Crumbs from the Table

The English Reformation began with groups such as the gatherings at the White Horse Inn in Cambridge, and with other individuals who had been in contact with Luther's teachings, including William Tyndale, the Bible translator and martyr. Later, under Henry VIII and his son, Edward VI, Thomas Cranmer and others gradually introduced Reformation teachings in the form of revised orders of service in English, access to the Bible in English translation and so forth. Queen Mary Stuart temporarily reversed these changes, and martyred many. The subsequent reign of Elizabeth I consolidated the English Reformation, combining traditional forms with the Reformed teaching of the 39 Articles.  It was during the reign of Elizabeth I, that the Puritan movement began. This was at first a movement within the national church pushing for a more thorough reformation along the lines of that in Geneva. However, others rejected the whole idea of a national church and from 1581, independent churches were st...

Novosibirsk, Russia is a city of two million right in the middle of Russia, just to the north of Kazakhstan. It is there that I spend my linguist's year abroad 1995/6, and also met my wife, Oxana, who was a student there. Having got married in 1999, and after the birth of our eldest daughter, Sophia, in 2004, we moved and made our home there until 2019/20. This is the story of Novosibirsk Baptist Church.  The city of Novosibirsk was founded as a settlement for railway workers in 1893 with the name Alexandrovsky. Shortly thereafter it was recognised as a town in Tomsk gubernia, with the name Novonikolayevsk. Around that time, in 1903, a young man called Luka Frolov alighted the train in Novonikolayevsk, and the origins of Novosibirsk Evangelical Christian/Baptist Church go back to him. The core of the church which formed around him was former Molokans (an evangelical movement within Eastern Orthodoxy). By the end of 1930 there were 30 people in the church.   At this time, ...