B a c k i P e t r o v a c – The Baptists of Serbia have sharply criticised the legislation on religion which has been in force since April 2006. At their recent annual conference in Backi Petrovac in the North Serbian province of Vojvodina, 600 participants demanded “equal rights” for all of the country’s religious communities. They stated thereby that the new laws cause religious division and discrimination in Serbia. The previous legislation, which had been put in force by the communists in 1953, had given all religious communities equal status. The Baptist Union of Serbia’s General-Secretary, Dane Vidovic (Belgrade), noted in a conversation with the European Baptist Press Service (EBPS) that the new legislation divides the citizens of Serbia into two camps. Orthodox, Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, Lutheran and Reformed are recognised fully and enjoy certain privileges, relating amongst other things, to taxation and religious instruction in public schools. Other groups such as the Baptists can only receive state recognition as “confessional fellowships”. Registration for them is more difficult and they are not given any direct access to public media. Vidovic regards the new laws as an infringement on the Serbian constitution. As a member of this second group, Baptists are refusing to sign-on under the “inferior” registration. In their resolution, Baptists are pressurising legislators to revise legislation and offer equal rights to all Serbian religious organisations. Also participating in the deliberations were the President of the European Baptist Federation (EBF), Toma Magda (Cakovec/Croatia), and EBF-General-Secretary Tony Peck (Prague). They both also signed the resolution.

At the conference, Ondrej Franka (Backi Petrovac), the pastor of Serbia’s largest Baptist congregation, was elected President of the Baptist Union of Serbia. Sixty-three congregations and six new church plants with roughly 2.000 members and 4.000 regular visitors belong to the Baptist Union of Serbia.

At the conference, delegates also gave their support to a new evangelistic vision. Five subgroups, all of whom carry Biblical names, are expected to furnish new levels of evangelistic impetus. The “Berea” programme should motivate congregations to place major stress on church growth. The “Antioch” programme should win and send out additional missionaries with the task of founding congregations in locations in which Baptists are not yet present. The women’s programme is labelled “Lydia”. Youth work is called “Timothy”, and children’s work goes by the new name of “Samuel”. The people responsible for each of these programs are required to list their specific goals by November.                                    

The country has an additional Baptist Union in southern Serbia: the “Union of Baptist Churches in Serbia” with 14 congregations and 700 members. This Union has already been recognised by the government as a “confessional fellowship”.