Baptist World Alliance, BWA News Release

BWA leader impressed by Estonian Baptists commitment to mission and evangelism

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BWA leader impressed by Estonian Baptists commitment to mission and evangelismBWA General Secretary Neville Callam, 2nd right, visiting the Lutheran Church Consistory in Estonia. (Courtesy of the ECC).
 Baptist World Alliance (BWA) General Secretary Neville Callam declared that he was impressed by the commitment of Estonian Baptists to mission and evangelism.

Callam, who spoke at a Baptist mission conference in the northern European country in October, brought a message “of encouragement in their efforts at mission and evangelism.”

Even though the Baptist union has only 6,000 members in 85 churches, he was appreciative that, in addition to bold mission projects in Estonia, they also had missioners overseas, some of whom shared inspiring stories from the field during the mission conference. Some of these missioners, Callam said, are young people who have heard the call to mission and responded obediently.
Callam also spoke at an evangelistic worship service at the conference which was held in Tartu, Estonia’s second largest city, and declared how pleased he was “to see the intense and intentional focus on evangelistic work by the small union.”

He also preached at two worship services in the capital city of Tallinn and was interviewed by a Christian radio station and a Christian magazine. Discussions were also held with the president and general secretary of the Estonian Council of Churches (ECC) on Baptist and ecumenical affairs in Estonia. ECC president, Andres Põder, is archbishop of the Lutheran Church of Estonia, and Ruudi Leinus, a former general secretary of the Baptist union, is ECC general secretary.

Callam traveled to the parliament where he met with the country’s minister of religious affairs and updated him on Baptist life and work globally. In another meeting with a leader of the country’s  parliament, the BWA leader shared with him the historical role played by Baptists in the Baltic state, a former Soviet Republic that regained its independence in 1991 after the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Baptist World Alliance®
© October 23, 2013

The Baptist World Alliance, founded in 1905, is a fellowship of 266 conventions and unions in 134 countries and territories comprising 51 million baptized believers in 178,000 churches. For more than 100 years, the Baptist World Alliance has networked the Baptist family to impact the world for Christ with a commitment to strengthen worship, fellowship and unity; lead in mission and evangelism; respond to people in need through aid, relief, and community development; defend religious freedom, human rights, and justice; and advance theological reflection and leadership development.

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