ECMU - As Close to Baptist As You Can Get Without Crossing Over

The Evangelical Christian Missionary Union (ECMU) has been faithful to its own creeds and its published church planting plans in European Russia. Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch maintain that “our ecclesiology flows more naturally out of our sense of mission.”[1] ECMU and C&MA express their ecclesiology through practical mission. If Great Commission Church is a typical example of church planting within the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA), then C&MA also exhibits faithfulness to its stated ecclesiology as well. If John S. Hammett’s ecclesiological model as presented in Biblical Foundations for Baptist Churches is used as a standard for biblical truth, then ECMU’s ecclesiology in St. Petersburg, Russia, meets those requirements for being biblical. If it is held as a lever for Baptist ecclesiology, then ECMU could be considered either Baptist or at least Baptist-like.  

ECMU is planting new churches mainly in urban centers throughout European Russia. Using each metropolis as a base for launching further work in nearby cities, towns, and villages, ECMU is practicing the same methods as the current master plans of the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention (IMB) in many of those cities. Moreover, IMB currently has a missionary presence in four of the same megacities as EMCU in European Russia, so it is no surprise that the two organizations often work together.

Because so much of IMB’s current strategy in European Russia echoes ECMU’s church planting strategy, IMB has chosen to continue to build strategic partnership with ECMU on a variety levels. Through planting churches in large and influential cities of Russia, IMB hopes to develop bases for ongoing church planting throughout Russia. By creating outreach projects based on meeting needs of and providing service to the larger community, IMB hopes to develop the same type of presence that ECMU is establishing. By planting churches that will send and support their own missionaries, IMB hopes to see a church planting movement spread throughout European Russia.[2] IMB has hosted several leadership training events in Moscow and St. Petersburg to train cross-cultural workers for this purpose, and ECMU has participated regularly in these events.

In the European Russian context, an ideal urban church planting ministry should entail the establishment of church planting teams and churches in the megacities. Ideally, it should also entail some type of community outreach that would meet human needs while teaching sound biblical theology. Preferably, churches should be taught the principles of church planting movements and should initiate the sending of their own missionaries for global mission expansion. In reality these are the very activities in which IMB and ECMU has been involved for the past decade, and ECMU has seen an almost five hundred percent increase in churches and members. ECMU is as close to Baptist as you can get without crossing over.

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[1] Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch, The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21st Century Church (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2013), 31.

[2] David Garrison defines a Church Planting Movement as “a rapid multiplication of indigenous churches planting churches that sweeps through a people group or population segment” in his book, Church Planting Movements: How God is Redeeming a Lost World (Arkadelphia, Ark.: WIGTake, 2004), 21.

So How Does Russia's ECMU compare to Baptist Ecclesiology? Part 2

Ed Stetzer believes many churches “have neglected some of the ecclesiology described in Scripture by de-emphasizing New Testament patterns of leadership, misunderstanding the role of covenant and related church discipline, and failure to practice the biblically prescribed ordinances.”[1] John Hammett identifies the positions of elders/pastors/overseers and deacons as two offices in Baptist ecclesiology. He lists the qualifications for elders as those coming from 1 Timothy 3:2–7 and Titus 1:6–9. The list includes morality, marital status, giftedness, maturity, gender, and a divine calling. Of those qualifications, the overwhelming majority of the Evangelical Christian Missionary Union (ECMU) concurs.[2] Hammett also encourages a plurality of elders in his Baptist ecclesiology,[3] the very thing that ECMU also encourages.[4] After one hundred years of deacon rule, Hammett has issued a call back to congregational rule wherein a plurality of elders “would force churches to think through the relationship of the two offices and would result in a renewal of the servant aspect of diaconal ministry, with leadership left to the elders.”[5] The way that Frolov has established the ministries of elder and deacon in his church is reflective of that renewal.

The ECMU church in St. Petersburg recognizes pastoral ordination, but it does not practice deacon ordination. According to Hammett, the issue of ordination is a historical one.

Over the course of church history, ordination grew in importance. It eventually became viewed as a sacrament, conferring grace and the gift of the Holy Spirit on the recipient…This understanding of ordination came under sharp attack in the Reformation, because it contradicted the idea of the priesthood of all believers, it created a false dichotomy between clergy and laity, and it lacked biblical warrant.[6]

Frolov does not see a need to unnecessarily “burden” lay servants with cultural and historical baggage.[7]

Hammett outlines five ecclesial functions in Baptist ecclesiology, the very same functions or ministries that Frolov and ECMU outlines as their own. Hammett argues that “in Baptist life, the ministry of the Word has been central.”[8] ECMU calls the ministry of the Word “the only true source of knowing God (John 5:39).”[9] Hammett said the ministry of fellowship “explains how otherwise diverse believers can experience oneness in Christ; what they have in common outweighs their differences.”[10] ECMU says that “fellowship with other Christians (Hebrews 10:25) is what leads a Christian to readiness to serve God with power and with the gifts of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:11–13).”[11] Hammett says that in the Baptist ministry of worship “evangelism was a byproduct of worship, not the design of worship.”[12] ECMU reflects this as well in its identification with the evangelical movement even in its worship practices.[13] Hammett identifies service as a Baptist ideal, even though “this is an area in which Baptists… need to improve.”[14] Frolov says that “ECMU is including an aspect of service to the community and to each other as an integral part of its church life.”[15] Hammett also includes evangelism that extends “to the ends of the earth, or what is usually called international missions.”[16] EMCU is also careful to include an evangelism aspect that extends “to all generations and to all people groups.”[17]

Interestingly, the substance of Baptist ecclesiology as presented by Hammett is reflective of the very practice of ECMU in Russia. Almost item by item, each element of historical Baptist theology as it relates to the doctrine of the church is present in ECMU’s praxis. Perhaps it is for this reason that Frolov makes the claim that “we are really Baptists; we just don’t have the title Russian Baptists. We are a different denomination, but we are just like Baptists.”[18]

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[1]Ed Stetzer, Planting Missional Churches: Planting a Church That’s Biblically Sound and Reaching People in Culture (Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman & Holman, 2006), 177.

[2] The only sticking point would be Hammett’s insistence on the elder role as limited to males. ECMU has one female serving as pastor in the Buddhist region of Russia. See Evangelical Christian Missionary Union, “Церкви Калмыцкой Епархии,” (2009). http://www.exmc.ru/churches/kalmykyia (accessed August 18, 2009). However, even though the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 defines male leadership of churches, the Southern Baptist Convention still has about 30 women pastors. See Executive Committee of the SBC, “Southern Baptists and Women Pastors,” The Truth about the SBC & Texas (2009). http://www.baptist2baptist.net/printfriendly.asp?ID=58 (accessed August 18, 2009).

[3] Hammett, Biblical Foundations, 166-177.

[4] Frolov, interview by author.

[5] Hammett, Biblical Foundations, 197.

[6] Hammett, Biblical Foundations, 205–206.

[7] Frolov, interview by author.

[8] Hammett, Biblical Foundations, 228.

[9] Evangelical Christian Missionary Union, “Символ Веры.”

[10] Hammett, Biblical Foundations, 233.

[11] Evangelical Christian Missionary Union, “Символ Веры.”

[12] Hammett, Biblical Foundations, 248.

[13] See Evangelical Christian Missionary Union, “Символ Веры.”

[14] Hammett, Biblical Foundations, 252.

[15] Frolov, interview by author.

[16] Hammett, Biblical Foundations, 255.

[17] See Evangelical Christian Missionary Union, “Символ Веры.”

[18] Dmitry A. Frolov, interview by author, written notes, St. Petersburg, Russia, May 15, 2004.

So How Does Russia's ECMU compare to Baptist Ecclesiology? Part 1

John S. Hammett makes a case for Baptist ecclesiology in his book Biblical Foundations for Baptist Churches: A Contemporary Ecclesiology. He personally argues that there is a clear Baptist heritage and theological stance when it comes to the doctrine of the church. From an historical perspective, he identifies a certain biblical and theological position as indicative of traditional Baptist ecclesiology. Interestingly, Great Commission Church of ECMU holds to this exact formula for Baptist ecclesiology.

Images. Hammett employs several biblical images to describe the church. According to Hammett, Baptists see the church as the New Testament “people of God”[1] reflective of and with some spiritual connection to the Old Testament designation for the children of Israel. He also employs the image of the “Body of Christ”[2] to describe the unity, diversity and mutuality of its members. Moreover, he uses the term “Temple of the Spirit”[3] to identify the church as well. In its Creed and Important Teachings for Missional Ministry, ECMU has also employed the same terminology to describe the church as “the people of God,”[4] “the body of Christ,”[5] and “a building made by the ministry of spiritual gifts.”[6]

Marks. Hammett lists several marks of a Baptist understanding of church, namely oneness, holiness, catholic, and apostolic. Although ECMU does not employ these exact terms in its documents, Dmitry Frolov says ECMU “expresses a unity of believers who covenant together to live godly lives in accordance with Scripture.”[7] Hammett says that the church is organized, local, growing, gospel-oriented, and Spirit-empowered.[8] ECMU’s official statement on the church expresses an organization that is “local… a live organism… with a call to share the “gospel of salvation to the world (Matthew 29:19–20)… by means of the Holy Spirit.”[9] 

            Although the question of unregenerate members is also addressed by Russian Baptist churches by excommunication of those who are in danger of losing their salvation for falling into particular sins, ECMU addresses it by employing a discipleship process for its members. Hammett believes regenerate church membership is the hallmark of Baptist ecclesiological identity and the “center of Baptist ecclesiology.”[10] Hammett cites Justice C. Anderson in his connection of regeneration and church membership as the “cardinal point of Baptist ecclesiology, and logically, the point of departure for church polity.”[11]

           

Ordinances. Baptists observe two ordinances of the local church: the Lord’s Supper and baptism. ECMU, like Russian Baptists, practices baptism by immersion in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.[12] Although Hammett suggests that “baptism is a decision of the church in which it endorses the reality of the [candidate’s] decision,”[13] Frolov sees baptism as the “first step of obedience”[14] in the life of a new believer and places more emphasis on the individual being baptized. Most Baptists do not practice infant baptism but rather adhere to credo-baptism. The Russian Baptist practice of not baptizing anyone under the age of sixteen without parental permission is reflective of their state legal system whereby a child becomes legally accountable for adult crime at that age.[15] There are even some among pastors in EMCU that wait until age 18 for baptism candidates.[16] Though the actual practice of many churches in the Southern Baptist Convention is to baptize small children under the age of five [17], who arguably do not understand fully what they are doing [18], most church members come from a higher age bracket and are accepted on the basis of profession of faith as an older teen or adult. Hammett believes this postponement for later ages comes from a strong Baptist heritage of both Separatist Baptists and Particular Baptists of the seventeenth century.[19] According to Frolov, ECMU also does not usually practice childhood baptisms.[20]

This disdain for paedobaptism in early Baptist history ultimately led to a congregational form of church polity whereby the local church expressed its local autonomy and freedom to direct its own affairs. Hammett deals extensively with leadership roles in Baptist congregational polity.

Local autonomy, one aspect of congregationalism, is also supported by the overwhelmingly dominant use of ekklesia to refer to local churches in the New Testament. There is no superior organizational level to which churches are accountable.[21]

Due to its hierarchal structure and prescribed levels of authority within the Russian Baptist Union, most Russian Baptist churches operate more from a Presbyterian form of church government.[22] In contrast ECMU, as typified in the Great Commission Church of St. Petersburg, also holds to a more congregational form of church polity. Therefore, it could be argued that ECMU in Russia is more closely associated with Hammett’s idea of historical Baptist polity than the Russian Baptist Union. But some Baptist historians have begun to challenge this thinking with examples of presbyterian polity present in historical Baptist examples.

            The ordinance of the Lord’s Supper is a celebratory event in the life of Great Commission Church. Hammett admits that “Baptists typically emphasize the human actions involved in the ordinances…The danger here is missing a blessing God may have for us, because we never look for it.”[23] It is for this reason that ECMU attempts to make this event both a “celebration of koinonia with each other and communion with God.”[24] The Great Commission Church celebrates this observance as a regular monthly event.

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[1] John S. Hammett, Biblical Foundations for Baptist Churches: A Contemporary Ecclesiology (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2005), 32.

[2] Hammett, Biblical Foundations, 37.

[3] Hammett, Biblical Foundations, 43.

[4] See Evangelical Christian Missionary Union, “Символ Веры,” (2003), http://www.exmc.ru/about/credo (accessed August 1, 2009).

[5] Evangelical Christian Missionary Union, “Аспекты вероучения, важные для осуществления миссионерского служения,” (2003). http://www.exmc.ru/about/faith_aspects (accessed August 18, 2009).

[6] Ibid.

[7] Dmitry Frolov, pastor of ECMU church in St. Petersburg, Russia. Interview by author.

[8] See Hammett, Biblical Foundations, 67-76.

[9] Evangelical Christian Missionary Union, “Символ веры.”

[10] Hammett, Biblical Foundations, 98.

[11] Justice C. Anderson, “Old Baptist Principles Reset,” Southwestern Journal of Theology 31 (Spring 1989), 8 in Hammett, 98.

[12] Frolov, interview by author.

[13] Hammett, Biblical Foundations, 272.

[14] Frolov, interview by author.

[15] Yuri V. Podosenov, interview by author, written notes, St. Petersburg, Russia, 5 February 2004.

[16] Sergei G. Fedotov, pastor of The Source ECMU Church in Slavyansk-on-Kuban, Russia, believes that it is permissible to baptize youth as young as 12 years old as long as there is parental permission. However, he believes that without parental permission, a person must wait to receive baptism until he is the adult age of 18 or older. See Evangelical Christian Missionary Union, “Крещение младенцев,” ECMU Forum (February 22, 2009). http://www.exmc.ru/pub/viewtopic.php?t=582 (accessed August 19, 2009).

[17] Lifeway Research, “2007 Southern Baptist Statistics: Number of Baptisms,” (2008). http://www.lifeway.com/lwc/files/lwcF_LifeWay_Research_2007_ACP_Summary_Charts_Part_2.pdf (accessed August 18, 2009).

[18] Hammett, Biblical Foundations, 112. Hammett argues that “it is hard to see how these preschool children could have convinced earlier Baptists that they were in fact regenerate or competent to take on the duties and responsibilities of church membership.”

[19] Hammett, Biblical Foundations, 91.

[20] Frolov, interview by author.

[21] Hammett, Biblical Foundations, 146.

[22] Frolov, interview by author.

[23] Hammett, Biblical Foundations, 262.

[24] Frolov, interview by author.

ECMU's Church Planting Model for Urban Russia

Specifically in Russia the C&MA has partnered with ECMU to “cultivate an Evangelical missionary church movement in key cities and regions of Russia and among their under-reached peoples.”[1] C&MA believes four key initiatives based upon its four-fold gospel foundation will complete that task. By planting new churches in seven of Russia’s largest cities, C&MA hopes reach a significant population of Russia’s “least-well churched”[2] through meeting real human needs. This is an important feature for a workable urban church planting model.

            Meeting real human needs means establishing a missional presence in places where people congregate. Michael Frost sees this as reflective of healthy modern churches.

           

We are now seeing the emergence of churches that are meeting in houses, cafes, workplaces, dance clubs, nature parks, online, and other venues. Most of the emerging church we have been able to uncover are quite intentional about developing smaller communities and are attempting to fulfill the Great Commission by doing church planting rather than church growth. Not only is this more missionally responsive in the new context but, we believe, it is also much closer to New Testament ecclesiology and missions practice.[3]

In order for mission to happen in the way it desires, C&MA has established a needs-based community outreach aspect for each of its new churches. It believes this will work

to establish a credibility for the Evangelical church that is rooted in service. Therefore we are using need-meeting and interest-serving ministries such as family services, sexual abstinence presentations in schools, counseling for post-abortive women and for substance abuse, rehabilitation work with addicts, as well as sports camps, English language instruction, healthy living courses and handicraft hobbies.[4]

Each of the new church plants is instructed by missionaries to seek out ways to reach out to the community.

C&MA teaches that those churches are then responsible for sending out their own missionaries. A stated goal of ECMU is to “help key churches clear growth barriers and send out their own daughter-church planters.”[5] Although various church growth models are being individualized and crafted for each situation, one particular pattern being promoted for urban church planter support is a program of small-business development whereby the church planter and the church plant are self-supported from the first day.

Because theological education is important to leadership development in the local church, C&MA has also invested a significant amount of energy into crafting an ongoing instructional program at the Kuban Evangelical Christian University (KECU). As one of only two accredited Christian colleges in Russia, KECU hopes to train “the nation’s most progressive leaders in the emerging Evangelical missionary church movement.”[6] This, the C&MA hopes, will supply ongoing visionary leadership for a healthy church planting movement with sound urban ecclesiology.

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[1] The Alliance Russia Field, “Four Key Initiatives.”

[2] The Alliance Russia Field, “Key City Church Planting,” (2007). http://www.cmainrussia.org/go/number1 (accessed August 1, 2009).

[3]Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch, The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the

21^st Century Church. Peabody, Mass.: Hindrickson and Erina, NSW, Australia: Strand, 2003.

[4] The Alliance Russia Field, “Creative Need-meeting and Interest-serving Outreach and Service,” (2007), http://www.cmainrussia.org/go/number2 (accessed August 1, 2009).

[5] The Alliance Russia Field, “Growing and Multiplying Churches Planted in the 1990s,” (2007), http://www.cmainrussia.org/go/number3 (accessed August 1, 2009).

[6] The Alliance Russia Field, “Raising Up a New Generation of Visionary Missionary Leaders in Russia,” (2007), http://www.cmainrussia.org/go/number4 (accessed August 1, 2009).

ECMU's vision of Urban Church Health

The Evangelical Christian Missionary Union (ECMU) has readily accessible documents online about its ecclesiological history and stated purposes. Most of the theological documentation relates to statement of faith and ecclesiastical practice. There are some documents that relate specifically to ecclesiology employed in planting new churches and the primary teaching related to the church, especially in the area of what constitutes a healthy urban church.

            Some primary documents employed by ECMU in Russia related to the doctrine of the church are the vision and values files of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA) and the C&MA teachings on the local church. According to C&MA, a healthy church is defined as “a body of believers where the majority are truly living out a great commandment/great commission lifestyle, fully devoted disciples of Jesus Christ, demonstrating a lifestyle committed to the Word, Fellowship, Worship, and Prayer, and Spirit-Filled individuals demonstrating the Power of God, the Love of the Brethren, and the Evangelism of the Lost.”[1]

The ECMU seeks to ensure this church health by creating what it terms “Acts 2 fellowships.”[2] Using the Acts 2:42–47 model, these are groups that exhibit quality pastoral care, devotion to discipleship, fervent evangelism, natural church planting, entire church mobilization, and strategic international partnerships. C&MA teaches that pastors must be “passionate to win the lost for Christ [as] they guide and counsel their respective flocks to go deeper in their love for Jesus, while training them to also be faithful stewards of the good news.”[3] They teach an age-graded discipleship program based upon the four-fold gospel and focus on reaching the lost through “community outreach and short-term missions opportunities.”[4]

C&MA believes this passion for the lost and mission support is “a good litmus test for a healthy Body of believers.”[5] When a church naturally gives birth to more “like-minded fellowships,”[6] it is said to be healthy. These are the churches that mobilize their own to complete the Great Commission and establish strategic international partnerships that will do the same. In its creed ECMU defines the urban church’s purpose as

bringing glory to Almighty God in Jesus Christ and completing the work, tasked by Him, through the preaching the gospel of the grace of God for the salvation of millions of lost people, by starting new missional churches, connected in partnerships in regional sectors and with joint strategies in ECMU under the direction of the Holy Spirit.[7]

According to Simon A. Borodin, former president of ECMU and a good friend of mine, new urban Russian churches should “develop missionaries in our own congregations and support them financially ourselves.”[8] Moreover, this ecclesiological characteristic of exhibiting missional health is the basis for the Russian Baptist Union’s appointment of Borodin as Provisional Director of its own missions department in 2007.

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[1]Dale Edwardson, “Church Health: Vision and Values,” (n.d.) http://web.me.com/dalee777

/NationalChurchHealth/Vision_and_Values.html (accessed August 17, 2009).

[2] Christian and Missionary Alliance, “Local Churches,” (n.d.) http://www.cmalliance.org/ministries/local-church (accessed August 1, 2009).

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Evangelical Christian Missionary Union, “Цель ЕХМС,” (2003). http://www.exmc.ru/about/purpose (accessed August 17, 2009).

[8] William Yoder, “Moscow Headquarters More Colorful Than Ever,” The Union of Evangelical Christian-Baptists of Russia, n.p. (January 23, 2008). http://www.baptist.org.ru/news/english/807/ (accessed August 17, 2009).