Baptists in Estonia
Surname | |
---|---|
Eesti Evangeeliumi Kristlaste ja Baptistide Koguduste Liit Estonian Union of Evangelical Christians -Baptists |
|
Basic data | |
Spiritual direction: |
President: Meego Remmel, pastor and lecturer (Tartu) Deputy. President: Viljar Liht, Pastor (Kohila) |
Communities |
83 independent congregations 47 branch congregations |
Baptized members : | 5965 (Dec. 31, 2007) |
Pastor training: | Tartu Theological Seminary |
Addresses: |
Office: Eesti EKB Koguduste Liidu Misjonikeskus Koskla 2/9 10615 Tallinn Theological Seminary: Kõrgem Usuteaduslik Seminar Annemõisa 8 50708 Tartu |
Official Website: | Estonian Baptist Union |
The Baptists in Estonia are united in the Estonian Union of Evangelical Christians -Baptists (Estonian: Eesti Evangeeliumi Kristlaste ja Baptistide Koguduste Liit ). Twelve of the 83 parishes are Russian-speaking .
history
The first Baptist baptism in Estonia took place in 1884. It was the result of a missionary work that had been initiated by the two Swedish teachers Thorén and Österbblom on the island of Vormsi and on the Noarootsi peninsula . Under her guidance, house groups were set up in West Estonia to study the Bible . Farmers made their barns available for worship meetings, at which Thorén and Österblom preached in a simple way. This proclamation was not without consequences. In 1884 the first Estonian Baptist congregation was constituted in Haapsalu , which was followed by other congregations throughout Estonia within a few decades. Reasons for the rapid spread were among other things the Sunday school and the choir work of the young community movement. Also contributed colporteurs , brought the baptistisches ideas even in remote villages, the spread of free-church much movement at. As early as 1900, the Estonian Baptist congregations formed an independent federation.
Ten years after the establishment of the first Baptist church, Pentecostal and other evangelical circles also began missionary work in Estonia. In the Soviet era , the movement, which had meanwhile been composed as a Protestant Free Church of Gospel Christians , united with the Baptist movement to form the Estonian Union of Evangelical Christians -Baptists, which still exists today .
statistics
Today 83 autonomous local congregations with around 6,000 members (excluding children and friends) belong to the Estonian Baptist Union. Of these, twelve municipalities are Russian-speaking.
International connections and ecumenism
The Estonian Baptist Union belongs to the European Baptist Federation and through it to the Baptist World Federation . He is a member of the World Council of Estonian Churches . Many of its members are actively involved in the Evangelical Alliance .
Personalities
- Eduard Magnus Jakobson (1847 to 1904)
Individual evidence
- ↑ DIE GEMEINDE magazine, 10/2008, p. 26
literature
- Ian M. Randall: Communities of Conviction. Baptist Beginnings in Europe . Neufeld, Schwarzenfeld 2009, ISBN 978-3-937896-78-6 , p. 107ff.