BWANEWS INBRIEF
Latvia Latvian Baptists God’s mission is progressing in the Baltic
nations. The Baptists of Latvia have adopted the goal of planting 100 new congregations by 2020, utilizing the advantage of independence that the Latvian people have enjoyed during the last two decades.
The Latvian population is about 2.3
million. More than 60 percent speak the Latvian language, but Russian is still quite popular. Latvia is one of the smallest nations in the European Union. The main Christian confessions are Lutheran, Catholic, Orthodox and Baptist. The history of Latvian Baptists goes back to the second half of the 19th
century
when some groups of indigenous people were not satisfied with the teaching of the state church and started to read their Bibles. The first baptisms took place on September 9, 1860, when several Latvian believers were baptized in Memele, now Klaipeda, in Lithuania. Latvian Baptists consider this date as the beginning of their movement. Since that time many indigenous congregations were established and chapels erected.
The Soviet period brought dark changes into the lives of Baptist people of Latvia. Thousands of believers and hundreds of leaders were deported and murdered in the communist labor camps. Church buildings were confiscated and many congregations were closed. But despite the difficulties, lectures in theology were being offered (unofficially), illegal youth and Sunday school work was taking place, and many hundreds of books were being prepared on simple typewriters and similar equipment by devoted Christians. The Latvian Baptists
regained their
long desired freedom after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and started to reclaim their property which had earlier been taken
away by the communist state. A seminary, Latvian Christian Radio, a publishing house and union offices as well as a Christian bookstore are in the reclaimed historic building that serves as the Baptist Center in Riga. There are altogether 88 churches with a total membership of about 6,600. The Baptist movement in Latvia has
been active in church planting from the very beginning, except during the period of communist repression.
Peteris Sprogis, bishop of the Latvian
Baptist Union, said, “In recent years the leaders of our union discovered the need to give more attention to church planting. Thus we have adopted the goal to plant 100 new churches by 2020.” The Baltic Pastoral Institute, he stated, “has initiated the appropriate training for future pastors and church planters. We recognize that church planting must be at the top of our denominational
agenda. the individuals in This requires
us to pray and think clearly about the development of a master plan that will release
potential of churches and missional
activities and
Top: Conference of Latvian church planters in November 2011
Below: Latvian Baptist leaders
particularly in church planting. Our desire is to see more and more people come to know God and experience His transforming power.” The Baptist union has adopted the “M4” initiative, which comprises
four
modules: Master, Mission, Multiplication, and Movement. M4 teaching emphasizes the basics of discipleship, multiplication of discipleship, prayer, fasting, and expecta- tion of radical change.
Church planters in Latvia include
32-year-old Ilvars in Ropazi, a village located approximately 36 kilometers from the capital Riga. The new church plant was started two years ago.
Currently
the fellowship is comprised of about 20 persons. The congregation meets in a Baptist-owned camp site complex. Daniel Trusiewicz is Mission Coordi- nator for the European Baptist Federation
By Daniel Trusiewicz
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