Eastern European Baptist History: New Perspectives, 2007

nown this side of eternity, we are privileged to share in piecing together the puzzle which makes visible the working of God in His people called Baptists throughout the generations. 13 Eastern European Baptists and the Evangelical Alliance, 1846-1896 lan M. Randall pe 1850 Johann Gerhard Oncken wrote from Hamburg to inform members of the Evangelical Alliance, especially members in Britain, of evangelistic endeavours by Baptists across many parts of Europe, including Poland, Hungary, Prussia and several Baltic towns and cities, such as Memel (now Klaipeda, Lithuania). He spoke in standard evangelical language of “great success, with hundreds of conversions taking place and Baptists distrib- uting about fifty thousand copies of the Bible and 1.5 million tracts in two years. Here was classic evangelical conversionism, biblicism and activism. A number of British Evangelical Alliance leaders, most of whom were not Baptists, wrote in support of Oncken's ministry in Germany and beyond.’ Oncken’s Baptist work in Hamburg began in 1834, a decade after his own evangelical conversion in a Methodist church in London. Oncken, often referred to as the “father of continental Baptists’;? was one of the founding members of the Evangelical Alliance, which had been formed in London in 1846. Continental European Baptist life, including Baptist life in Eastern Europe, had strong links with the Evangelical Alliance. I will seek to examine those links during the first fifty years of the life of the Alliance, from 1846 to 1896, exploring what they meant for Eastern European Baptists. | Evangelical Christendom (Hereafter EC], vol. 4 (1850),-p. 364. ? J.H. Rushbrooke, The Baptist Movement in the Continent of Europe (London: Carey. Kings- gate Press, 1923), p. 76. 14 Laying Foundations The formation of the Evangelical Alliance in 1846 was a result of forces that had been encouraging evangelical unity over several decades. Edward Bickersteth, an Anglican leader central in the founding of the Alliance, was involved in pan-denominational bodies that brought Anglicans, Wesleyans and Baptists together in joint evangelical endeavour. Of the 922 people who signed as attendees at the founding conference of the Alliance, 84% came from Britain, over 8% from the United States and of the remaining 7% most were from continental European countries. In his contribution to the 1846 conference, Oncken made a speech encouraging steps that would broaden the worldview of British Christians, especially relating to Europe, where their knowledge was, he asserted, “sadly deficient”.’ His contribution paral- leled presentations by Adolphe Monod, a French professor of theology, and Friedrich August Tholuck, professor at Halle University in Germany.* The real tension at the founding conference was between the British and the Americans - principally over holding slaves. The British representatives, including Baptist leaders such as James H