ЖІНОЧЕ СЛУЖІННЯ В БАПТИСТСЬКОМУ РУСІ: ІСТОРИЧНИЙ КОНТЕКСТ

Baptism, Protestantism, church history, women’s ministry, USA, Galicia, Volhynia, Second Polish Republic methodology of the study is based on the principles of historicism, systematicity, objectivity, as well as methods of historiographical analysis and synthesis. Scientific novelty: based on the analysis of archival sources and materials вdedicated to the formation and development of women’s ministry in Baptist communities staring from individual initiatives of women believers to the creation of a network of sister (women’s) structures that played an important role in the development of secular and spiritual education, missionary activities and social engagement of communities in caring for the most vulnerable populations in the United States, Great Britain, Czechoslovakia and the Second Polish Republic. Conclusions. The development of women’s ministry in Baptist communities has undergone a rather complex evolutionary movement from single, individual initiatives to the creation of an active national and international network. Although the involvement of women in community life varied from country to country, the influence of women’s initiatives on the further development of the movement was obvious, as evidenced by the celebration of the centennial of women’s involvement in Baptist missions in the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Another testimony in favor of the importance of women’s ministry in Baptist communities is the access of women to professional theological education, and even to further fulfill pastoral and preaching duties in the community of fellow believers in the United States and Great Britain. The development of women’s ministry in the Baptist communities of Galicia and Volhynia, which were part of the Second Polish- Lithuanian Commonwealth, went through a similar evolutionary path. However, an essential feature of the formation of women’s ministry here, for example, was the absence of any opportunity for women to exercise pastoral duties in the congregations or the possibility of ordination.