TRANSFORMATION OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE EVANGELICAL BAPTIST BROTHERHOOD IN BELARUS (MID-1960s – 1991)

The article examines the transformation of the organizational structure of evangelical churches in Belarus from the mid-1960s to 1991 from the perspective of changes in the principles of internal organization and within the process of movement defragmentation. The author highlights the changes in the organizational structure of the All-Union Council of Evangelical Christians Baptists since the mid-1960s: democratization of their structure, expansion of the functionality of the republican governing bodies, and a limited restoration of the collegial form of governance through regional and republican meetings of elders. The socio-political transformations of the late 1980s and the desire to restore independent Belarusian organizations led to a change in the centralized system of organization of the Evangelical Baptist movement in 1989 – 1991 – to the withdrawal of Belarusian congregations from the AUCECB and the formation of Belarusian organizations (Baptist – Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists in Belarus; Pentecostal – Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith of Belarus), operating on the principles of democracy, congregationalism, independence, equality, and autonomy of local congregations.