Strangers in the Land and True Lovers of the Nation: the Formation of Lithuanianspeaking Baptist Identity, 1918-1940

Abstract

How does an emerging community of faith develop its identity in the context of a semi-hostile and increasingly nationalistic culture? The story of the early years of Lithuanian-speaking Baptists provides an interesting and informative case study. This article focusses on the formative stage of the Lithuanian-speaking Baptist movement during the interwar period of the independent Republic of Lithuania (1918-1940). It considers four main factors which contributed to the formation of Lithuanian-speaking Baptist identity: different ethnic and cultural groupings amongst Baptists in Lithuania; the role of the global Baptist family in providing both material and ideological support; the community’s relationship with the Lithuanian state; and their stance towards the dominant religious context, i.e. the Lithuanian Catholic Church. Out of this dynamic emerges a picture of the particular ways in which these congregations, and especially their leadership, navigated their understanding of loyalty to the Kingdom of God in relation to their belonging to a particular national grouping.

Theosis and Baptist–Orthodox Discussions

“…Lina Toth, from the Scottish Baptist College in Paisley, takes the case of Lithuanian Baptists who had to learn not only how to be Christians pertaining to the Baptist tradition but also how to live as Baptists in a country that did not appreciate their Evangelical Protestant heritage. 77 Romanian Baptists will find the story of their Lithuanian brothers and sisters particularly interesting because their own ecclesiological history within the Romanian-speaking lands was characterized by conflict with Eastern Orthodox. This is all the more reason why both Baptists and Eastern Orthodox should sit down and not only discuss issues that could prevent the re-enactment of their past mistakes, but also find ways to further the kingdom of God in the world in ways that lead to cooperation, not conflict.…”