Anonymous
Malkhaz Songulashvili glosses over the persecution of Evangelicals in the early 1990s by an Orthodox vigilante priest, which was ignored by the government. The Orthodox hold the rights to the Georgian translation of the Bible and are antievangelistic. They will not cooperate with anyone else to reprint excerpts. Therefore, others are working on new translations. Songulashvili’s church initially split over the introduction of Orthodox liturgical elements. Those leaving created independent Baptist churches or joined Pentecostals. Another split took place about 2014 when Songulashvili adopted European liberal ideas regarding homosexuality and women priests. His cathedral is very much his own creation; the movement he hoped to start stops with him; and his following is very small. Misusing the Baptist name, he should more correctly be called Anglican.
Presently there are a few dozen Evangelical churches in Georgia. Baptists and Pentecostals work together on evangelism. The largest truly Baptist church is in Gori, pastored by the leader of Evangelism Explosion for the three Caucasus countries.