New Apostle Church in Lithuania | True Lithuania
True Lithuania

Minor Christian Faiths in Lithuania

In addition to the traditional Christian communities, there are numerous smaller ones, consisting of 0,5% of the population (12 000). Jehovah Witnesses boasts the largest congregation with ~3000 followers. Pentecostals come second with some 1850, Baptists 1350, Tikėjimo žodis 1000, Charismatic church 950, Seventh Day Adventists 900, Church of Christ 500, New Apostle Church 420, Methodists 360, LDS 130 followers. Furthermore, some 1200 are non-denominational protestants and 1300 are non-denominational Christians.

Despite some of these faiths reaching Lithuania in the early 20th century, they were largely uprooted by the Soviet regime. Therefore what exists now is mainly a heritage of the early 1990s when various missionaries came to Lithuania and converted people who were largely unused both to missionary activity and religious freedom. For instance, many people of Elektrėnai (a Soviet-built town that had no church building in the early 1990s) did not differentiate the missionaries of the New Apostle Church from the Catholic clergy.

In Vilnius there exist Mormon (LDS), New Apostle Church and Tikėjimo žodis church buildings/meetinghouses all built in the late 1990s. Main new religious movements also own churches in Kaunas, Klaipėda, and a few towns while in the rest they preach in rented halls.

Baptist and Methodist denominations own 19th-century churches in Klaipėda and Kaunas respectively but their fate was just like that of their congregations. Curbed by the Soviet Union, they were reborn only in the 1990s.

The minor Christian denominations largely drew members from those who (or whose parents) had abandoned the Christian faith as a result of Soviet atheist policies. As many such irreligious people belonged to Russian and Russophone minorities, a disproportional number of the followers of "minor Christian faiths" are now ethnic Russians and Russophones. Therefore, relatively many prayer meetings are conducted in Russian and some entire churches are Russian-speaking. The majority of such churches are, however, mostly Lithuanian.

Many minor Christian communities are partly funded by their richer counterparts in the West. "Tikėjimo žodis" is the only significant Lithuanian-originated Christian church but it has also been founded and expanded in the 1990s.

Jehovah Witnesses Lithuanian headquarters in Giraitė suburb near Kaunas. Like most buildings of the new Western faiths, it is extensive and modern yet modest in design. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

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  1. Tolerant, Nice and true article. I’m local so I know from inside.

  2. Jehovas wittneses or Mormons are not Christians. Though they are followers of Jesus, they dont’t believe in Jesus as Christ, a Son of God. Born to the earth, died on the cross and recurected from the death. That’s the message of the Bible and Christendom.

    JW believe that Jesus was an angel and that He didn’t die on the cross. Mormons believe the same but eve that Jesus went to USA. Even Muslims believe that Jesus was a prophet, but wasn’t a Son of God.

    So these 3 (among other religions) are on a equal level, outside of God’s Kingdom and are not followers of Christ but of something/someone else.

    • You think so.
      The other people do not have to think the same way.

      • As long as they do not accept Jesus as the Son of God (as written in the word of God), they cannot be called Christians. It is more than a truth.

    • Please correct the misinformation posted above. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints believe the Bible to be the word of God, thus believe Christ was literally the son of God, born of Mary in Bethlehem, died on the cross and resurrected on the first Easter morning. They are often called Mormons because in addition to the Bible, they also believe the Book of Mormon (a history of God’s dealing with inhabitants of the American Continent). John 10:16 says quotes Christ “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” In the Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 15:21 Christ followed up when He visited the Americas, “I say unto you, that ye are they of whom I said: other sheep I have which are not of this fold.” Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are true followers of Christ, with the fullness of His Gospel. I encourage you to learn more at lds.org.

    • Don’t think shallow before you dig dipper into the beliefs of other religions.

  3. You think so.
    It is your right to think so.
    The other people do not have to think so.

  4. I am not Lithuanian but I hope that you can help,

    I want to give a gift to a friend who speaks Lithuanian and want to buy him a Bible….
    For months I have contact Bible shops but no one knows where to buy one.

    Are any of your members Christians? who might know where I can buy a hard cover Old Testament Bible in Lithuanian?

    Thank you

    Eddie….

  5. We are living in the Book of Revelations from the Holy Bible, when mystery Babylon falls because of sin & evil; & Jesus Christ comes to cleanse the Earth from sin & help those who have faith in Him & repent of sins & obey God’s ten commanadments.
    The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has a living
    prophet, like Moses. God wants His people free to follow Him and sanctify themselves to walk with Him like Enoch & Moses did. Do you realize how important this is? God knows how to take down giants & part Red Seas & help each individual. God said, how many times would l have gathered you like a hen gathers her chicks & you would not. God has His hand and His help stretched out to you. Will you read the Book of Mormon? Will you pray to know if it is true? If you seek God, you will find Him. We are all brothers & sisters in Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior, Redeemer & Friend. See lds.org


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