Unsurprisingly, his experiences made him virulently anti-communist.

'If I showed you my body, I wonder if you could bear to look at it,' he told journalists.

In 1966, he gave evidence to a US senate internal security subcommittee, at one point stripping to the waist to reveal 18 deep torture wounds. Sabina was also imprisoned and subjected to three years' slave labour. He spent nearly three years in solitary confinement in an underground cell, and was repeatedly tortured, brain-washed and forced to watch the humiliation of other Christian prisoners. Once memorably described in the Times as 'an enormous Romanian', Wurmbrand was first arrested in 1948, released in 1956 and then imprisoned again between 19. This essay, based largely on extensive interviews with twenty-four MKC leaders, explores the dynamics of leadership that enabled the MKC not only to survive but also to flourish under circumstances of persecution and extreme hardship.The couple, many of whose relatives perished in the Holocaust, subsequently worked for the Anglican mission to the Jews in Bucharest and, following the communist takeover in 1945, set up an underground church for Romanians and Soviet troops from the army of occupation. A remarkable group of leaders-both men and women-played an essential role in this transformation, leading the MKC with courageous purpose, integrity, love, and creativity. Under pressure from a Marxist regime bent on eradicating evangelical Christianity from the country, the MKC grew from 800 to 34,000 baptized members, greatly expanded its geographic reach, dramatically increased the pool of people in active ministry, became financially self-supporting, adopted a radically new ministry structure, and nurtured a contagious spiritual vitality among its members. Between 19 the Meserete Kristos Church (MKC)-an Anabaptist Christian renewal movement in Ethiopia-experienced a profound transformation. Prepared to die for the sake of the gospel, they demonstrated leadership marked by a highly effective pursuit of purpose, compelling integrity under pressure, attractive love, and remarkable creativity-leading to extraordinary results. Persecution forced MKC leaders to clarify the priority of their commitment to Jesus and the mission of the church. Drawing on interviews and other first-person accounts of faithful MKC leaders in the Derg era, this essay explores the dynamics of their experience using the leadership theory of Robert E.

Although persecution has been an enduring reality in the global church, leadership in that context has received scant research attention. Under persecution during the Ethiopian Revolution (1974-1991), highly committed men and women led the Meserete Kristos Church (MKC) through remarkable transformation and growth.

Wurmbrand tortured for christ