Theology & Education

Free Church DNA: Priesthood of All Believers Decoded

October 31 - November 2, 2024, Tallinn, Estonia

All recordings of the presentations are visible on our YouTube.

• Panel session: "How to Understand Priesthood After All?" Interview with three "older brothers" – Catholic, Orthodox, and Lutheran view of priesthood - Philippe Jourdan, Marko Tiitus, and Tauri Tölpt, led by Meego Remmel.

• Plenary session: "Priesthood of all Believers with its Christological and Pneumatological Roots and Ecclesiological Practices" – Teun van der Leer (The Netherlands).

• Plenary session: Christ' Priesthood and Ours - Stephen Holmes (UK)

• Plenary session: Priesthood of All Believers - An Estonian Perspective - Toivo Pilli (EST)

• Plenary session: Priesthood of All Believers: Rethinking Local Church Through a Covenant Language - Olexandr Geychenko (UKR)

• Track Seminar: Centering Prayer as a Helpful Corrective to the Individualism Often Associated with the Priesthood of All Believers - Nick DiMauro (USA)

• Plenary Session: "In All Centers: Discipleship in the Workplace Arena" - Gabriel Stephen (Norway)

• Plenary Session: "From Garden to Glory: The Priesthood of All Believers in God's Cosmic Plan" - Helle Liht (EST)

  
  

Truth, Love and Unity: Challenges of Russian-Ukrainian War to European Baptists

October 19-21, 2023, Warsaw, Poland

All recordings of the presentations are visible on our YouTube.

• “The Uniting Impact of War” by Alan Donaldson

• "Putin Has Cured Me of My Pacifism" by Joshua T. Searle

• "Church Unity in the Shadow of Bucha" by Oleksandr Geychenko

• "Born in Battle: Changing Early English Baptist Attitudes to the Civil War" by Steve Holmes

• "Kairos Collisions in Conflict" by Juliet Kipling

• "Systems of Power and the Faith of the Powerless. Where is the Kingdom of God?" by Peter Tamm

• "Integrity Questioned by War" by Meego Remmel

• "Unknown Wounds of the War" by Oksana Grytsiuta

• “The challenge of the Russian-Ukrainian war to European Baptists” by panelists: Igor Bandura, Tony Peck, David McMillan, Stanislav Synii

• "Prospects for the Development of Ukrainian Theological Education during and after the War" by Eduard Sablon

• "Reflections on Theological and Cultural engagement of Ukrainian Protestant Church with Challenges that War Brought in Ukraine" by Yaroslav Pyzh
  

Texts of Presentations

• Helen Paynter, "The Death of Truth"

• Helen Paynter, "Loving my neighbour and my enemy"

• Helen Paynter, "What does it mean that God is king?"

• Valérie Duval-Poujol, "The Psalms: mirror of our soul, source of our resistance"

Theology and COVID-19: Backgrounds and Reactions to Conspiracy Narratives

Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 24 September 2021 — Prof. Dr Michael Rohde

20210924_ThE_Paper_Rohde.pdf

Download PDF • 163KB

Consultation: Political Tensions of Today and the Church: Exploring Baptist Engagement in Europe

Elstal, Germany, 20-22 November 2019

• Programme

• Erich Geldbach (Germany): Baptist perspectives on the relationship between church and state in a plural society.

• Jan-Martijn Abrahamse (Netherlands): I’m proud to be maladjusted: Preaching against the Tides.

• Helen Paynter (Bristol/Great Britain): Porous Borders and Textual Uncertainty: Why ancient Israel is no model for modern nationalism.

Consultation on Homosexuality

Smidstrup Strand, Denmark, 16-18 November 2016

• EBF Commission for Theology and Education Consultation, Affirmations on Homosexuality

Resources from different Unions used at the consultation and for use within unions and churches who want to have a conversation around this topic:

• To Danish Baptist Churches On the Place of Homosexuals in the Church. A starter for conversation in the local churches about a present-day ethical problem. Theological Forum 2012 - a taskforce within the Baptist Union in Denmark

• An open Letter from the Presidium of the Union of Evangelical Free Churches [of Germany] to the Congregations. Dealing with the Question of Homosexuality in the Congregation and in the Union. 2013

• Baptist Union of Great Britain. Letter re Council Statement. 2016

• Baptist Union of Great Britain. Council Statement on the Registration of Buildings for Same-Sex Marriage. 2016

• Uwe Swarat. Proposition on Dealing with homosexual people in Christian congregation. 2016

• Uwe Swarat. Thesen zum Umgang mit Homosexuellen in der christlichen Gemeinde (in German)

• A statement from a group of British Baptist Ministers and Theologians (link to the website)

Consultation on Freedom of Religion or Belief

27-28 September 2015

Video material

• Short overview report on FORB Consultation

• Nigel Wright, short summary of his presentation 'Christianity and Secularism: Prospects and Possibilities'

• Nigel Wright, 'Christianity and Secularism: Prospects and Possibilities'

• Toivo Pilli, short summary of the presentation 'Religious Liberty: Our Baptist Heritage'

• Toivo Pilli, 'Religious Liberty: Our Baptist Heritage'

• Konstantin Nushev, 'Orthodox Perspective'

• Göran Gunner, 'Questions for the Future'

Texts of Presentations

• Nigel Wright, 'Christianity and Secularism: Prospects and Possibilities'

• Tony Peck & Toivo Pilli, 'Religious Liberty: Our Baptist Heritage'

• Göran Gunner, 'Questions for the Future'

• Michael Rohde, 'Freedom of religion or belief. Three biblical encouragements and challenges of ancient times for today'

Symposium "Baptist Churches and Changing Society: Middle East Experience"

14-17 June 2012

• Hanna Massad: My personal experience in Gaza and Jordan

• Ishak Ghatas: Muslims in Belgium and a Christian Response

• Perry W.H. Shaw: ENTREPRENEURS AND TRIBAL LEADERS. Cultural Issues in Organisational Leadership

• Victor Ormanzhi: Evangelicals reaching out in Central Asia: A Moldovan Experience

• Michael Rohde: An Image of Islam in German Evangelical Press: What should the Church say?

Symposium "Baptist Churches and Changing Society: West European Experience"

12-13 August 2011

• Toivo Pilli: What is the West An East European perspective

• Gunnar Bremer: Baptist churches and society in Germany - some insights

• Mattias Neve: Baptist Churches and Nordic society A challenge for incarnated mission

• Michael Kisskalt: Ethnic Churches and German Baptist Culture

• Nabil K Costa: Baptist Churches on the crossroads of Western and Middle-East Cultures

• Toivo Pilli: Summary of discussions

Symposium "Baptist Churches and Changing Society: Eastern-European Experience"

30 Sep - 2 Oct 2010

• Gunnel Andréasson: Baptists and Society in Eastern Europe – A Swedish Perspective

• Corneliu Boingeanu: How We Interpret Our Story? New Challenges for Romanian Baptists

• Oļegs Jermolājevs: Latvian Baptists From 1990: New Beginnings

• Alexander Popov: Russian Baptists and Sectarian Image in Society since 1990

• Zbigniew Wierzchowski: Polish Baptist and Polish National Identity since 1980

• Michael Rohde: Challenges for East German Baptists in Times of Change after 1989

• Summary of discussion and comments

Communities of Conviction: Baptist Beginnings in Europe by Ian M. Randall

European Baptist Federation, 2009

Published by Neufeld Verlag

ISBN: 978-3-937896-78-6

Hardcover

Price €15

Shipping cost for 1-3 books €5

Your book will be sent to you within 3 days after your payment has been received.

If you wish to purchase more than 3 copies, please send your request to ebf@ebf.org

Ian Randall, who comes from the north of Scotland, studied Economics and History at Aberdeen University, where he met and married Janice, who is a language teacher. After university, Ian worked in human resource management. He later trained at Regent's Park College, Oxford, and became a Baptist pastor. Since 1992 he has taught and has supervised research at Spurgeon’s College, London, and at the International Baptist Theological Seminary, Prague. He has published several books, including What a Friend we have in Jesus, The English Baptists of the Twentieth Century and Spiritual Revolution: The Story of OM. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

___

Ian Randall has given us the most comprehensive overview of Baptist life in Europe since the classic study of J. H. Rusbrooke in 1923. Born amidst persecutions and struggle, the Baptist movement has grown over the centuries into a diverse but vibrant expression of the Christian faith. A story masterfully told by a superb historian.

Timothy George Founding Dean of Beeson Divinity School of Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama (USA) and a senior editor of Christianity Today

___

This fascinating volume is more than a compilation of the stories of the regional beginnings of the one European Baptist family; it is a testimony of the enduring grace and goodness of God to a missionary people called Baptist.

David Coffey President of the Baptist World Alliance

___

The more we are aware of our deep roots, the wider we can spread our wings to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the world. Easy to read and yet hard to digest when we realise just how rich and how challenging our heritage is, Randall’s book is more than a review of our past – it points to our current responsibility and our future calling as Baptists within the whole church of Jesus Christ.

Regina Claas General Secretary of the Union of Evangelical Free Churches (Baptists) in Germany

Related Publications

• WALTER, Karl Heinz. People and Encounters (WDL-Verlag, 2013)