwik Szenderowski was sentenced to 9 years in prison due to extensive contacts with fellow believers from the United States. This temporarily halted the church's activities for several months. In the spring of 1951, religious life began to return to the repressed "sects". Szenderowski was the last to be released, being pardoned in 1955.
The authorities assumed that the arrests would weaken, or perhaps even lead to the elimination of Evangelical Christianity in Poland.
Five organizations in one
In 1952, the state authorities, inspired by Soviet solutions, recognized that the increase in the number of religious organizations that were not materially different was an undesirable phenomenon. It was decided to merge related factions for easier supervision and to detach them from American support. As a result of pressure from the authorities, consultative conferences were held in 1952 and 1953 aimed at incorporating two further religious unions into the United Evangelical Church: the Union of Christ Churches and the Union of Evangelical Christian Faith. This occurred at the First Synod of the United Evangelical Church on 4 June 1953. At this synod, the church council and the council's presidency with President Stanisław Krakiewicz were elected. It was acknowledged that the federative system was ineffective, and the unions within the United Evangelical Church were dissolved. A statute was adopted, according to which the decisions of synods were binding on everyone. Henceforth, activities were conducted in a new organizational form, and the United Evangelical Church no longer had a federative character.
The authorities assumed that it would be easier to control a single religious union than each separately. They also wanted the activities of the congregations in the field to take place in permanent locations, intended to eliminate "communalism" practiced by the unaffiliated, and aimed to incorporate all unregistered "evangelical believers" into the United Evangelical Church. Over time, the authorities gained another advantage. The factions within the United Evangelical Church had a similar doctrine but differed in some points. As a result, a "fighting within" church emerged, and the coexistence of these denominations within one body often led to disputes. The authorities also wanted to "incorporate the Baptist Church, whose leadership still leaned towards Baptist centers abroad", into the United Evangelical Church.