EBF Council 2022

One hundred and forty participants from 40 unions and 16 partner organisations were welcomed to this year's European Baptist Federation Council, which took place in Riga, Latvia from 21-24 September

Why EBF?

Participants were asked a simple question: "Why EBF?"

The question enabled people to reflect on the EBF's roots and how it can move towards the future together. They discussed strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and potential threats.

'As we identify the opportunities and challenges we have, and as we understand our belonging and roots, we want to discover our future together,' the EBF stated.


Standing with Ukraine

Igor Bandura, Vice President of the All-Ukrainian Union of Associations of Evangelical Christians-Baptists shared news about the situation in Ukraine.

As we can only imagine, the challenge is still enormous, he said. It has been seven months since the war began in Ukraine. Many have lost their homes, families and even their lives. Nearly 200 churches are unable to continue Sunday services and 46 church buildings have been ruined. 250 pastors had to leave their churches due to a variety of war-related reasons.

However, in the midst of the challenges, they also see God at work. The Union office has now moved back to Kyiv after temporarily moving to Lviv for seven months. A few thousand people have come to faith and been baptised since the war began and all seven seminaries have started their programmes with numerous students enrolled.

Igor also expressed great appreciation for the support of the EBF and BWA family as well as how the communities of Europe welcomed refugees from Ukraine.

'I was deeply touched by your welcoming yesterday; it was special,' said Igor. 'I would like to thank you and all your churches and all the people for your faithful commitment to stand with Ukraine.'


Resolution on Ukraine

The EBF Council 2022 adopted a resolution on Ukraine to encourage our member unions and partners to continue to pray for wisdom, justice and for the end of suffering in Ukraine. The resolution is an affirmation of the resolution on Ukraine from the Baptist World Alliance adopted during its General Council 2022.

The EBF General Secretary Alan Donaldson addressed the essence of the resolution and said, 'It is a great privilege to support all our Unions at this time as they respond with faithfulness.'

Access the resolution here: ebf.org/post/2022-council-resolution


Church planting 

Two hundred and thirty churches have been planted throughout the last 20 years in Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East, through the EBF's Mission Partnerships programme.

More than 80 per cent of those churches are still serving the congregation today and 16 per cent of the planted churches have multiplied by starting 38 new churches. At least 15,000 people have become new believers and members of these churches.

The figures were shared by Daniel Trusiewicz, the co-ordinator of  EBF Mission Partnerships (MP).


The Songbook Project

A project to collect songs and hymns from nations in the EBF region was unveiled at the Council. The Songbook Project includes 40 songs from 20 nations. It was co-ordinated by Lina Toth, Assistant Principal of the Scottish Baptist College, former General Secretary Tony Peck, and Guilherme Almeida.

“As Baptists, we love singing and singing together,” said Lina, who is from Lithuania. 'But it so happens that the most of songs come from dominant cultures, so our desire was to make us a little bit richer, not just musically but more than that — given that the songs are such an important part of our faith journey… 

'So we wanted to share more widely — the heritage we have as well as contemporary pieces that have been written quite recently and put them together into this songbook.'

Lina presented 10 songs from 10 different nations including, Latvia, Finland, Ukraine, Romania, Germany, Bulgaria, Denmark and Scotland.

It is a living project, so new contributions are welcome! 

Find out more: www.ebf.org/songbook


Newly appointed leaders

Two new commission chairs were elected, including British Baptist Juliet Kilpin. Juliet will chair the Commission on Migration. She has been a member of the EBF Migration working group since its beginning in 2016. She is deeply connected in with the grassroots movement to assist refugees in the UK and northern France, and actively engages in migration-related works across Europe.

Einike Pilli was elected as the new chair of the Commission on Theology and Education. She is a rector of the Estonian Free Church Theological Seminary, as well as a member of the executive board, deacon, preacher and vice-chair of the executive board at Tartu Salem Baptist Church. She is also a member of the EBF Nominations Committee, an active partner in CEBTS and IBTS, and one of the inventors of the Transform, an EBF Training Programme for younger generation leaders.

They succeed Otniel Bunaciu (Romania - the Commission on Theology and Education), and Helle Liht (Estonia - EBF Assistant General Secretary, the Commission on Migration).


SENT 2023 - mission conference in Norway

A mission summit will take place in Stavanger, Norway next year (5 - 9 July). The summit will gather both EBF and Baptist World Alliance families with a strategic focus on both the privilege and responsibility we share in God’s global mission.  

'You are invited to the beautiful city of Stavanger, Norway,' said General Secretary of Baptist Union of Norway, Bjørn Bjørnø. 'We are so excited to see you all again in Norway and learn more about mission in this new era.'

More information: ebf.org/sent2023 

 

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