An Outline of Evangelical Christian-Baptist History

This was first posted on the old Baptist Outside the USA forum.
An Outline of the history of the Evangelical Baptists of the former Soviet Union

1. <LI> Evangelical Christian-Baptists trace their main theological roots to the pietist German Baptists who settled in the Volga River Region.<LI>Their pastoral training schools were just beginning to send out pastors and other workers when the Revolution occurred. By the late twenties, the schools had been closed and the faculties suppressed.<LI> During the 20's and 30's, the Plymouth Brethren in the Leningrad and Moscow areas, the Baptists from the other parts and the other smaller evangelical groups amalgamated into the Evangelical Christians-Baptists. So, we see a service in the style of the P.B. and a Methodist flavor to their polity. (In 1910 or so, one leader went to the Methodist Bible Institute in Paris)<LI>The great battles against Modernism, Liberalism and Neo-Orthodoxy fought over the last 80 years were not fought in Russia or the Soviet Union, because:

• <LI> Before the Revolution, Imperial Russia was a theological backwater. So, it was of little interest to the great intellectual heretics and apostates.<LI>If you did not believe the Fundamentals of the Faith, it was easier, more profitable, and more socially acceptable for you to just honestly join The (great, proletarian, revolutionary, socialist, scientifically atheistic) Communist Party.

5. While we were and are fighting battles in para. 4, the uncompromising Evangelical Christian-Baptists (EC-B) were suppressed and undergoing severe persecution. In many cases, even the compromisers got picked up and disappeared. The suppression meant at best a faithful EC-Baptist could only go to a technical institute (13th grade). He or she could never hope to get any post-secondary education and thus hold any kind of professional position.

6. In the Sixties, a consolidation of denominational power took place. Some of those who disagreed, formed what is now the Soviet (Council) of Evangelical Christian-Baptist Churches. In the West, we called them the Underground Church. Others formed churches independent of either the underground or registered soviets.

7. In the last year or so, many of the more Baptistic of the Russian Baptists have started to form their own fellowship(s). They are leaving the more protestant Council of Evangelical Christian-Baptist Churches.

Here are some of the differences that have developed because of the above paragraphs.

1. Because of their roots are German not Anglo-American, the EC-B
a. Are pacifists
b. Lean toward what in America would seem like a Mennonite application of some of the cultural teachings of Scripture
c. They date their founding to August 1867 when the first Russian was Scripturally baptized.

2. At the time of the Revolution, the EC-B was just beginning to develop an indigenously trained leadership. They were however on the whole at the same stage of development as most of the missionary efforts are in India today. In other words, while the churches in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Kiev may have been able to support themselves, though the training schools needed outside support. Churches in the provinces were not in the same position. They needed and received financial support. Since there were not enough trained men for the pastorate, missionaries would be sent out in circuit riding ministries (the Methodist influence, along with district superintendents/bishops).

3. The Plymouth Brethren influence shows in their unapologetic Pre-Trib and Pre-Mil rapture positions. Also, the PB’s contributed their practice of having multiple preachers in the assembly. (This allowed the unregistered churches to have a built-in redundancy in case of arrests.)

4. The battles they fought in this last century are not the same ones we fought, in their isolation they know Billy Graham (and are against him), but not Bob Jones, Sr.

5. So, their leadership asked the newly arrived American missionaries "So, how much time have you spent in jail?" "Who in your family was killed by the KGB?" (Every family related to me has an affirmative answer to these and other related questions.) We American Fundamental Baptists have developed our own shibboleths; however the Russians share only a few of them (usually those that were settled on before 1917).

[ August 10, 2001: Message edited by: The Squire ]

 

Just bringing this thread back onto the front page. Moderator's privilege I guess.

[ August 10, 2001: Message edited by: The Squire ]

 

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by The Squire:
Just bringing this thread back onto the front page. Moderator's privilege I guess.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Same again