Church Without Walls: Post-Soviet Baptists after the Ukrainian Revolution, 2013-14, Joshua T. Searle, 2016

From its first page to its last, the Bible is informed by a vision of human nature for which neither freedom nor equality is ® Glen H. Stassen and David P. Gushee, Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2003), 230. 7 Penner, “Scripture, community, and context in God’s mission in the FSU”, in Penner and Sawatsky (eds.), Mission in the Former Soviet Union (Schwarzenfeld: Neufeld Verlag, 2005), 22. fundamental: what is fundamental is relatedness.””' Compassion rooted in vision, covenant relationships, generous hospitality and inclusive community, must be both the object and point of departure of all of our educational and evangelistic endeavours. Compassion stands to mission in the same relation as fire to flame; compassion is the heart and soul of mission, its most basic essence and condition of its being. This integration of mission and compassion is consistent with Newbigin’s notion of “mission as love in action.””” Compassion thus remains a constant gospel principle to be practiced regardless of the cultural context, even though the ways in which compassion is demonstrated will vary according to the setting. In a context of social breakdown and deprivation, such as parts of urban areas in Eastern Ukraine, the element of compassion becomes particularly paramount. In a context where broken families, substance abuse, alcoholism, destitution and poverty are facts of everyday life for the majority of people, any “gospel” message of salvation, hope and new life in Christ that does not reach out to people with the compassion of Christ, however well intentioned or doctrinally sound, will not be heard and may even do more harm than good. There may even be some truth in Berdyaev’s remark that Soviet communism was God’s judgement on Christians for their denial of Christ’s teachings concerning human equality and social justice.” This point refers to what Ellul called “the universal responsibility of the Church and of Christians towards the world.” This responsibility consists not only in preaching the gospel, but also in facilitating “the forward progress of society, in its preservation, in the expression of the gospel in terms of justice, liberty and equality.””* Withdrawal into the false shelter of church walls is not an option for followers of Christ who want to be salt and light in their communities. Sin and evil are not merely personal issues, but also structural phenomena. Thus, Walter Wink maintains that, “Personal redemption cannot take place apart from the redemption of our social structures.” Thus, whilst it is true that God cares about whether we lie or tell the truth as individuals, God also cares about institutions in government and the media that disseminate lies and misinformation to entire populations. As Richard Foster rightly notes, “we cannot 7 Newbigin, Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture (Grand Rapids: Eerdman