by Jerry Byrd
The Republic of Latvia is land of contrasts and contradictions, but in many ways very innocent and pure, like a child who has been raised in the conservative country-side and now finds itself suddenly thrust into a fast-paced and a-bit-scary large and cosmopolitan city. It is one the three “Baltic” countries, along with Estonia and Lithuania, which were forcibly included in the Soviet Union. Latvia chaffed under the Soviet boot until finally being set free in 1990 as the iron curtain fell. It had originally declared its independence from Germany in 1918 near the close of World War I. It joined the European Union in 2004, a process that will continue for several years until it is fully integrated.
Today, the country looks as though it “belongs” in Eastern Europe: the architecture, the communist-built (and crumbling) high-rise apartments, men wearing fur hats, most everyone appearing to prefer dark and conservative clothing, and a simple agricultural model with raw wood being a major export. One unusual item of note is that Latvia is the nesting area for the storks of Europe. Their nests are everywhere. The country wraps around the Baltic Sea like an old woman’s shawl, giving the county an abundance of humidity in summer and snow in winter.
Although Latvians certainly appear to live in the “East”, virtually every Latvian see’s their country’s future connected to the “West.” Most love all things western and are intentionally moving to embrace a life on the Western European/American model.
Latvia is relatively sparsely populated with only 2.27 million people, but whose population is shrinking due to mobility enhancement by being a part of the E.U. and the desire to go elsewhere to seek improved job opportunities.
Christian missionaries arrived in 1180. When the local people did not readily convert to, and strongly opposed, Christianity, German Crusaders were sent into Latvia to convert the pagan population. By 1211, Christianity had effective control with the foundation stone for the Dome Cathedral in Riga, (now its capital and largest city) having been laid.
For the next 700 years, the Swedes, Russians, Germans and Poles successively fought over pieces and parts of Latvia. World War I devastated the country. When independence was proclaimed in 1918, what followed was a chaos that resulted in three governments, each claiming to be the rightful government of the country.
World War II brought first Russian, then German occupation of Latvia, both of whom dealt harshly with the people. More than 200,000 Latvian citizens died during World War II, including approximately 70,000 Latvian Jews murdered during the Nazi occupation. Latvian soldiers fought on both sides of the conflict. The Soviets reoccupied the country toward the end of the war, and further mass deportations followed as the country was forcibly collectivized and Sovietized. 42,975 persons were deported in 1949, and by 1959 the ethnic Latvian population had fallen to 62% and the Latvian language was suppressed.
In 1989 the separation of Latvia from the Soviet Union began and was complete by August 21, 1991. Latvia’s parliament was elected in 1993, and Russia completed its military withdrawal in 1994. By 2004, Latvia had joined NATO and the European Union. The Latvian language was made official and complicated issues of citizenship (i.e. what to do about Russians who stayed in Latvia) were being addressed.
Since the year 2000, Latvia has had one of the highest economic growth rates in Europe. However, it has recently dropped, partly due to active economic migration, mostly to Ireland and the United Kingdom. Latvia plans to introduce the Euro as the country’s currency but, due to the inflation being above E.U.’s guidelines, this is unlikely to happen before 2010.
While most Latvians understand and speak Russian, it is a reminder of the sad days under the Soviets and most ethnic Latvians are not pleased to speak it.
The largest religion in Latvia is Christianity, although only 7% of the population attends religious services regularly. The largest groups in 2006 are Lutheran – 400,000, Roman Catholic – 450,000, and Eastern Orthodox – 350,000. According a recent poll, 37% of Latvian citizens responded that “they believe there is a god”, whereas 49% answered that “they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force” and 10% that “they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, god, or life force”. Lutheranism was much stronger before the Soviet occupation, when it was a majority religion, but since then Lutheranism in all the Baltic States has declined to a much greater extent than Roman Catholicism has. About 40% of the total population is not affiliated with a specific religion.
International Commission has assisted with evangelism projects from the earliest time of freedom from Soviet domination. The first project was introduced by Carlos Gruber, an IC board member who was an ethnic Latvian who lived in America, but never stopped loving and praying for his precious homeland. He was a musician, evangelist and global part-time missionary and was given the highest civilian award by the Latvian Congress in recognition of his service to never let Latvia be forgotten while a part of USSR.
Prior IC projects were conducted in 1995, 1999, 2006, 2007 and 2008. In addition to these “standard projects”, a Youth Project was hosted by about 6 Latvian churches in2006. IC has a strong relationship with the Latvian Baptist Union and its Secretary General, which they call the “Bishop”. Baptist pastors in Latvia often wear a clerical collar (as do Baptists in a few other parts of the world). Additional projects are envisioned for each year well into the future.
Because the culture is “old” and “new”, “Eastern” and “Western” and structured (traditional) and chaotic (post-modern), the outreach material and approaches will be a mixture of the typical Western Europe and the traditional (Catholic). Some churches will have services every night, some will have a few evening services along with other night-time evangelistic events, and others may have no evening church services at all and focus on home-based and other outreach activities. Normally, the urban churches will be more “post-modern” and innovative while the rural churches can be expected to be more traditional.
Food served in the rural churches is basic but good and much they grow themselves. There will be some items that you may not recognize. In the city, the food is a bit more sophisticated and in the headquarters hotel and other similar properties, it is world class.
Participants will find many indicators of a Latvian history rooted in the East, in old Russia. But when you see their eyes and their hearts, they will be facing the West.