Adam Podin ja pan-evangeelne vaimulaad

Abstract

Adam Podin and Pan-Evangelical Spirituality

Adam Podin (1862–1941) was an Estonian Baptist pastor with Latvian roots. He represented a wider pan-evangelical spirituality, influenced by principles expressed by the Evangelical Alliance and European holiness movements. The article argues, based on the biography of Podin, that not only was the early Estonian Baptist movement influenced by German Baptists and Scandinavian pietism but it also had links to the pan-evangelical dimension. The Estonian Baptist life, at the end of the 19th century and in the beginning of the 20th century, was not limited to confessional and denominational identity, but included broader evangelical vision, which emphasised evangelical conversion experience and social ministry as well as cooperation with like-minded partners. Podin energetically worked in the following areas: he was pastor of Keila Baptist Church; he systematically preached in prisons, both in Tsarist Russia and later in Estonia; he initiated and developed evangelical compassion ministry in Estonian lepers’ homes; from 1922 to 1938 he worked as director of Estonian Baptist Theological Seminary; and, last but not least, he acted as a liaison for the Evangelical Alliance. Podin’s social ministry was supported by the Evangelical Alliance as well as by individual donations from Britain and America. In 1931, Podin was awarded with the medal of the Estonian Red Cross. Podin’s international links and pan-evangelical spirituality helped Estonian Baptists to broaden their view of mission and social awareness. Additionally, Podin made Estonian evangelicals better known on the international scale – especially through his reports to the Evangelical Alliance as well as by his personal contacts. Podin’s ministry belongs to both the Estonian Free Church history and the history of Estonian social work. Adam Podin died on 24th November 1941 and he is buried in Keila at Karjaküla Cemetery.