B u d a p e s t / A m s t e r d a m – European Baptists intend to celebrate their 400th anniversary in Amsterdam from 24 to 26 July 2009. On 28 September, the European Baptist Council sessions in Budapest gave a green light to preparations for the event entitled “Amsterdam 400”. As many as 1.700 members of this denomination are expected to attend festivities at the RAI-Centre in South Amsterdam. Jan Saethre (Siljan/Norway), Chairman of the EBF´s Finance Committee, explained the difficulty of organising an inexpensive event. A participation fee of 165 euros for Western Europeans and 100 euros for Eastern Europeans is expected – plus travel costs, lodging and food. Most delegates from EBF-member unions applauded this opportunity to strengthen Baptist identity in Europe. It is important to be continually reminded of one’s historical roots.

In 1609, religious refugees from England gathered in the back room of an Amsterdam bakery to read the Bible together. They noticed thereby that the church of Jesus Christ could only be a fellowship of believers meeting together independent of state control. EBF-General-Secretary Tony Peck (Prague) pointed out that a loud call for religious freedom was already audible at this meeting. From these modest beginnings the Baptists spread across England, North America and Europe to become a world movement with roughly 100 million members. Yet Baptists do not only want to review their historical beginnings at this conference, Christians also need to be made fit for the challenges facing them in today’s secularised society. The German Baptists belonging to the “Federation of Evangelical Free Churches” will also celebrate an important event during 2009: the 175^th anniversary of the first believer’s baptism in the Elbe River in Hamburg by Johann Gerhard Oncken (1800-1884).

During open discussion various models for financing Amsterdam 400 were considered. Freshly-elected EBF-President Toma Magda (Cakovec/Croatia) suggested that the 800.000 Baptists of Europe contribute one euro during the coming year towards the expenses of the conference. Emanuel Brandt (Hamburg), President of the German Federation of Evangelical Free Churches, suggested that older Baptists unable because of age or health to attend Amsterdam be asked to pay the costs for a younger person to travel there as “emissary”. Karl Heinz Walter (Hamburg), a former EBF-General Secretary, proposed financial assistance for the Baptists of Eastern Europe. Without them, the celebrations would not be a success.