Baptist Union of Romania
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The Baptist Union of Romania (Uniunea Baptistă din Romānia) is an alliance of Baptist churches for cooperative ministry in Romania. Since independent (or individual) churches have no legal standing in Romania, the Baptist Union also provides a mediatorial relationship between churches and government.
The first modern-era Baptists in Romania were of German extraction. Karl Scharschmidt came to Romania from Hungary in 1856 and settled in Bucharest. Scharschmidt, a carpenter by trade, had been baptized by Johann Gerhard Oncken in Hamburg in 1845. By 1863 enough converts had been made to form a church, and Oncken sent August Liebig to serve them as pastor. This church, the oldest Baptist church in Romania, in still in existence and meets on Popa Rusa Street. Russian Baptist immigrants, mostly from the southern Ukraine, came to Dobrogea around 1862 and founded a church in Cataloi in 1869. Hungarian Baptists formed a church in Transylvania in 1875.
Baptist witness did not enter Old Romania until the 20th century, and Orthodox opposition was strong. Nevertheless, a church was organized in Jegalia in 1909. An ethnic Romanian church was formed in Bucharest in 1912 by Constantin Adorian (1882-1954), a Romanian who had joined the German Baptist church in Bucharest. Adorian led in forming the Baptist Union of Romania in 1919. Before 1944, the legal status of evangelical groups such as the Baptists was not well defined. Due to World War II and the military dictatorship of General Antonescu, laws were passed in 1942 and 1943 dissolving all religious associations in Romania. As a consequence, Baptists could not meet, worship or evangelize. On August 31, 1944 these laws were abolished, and the Baptists (and others) could once again engage in religious activity legally. In 1948 Baptists were recognized as a legal cult (the English word Romanians use to describe several evangelical Christian bodies).
Hungarian Baptists have maintained their independence and ethnic diversity, and cooperate with the Baptist Union as a "sister" denomination known as the Convention of the Hungarian Baptist Churches of Romania. The Baptist Union of Romania is divided into 12 territorial communities (or associations) - Arad, Bacău, Brăila, Bucharest, Cluj, Constanta, Craiova, Oradea, Sebis (Arad district), Sibiu, Suceava, and Timisoara.
The Baptist Union of Romania is the second largest Baptist body in Europe. In 1995, there were over 100,000 members in 1323 churches. By 2000 the number had risen to over 1500 churches and more than 110,000 members. The Union issues a monthly publication called The Christian - Today. Headquarters are in Bucharest, where a Baptist seminary is also operated. The Union is a member of the Evangelical Alliance of Romania (org. 1990), the European Baptist Federation, and the Baptist World Alliance.
In 2004, the Baptist Union of Romania and the Convention of the Hungarian Baptist Churches of Romania entered into a three year partnership with the Missouri Baptist Convention (an affiliate of the Southern Baptist Convention), primarily for the purpose of evangelism and church planting.
External link
- Official Web Site (http://www.baptist.ro/)
References
- Baptists Around the World, by Albert W. Wardin, Jr.
- The Baptist Heritage: Four Centuries of Baptist Witness, by H. Leon McBeth