Russian Union of Evangelical Christian Baptists

The official doctrine of the Union is the Doctrine of 1985 ^[1] .

RSEHB consists of regional associations of churches, which are included in seven territorial districts, coordinated by the vice-presidents of the Union. The supreme governing body of the Union is the All-Russian Congress of Representatives of Regional Associations, convened every four years, at which the chairman and presidium of the union is elected and other issues relating to the work of the union are decided.

Operational management is exercised by the Union Council, consisting of senior presbyters of regional associations. The Council is headed by a chairman. The chairman is elected by the Congress of representatives of regional associations for a 4-year term and cannot fulfill his duties for more than two consecutive terms. For example, the former chairman of the RSAH Presbyter Alexei Smirnov resigned in connection with the expiration of two 4-year terms during the XXXIII Congress on March 25, 2018.

The official press organ of the union is the Christian Word magazine.

Currently, it is the largest association of believers of this denomination in Russia. According to the statistics released during the FRAB Council, held in March 2019 :

• the number of churches in the cities and villages of Russia is 1,664,
• the number of church members is 71991,
• the number of baptized in 2017 - 2015.

In accordance with Baptist doctrine , the RSEB does not have the right to interfere in the internal church life of local churches (communities) - to decide whether to accept or excommunicate members, elect presbyters, etc. organizations, the development of theology, inter-church events at the federal level, the development of a network of institutions of evangelical education.

RSEHB is the founder of the Moscow Theological Seminary of the ECB , which trains preachers and workers of the Union's Sunday schools. The seminary includes a network of branches in various cities of Russia, in particular, in Rostov-on-Don , Noyabrsk , Novokuznetsk , Chita , Khabarovsk and Chelyabinsk .

RSEHB is a member of the Eurasian Federation of European Union Unions , the European Baptist Federation and the World Baptist Union .

• Vasily Eugimovich Logvinenko , Chairman of the RSEC for 1992-1993
• Petr Borisovich Konovalchik , Chairman of the RSEB in 1994–2002
• Sipko Yury Kirillovich , Chairman of the RSEB in 2002–2010
• Alexey Vasilievich Smirnov , Chairman of the RSEB in 2010–2018 ^[2]

Currently:

• Chairman of the RSEHB: Petr Valterovich Mitskevich (elected March 22, 2018) ^[3]

• First Deputy Chairman of the RSEHB: Viktor Vladimirovich Ignatenkov ^[3]
• Head of Administration of the RSEB: Vladimir Aleksandrovich Miskevich ^[3] :

Regional Vice-Chairmen:

• Far Eastern region: Viktor Ivanovich Zaitsev
• Siberian region: Vitaly Pavlovich Bak
• Ural region: Igor V. Maksakov
• Southern region: Victor Levashov
• Central region: Nikolai Nikolaveich Maslyakov
• Volga region: Alexander Petrovich Mandzyuk
• North-Western region: Viktor Kirillovich Sipko

• As a rule, Baptists in Russia and abroad do not call their interchurch or supra-church organizations "church." Such definitions as “union”, “council”, “alliance”, “conference”, “convention”, etc. are used. This is due to the fact that the word “Church” is not used anywhere in the Bible in such a meaning. The biblical concept of the Church of Christ (universal Church) by Baptists is defined as a mystical body consisting of Christ and His disciples, it is not identical to any earthly administrative and religious organization, and the local group of believers is called the local church.
• Baptists believe that everyone can receive the gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior, expressed in the sincere prayer of repentance, which can be pronounced in any place and in any conditions.

• Site of the Russian Union of ECB