Who are the Baptists?
Continental Europe
(c) 180301
The Beginnings
The modern Baptist movement began around 1609 when John Smyth baptized himself and other English refugees in The Netherlands~ The movement was soon transplanted to England in 1612. For two centuries European Baptists were located in the British Isles before spreading to the European continent itself.
As early as 1820 a nascent Baptist movement began in France, but the true beginning of continental Baptists starts with the great German Baptist leader, Johann Gerhard Oncken (1800-1884), known as the Father of Continental Baptists. With his immersion in the Elbe River and the formation of the First Baptist Church in Hamburg in 1834, the Baptist movement began to expand not only throughout much of Germany and neighbouring German lands but also into Scandinavia, Southeastern Europe, and the Russian Empire. Oncken was a dynamic mission leader and proclaimed the motto, "every Baptist a missionary."
Central Europe
With over 100,000 members, Germany is today one of the main centres of Baptist work on the continent. The Union of Evangelical Free Congregations numbers 88,000, while several groups composed of German-Russian immigrants from the Soviet Union add significant numbers to the final total.
In Austria, where Baptists began in 1846, the Baptist Union has 1,130 members in nineteen churches, while in Switzerland, where Baptists commenced in 1847, the German-speaking Baptist Union has 1,291 in fifteen churches. In The Netherlands, where the current Baptist movement began in 1845, ~he Baptist Union has over 12,000 members in eighty-nine churches; three other Baptist groups bring the total to almost 15,000 and 130 congregations.
To the East, the Czech Republic has 2,300 members and twenty-six churches in the Baptist Union and the Slovak Republic has 2,000 members and seventeen churches. Poland, where Baptist work began in 1858 in what was then part of the Russian Empire, has a small but growing work with over 4,000 members and sixty-five churches in its Baptist Union.
Northern Europe
The movement headed by Oncken soon moved into Northern Europe, first into Denmark (1839), then Sweden (1856), Norway (1860), Latvia (1860), and Estonia (1884). Sweden was an early success for Baptists. The Swedish Baptist Union today, however, has only 18,000 members, having suffered several divisions. Two of the divisions - the Free Baptist Union (1872) and the Orebro Mission (1892) with 20,000 members - have joined with the Holiness Baptists, a Pentecostal body, to form a united body of their own. Baptists in Denmark and Norway each have around 5,000 members. Baptists in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark are suffering decline, the only area on the continent where this is occurring.
The total Baptist membership in Finland, including Swedish Union and the Finnish Union, is 2,000. In Estonia it is 6,000, while in Latvia it is 6,300. At present Latvia is showing the most vigorous growth for Baptists in Northern Europe. Lithuania has a small Baptist Union of 500 members. Eurasia (Commonwealth of Independent States)
One of the greatest areas today for Baptist growth on the European continent is the land mass of Eurasia which includes the twelve nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States, formerly known as the U.S.S.R. and earlier as the Russian Empire. Baptists have suffered much for their faith in this area, first under the Russian Czars and then under the Soviet regime.
Baptists first appeared in the Russian Empire among the Swedes in Finland (1856), Germans in Poland (1858), Ukrainians in Ukraine (1869), and Russians in Georgia (1867). Baptist work was greatly aided by the mission vigour of the Oncken movement, the revivalism of the time, and the German and Ukrainian stundists who met for devotional hours.
Baptists in Eurasia are noted for their biblicism, strict moral code, and lengthy worship services which include several cycles of singing, prayer, and preaching. Each republic of the former Soviet Union now has its own union except that the Union of Central Asia includes Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. The Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists of the Ukraine with 125,000 and the union in Russia with 83,000 members are the largest. The unions of the other republics are much smaller.
In 1961 a schism occurred when the Reform Baptists, who rejected state controls over the churches, separated. Although the Reform Baptists suffered severe persecution, they today have almost 60,000 members. In addition, there are autonomous Baptist churches and independent evangelical Christian congregations.
Southeastern Europe
With its ethnic and religious mix, Southeastern Europe has not been an easy field for Baptists. Four decades of communist control over most of the area also took its toll. South of the Drava and Danube Rivers, except for Dobruja, there are only around 12,000 Baptists. On the other hand, there are strong Baptist communities in Hungary and Romania. Baptist mission work has been very limited until more recent times.
A German Baptist work was begun in Hungary in 1846. The work was revived and grew under Heinrich Meyer, who was a German colporteur. Division between German and Hungarian leadership, however, produced two rival unions, a division not healed until 1920. The Baptist Union of Hungary has 11,100 members in 245 congregations.
German Baptists brought the Baptist witness to Bucharest in Romania in 1856. Later in 1875 Baptists entered Transylvania from Hungary. Baptists, however, did not form their first Romanian Baptist church in the Old Kingdom of Romania until 1909. Baptists in Romania today have two unions--the Romanian with 90,000 members in 1,500 churches and a Hungarian with 8,500 members in 210 churches.
German Baptists were the first to enter what later became Yugoslavia when Heinrich Meyer baptized five candidates in 1875 at Novi Sad, then part of Hungary. Other nationalities were reached - Croatians (1880s), Hungarians (1899), Slovaks (1900), Romanians (1922), and Slovenians (1923). A Yugoslav Baptist Union was formed in 1924 but with the dissolution of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1991 the Yugoslav Union is no more. There are today six Baptist unions in place of the old union with the union in Croatia the largest with 4,500 members. The youngest union is in Bosnia-Herzegovina, formed in 2000, numbering 139 members in four congregations. Baptists in the former Yugoslavia number almost 7,400 in a little more than one hundred churches. Before the Second World War a small Baptist mission existed in Albania, but after the war the communist regime suppressed all religious activity. With the fall of the regime in 1991-2, Baptist mission work resumed. In late 1998 a Baptist Union was formed. The World Christian Encyclopedia reports 2,100 members in five churches in the country.
Johann Kargel, a German-Russian from the Russian Empire, baptized the first Baptist believers in Bulgaria in Kazanlik in 1880. Baptist work was very slow. The communist regime, established after the Second World War, imprisoned Baptist and other Protestant pastors and greatly restricted all Christian activity. With the overthrow of the regime in 1991, Baptists have had a rebirth. The Bulgarian Union today has 4,100 members in sixty-one churches.
Greece has never been fertile ground for Baptists. A Baptist mission in the nineteenth century died out. Today there is an international English-speaking Baptist church in Athens. An indigenous Greek work began in Athens around 1969. The World Christian Encyclopaedia reports 184 Baptists in three churches.
Southern (Latin) Europe
With its domination by the Roman Catholic Church, Latin Europe has been the least responsive field in Europe for Baptists. There are here only around 38,500 Baptists in 600 churches with an average membership of sixty-three per church. Much of the work has been dependent upon the foreign missionary. During the last several decades, Baptist missions from abroad have greatly increased in number and effort.
An indigenous French Baptist movement began in 1820. A more formal effort commenced with the arrival in 1832 of missionaries from the U.S.A. By 1900 there were thirty churches and two thousand members. Because of theological differences and personal rivalry, by 1921 French Baptists had divided into three separate organizations. With the influx of Baptist missions from abroad after the second World War, numerous other Baptist groups have appeared. The World Christian Encyclopaedia lists statistics for eight Baptist bodies besides noting others, some of which may have only one church. There are over 10,000 Baptists in the country in 200 or more churches.
Baptist work in Belgium is an extension from France. Most work has been among the French-speaking population with limited outreach to the Flemish. A Baptist Union was established in 1922 which has 917 members in thirty churches. Including the work of independent Baptists from the U.S.A., there are about 1,500 Baptists in approximately forty-five churches.
Baptist work in France also spread into French-speaking Switzerland in 1872. Today there is an Evangelical Union of 560 members and fifteen churches.
Edward Clarke from England founded the first Baptist church in Italy in 1867 as well as beginning La Spezia Mission. A Southern Baptist missionary from the U.S.A., William N. Cote, was the first Protestant missionary to enter Rome in 1870, forming a church there in 1871. Other Baptist missions entered the field, but by the early 1920s Southern Baptists took responsibility for most of the Baptist mission work. The Christian Evangelical Baptist Union, formed in 1956, has over 6,500 members in 100 churches. Conservative Baptists from the U.S.A. entered in 1947, whose work led to the formation of the Evangelical Baptist Assembly, which has 507 members and six churches.
A revolution in Spain in 1868 enabled William I. Knapp, an American Baptist, to enter the country. In 1870 he formed the first Baptist church in Madrid. Knapp's work almost disappeared but was saved by Eric Lund, a Swede. In the early 1920s Southern Baptists assumed responsibility for the work of the several Baptist missions then in the country. Baptists suffered under the fascist regime of Francisco Franco. The Baptist Union, formed in 1929, has 8,365 members in seventy-three churches. A division from the Union resulted in the formation in 1957 of the Federation of Evangelical Independent Churches which has 4,400 members in sixty-two congregations. Today numerous Baptist missions from abroad work in the country. The total number of Baptists is about 14,000 in over 150 congregations.
Joseph Charles Jones established the first Baptist church in Portugal in Oporto in 1888. For many years the leading pioneer was J. J. de Oliveira, a native of Portugal who arrived in 1911 as a missionary under the Foreign Mission Board of Brazil. The Portuguese Baptist Convention has 4,379 members in sixty-three churches. An Association of Portuguese Baptist Churches, related to the Baptist Missionary Association in the U.S.A., has 315 members in twenty-one churches, and the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism has 350 members and seven churches. There are also independent Baptist churches in the country.
The little nation of Malta in the midst of the Mediterranean Sea is a late comer to Baptist work. Missionaries of the Baptist Bible Fellowship began a Baptist mission which formed the Bible Baptist Church in 1985 which today has forty-eight members. A second church, the Evangelical Baptist Church, which became a Baptist congregation in 1989, has sixty members.
Major Baptist bodies in Europe are members of the European Baptist Federation, a regional member of the Baptist World Alliance.