ESTONIA: ESTONIANS CELEBRATE 125 YEARS OF BAPTIST WITNESS
Meego Remmel, president of the Union of Free Evangelical and Baptist Churches of Estonia (UFEBCE), visited the
offices of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) on June 4.
Remmel met with BWA General Secretary Neville Callam and updated him on the work of Baptists in Estonia, a Baltic
state that became independent after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. Baptists, he said, are not the biggest church
in Estonia, a highly secular society where only 10 percent go to church, but “Baptists are perhaps the strongest overall in
attendance, structure, and lay ministry activities.”
The strongest area of ministry for Baptists is youth work, Remmel said. “The church is made up of old and young
people. There are not many middle-aged persons due to the effect of the communist era.” Young people, he explained,
are responding to the Gospel because of its relevance to their lives.
The UFEBCE operates a crisis pregnancy center with crisis counselors to address the high levels of abortion among
the young in his country. This is run in collaboration with the government “and is well received by Estonian society,” he
said.
Due to a high unemployment rate of 15 percent, and a 15-16 percent decline in the Estonian economy, the UFEBCE
has held a series of weekly seminars for persons who have lost their jobs. Participants receive a certificate to show their
participation.
A celebration is planned for July to mark the 125th anniversary of the founding of Baptist witness in the country of
1.3 million people. In 1884, 15 persons were baptized, at night, through a hole broken through the ice. This marked the
beginning of Baptist work in Estonia. The baptizer was a German-speaking pastor from St. Petersburg, Russia. More than
1,000 persons are expected to attend the July celebrations.
A recent boost to the relatively small Christian community in Estonia was the Franklin Graham Festival of Hope that
was held from May 29-31. The festival included the participation of several Christian church traditions, including the
Baptists, who were involved in organizing and planning the event. An estimated 30,000 persons attended these meetings,
the largest ever Christian gathering in the former Soviet Republic, and some 1,000 came to faith.
The UFEBCE has both Estonian- and Russian-speaking congregations, and a newly established English-speaking
church. There are now 83 churches in the Estonian union with 6,000 members.
PHOTO: Meego Remmel, president of the Union of Free Evangelical and Baptist Churches of Estonia, with BWA
General Secretary Neville Callam, at the BWA Center in Falls Church, Virginia
UKRAINE CONTINUED
its associations, and churches as “well coordinated,” noting that “the association structure replicates the national
structure,” and that “each church is structured the same.”
For example, each congregation, and each of the 25 regional associations, has a director of evangelism. When
meetings are held, evangelism directors from the different churches meet at the associational level. Nationally, the
directors of evangelism from each association meet together to make and execute evangelism plans. In this way, the
evangelism work in the country is well organized and coordinated as there is a “clearly defined focus of work.”
Callam observed that there was “high church attendance and professionalization of the music ministry” at the worship
services and the AUCECB events in which he participated.
While in Ukraine, Callam toured the construction site of the largest Baptist church in Kiev. Callam also visited with
Oleksandr Turchynov, a Baptist layman and the First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine. Callam commended Turchynov,
who was Acting Prime Minister as the nation’s Prime Minister was out of the country at the time, on the level of religious
freedom that is enjoyed in the country. Callam also met with Pavlo Unguyran, a member of the Ukrainian parliament who
is chair of the Euro-Asian Baptist Federation Youth Committee.
Ukraine has one of the largest Baptist memberships in Europe. The AUCECB has more than 2,800 churches and
church plants and more than 135,000 members. The Brotherhood of Independent Baptist Churches and Ministries of
Ukraine has approximately 130 churches and more than 11,000 baptized believers.
PHOTOS: A youth celebration event in Kiev at which Callam brought greetings; Callam preaching at Central Baptist
Church in Kiev
7