Romanian Evangelical Alliance

Romanian Evangelical Alliance
Romanian Evangelical Alliance
Alianța Evanghelică din România
Abbreviation	A.E.R.
Type	Congregationalist
Structure	Full communion
President	Filip Ioan
Branch Leaders	Sorin Bădrăgan ( Baptists); Filip Ioan (Pentecostals); Virgil Achihai (Evangelicals);
Region	Sector 5, Bucharest
Founder	Iosif Țon
Origin	21 October 1990 ; Palace Hall, Bucharest
Members	543.803 (in 2023) 103.157 (baptists); 404.307 (pentecostals); 36.339 (evangelicals);
Official website	aliantaevanghelica.com

The Romanian Evangelical Alliance (

Baptist Union of Romania, Apostolic Church of God and Christian Evangelical Church of Romania

.

History

Formation

The alliance was directly inspired by the

fall of communism

, when Iosif first came back in the country after years of exile. On 25 April, alongside Silviu Cioată, Vasile Taloș and Emil Bulgăr, Iosif organised a meeting between all evangelical leaders. Together they analysed the doctrinal differences and after realising how few they were, decided to form the union. The first congress of the alliance was held in October 1990 at the Palace Hall in Bucharest.^[2]

List of presidents

This is a list of the Alliance presidents since its formation:^[3]

Nº	Name Born - Died	Term start	Term end	Duration	Denomination
—	Vasile Taloş (1944–2020)	5 April 1990	21 October 1990	6 months and 16 days	Baptist Union of Romania
1	Paul Negruţ (1953–)	21 October 1990	9 October 1994	3 years, 11 months and 18 days	Baptist Union of Romania
2	Emil Bulgăr	9 October 1994	31 October 1998	4 years and 22 days	Pentecostal Union of Romania
3	David Ciucur	31 October 1998	26 October 2002	3 years, 11 months and 26 days	Christian Evangelical Church of Romania
(1)	Paul Negruţ (1953–)	26 October 2002	23 September 2006	3 years, 10 months and 28 days	Baptist Union of Romania
4	Moise Ardelean (1955–)	23 September 2006	January 2007	c. 4 months	Pentecostal Union of Romania
—	Ioan Moldovan	January 2007	4 June 2011	4 years, 5 months and 3 days	Pentecostal Union of Romania
5	Virgil Achihai	4 June 2011	2 October 2015	4 years, 3 months and 28 days	Christian Evangelical Church of Romania
6	Viorel Iuga (1962–)	2 October 2015	12 August 2020	4 years, 10 months and 10 days	Baptist Union of Romania
(4)	Moise Ardelean (1955–)	12 August 2020	4 November 2022	2 years, 2 months and 23 days	Pentecostal Union of Romania
7	Filip Ioan (1962–)	4 November 2022	Incumbent	1 year, 7 months and 29 days	Pentecostal Union of Romania

Doctrinal differences

Although similar in their beliefs, the three Romanian evangelical denominations are divided over 3 major doctrines that define them as being their own denomination:

Eschatology

Some Pentecostals and evangelical Christians believe in the

great tribulation, Jesus will descend in Jerusalem and reign in the Earth for 1000 years before the Final Judgment (a view called dispensational premillennialism).^[2]

On the other hand, Baptists are generally amillennials, believing that Jesus's "1000 years reign" from Revelation 20 is metaphorical. They believe that the universal resurrection and Final Judgment will happen at the same time with Jesus's second coming and, immediately after, the Eternal Kingdom will be established.^[4]

Ecclesiology

While Pentecostals and Baptists

ordain their ministers, the evangelical Christians have lay ministers.^[2]

Spiritual gifts

Pentecostals believe that

spiritual gifts are still present in the church today. Those include signs and wonders, prophecy, healing and speaking in tongues. The latter is also seen as an indicator of Baptism with the Holy Spirit

.

Baptists and evangelical Christians are officially

Apostolic Age.^[2]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Rezultatele parțiale ale recensământului din 2022 privind situația religiei în România".
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Ce este si cum a inceput Alianta Evanghelica din Romania - de Iosif Ton" (in Romanian). alfaomega.tv. 29 January 2015.
^ "Istoricul Alianţei Evanghelice" [History of the Evangelical Alliance] (PDF) (in Romanian).
^ Mărturisirea de credință a Cultului Creștin Baptist, Uniunea Bisericilor Creștine Baptiste din România, Bucharest, 2009, p. 36-39

[Rezultatele_parțiale-1] "Rezultatele parțiale ale recensământului din 2022 privind situația religiei în România".

[Alianta_Evanghelica-2] "Ce este si cum a inceput Alianta Evanghelica din Romania - de Iosif Ton" (in Romanian). alfaomega.tv. 29 January 2015.

[3] "Istoricul Alianţei Evanghelice" [History of the Evangelical Alliance] (PDF) (in Romanian).

[4] Mărturisirea de credință a Cultului Creștin Baptist, Uniunea Bisericilor Creștine Baptiste din România, Bucharest, 2009, p. 36-39

[note_n0-5] Part of the Communion of Protestant Churches in Europe

[note_n1-6] Part of the Romanian Evangelical Alliance

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[a]

[b]

Mormonism	The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Romania
Irvingism	New Apostolic Church
Bible Students	Jehovah's Witnesses Association of Romania

v t e Principal religions of Romania
State-recognised	Armenian Apostolic Church Baptist Union of Romania Convention of the Hungarian Baptist Churches Christian Evangelical Church Evangelical Church Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession Evangelical Lutheran Church Islam Jehovah's Witnesses Association of Romania Judaism Lipovan Orthodox Old-Rite Church Pentecostal Union of Romania Reformed Church Roman Catholic Church Armenian Catholic Vicariate Romanian Greek Catholic Church Romanian Orthodox Church Ukrainian Orthodox Vicariate Army of the Lord Romanian Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Timișoara Unitarian Church of Transylvania	Main religions in the localities (2002)
Semi-recognised (as a religious association, but not a denomination)	Assemblies of God Baháʼí Faith Harvest Nazarene New Apostolic Church Old Calendar Orthodox Church Pentecostal Church of God Renovatio Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement
Not state-recognised	Anglicanism Hinduism Inochentism Mormonism Zalmoxianism
Others	Irreligion in Romania