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

e. ”® Foster, Streams of Living Water: Celebrating the Great Traditions of Christian Faith (Trowbridge: Eagle Publishing, 1999), 153. 77 Ellul, False Presence, 102. ’8 Berdyaev, Destiny of Man (London: Geoffrey Bles, 1954), 252. ” Herzen, quoted in Berdyaev, Slavery and Freedom (London: Geoffrey Bles, 1948), 190. The Revolution of Dignity has signalled a new era in which the post-Soviet church is awakened to its social responsibilities and is able to demonstrate solidarity with the people. In order for Christian values to become incarnated in the fabric of social relations, the church must jettison its obsequious dependence on the state. The church must also resist the temptation to collude with authoritarian political regimes that attempt to impose morality “from above” by the passing of legislation, such as laws that discriminate against homosexuals. Such legislation may have a thin veneer of Christianity, but is in fact a denial of the Christian faith and values, which can never be institutionally imposed or endorsed by ruling ideologies.*° Rather, the church must embrace a vision of “open Christianity” and “church without walls.” This kind of Christianity facilitates the development of civil society by being free, humble, generous, hospitable, full of grace, and ready not just to judge and criticise, but also to listen, learn, serve and suffer for the sake of the Kingdom of God. Mykhailo Cherenkov, puts it well: “The mission of the ‘open church’ is to proclaim the gospel of the Kingdom, to discern, to bless, to participate in its highly diversified forms, directing people both within and outside of the Church in their spiritual search towards an encounter with Christ, wherever this meeting might occur.”*! The problem with recent missions in the post-Soviet space is that they have mainly been concerned with making occasional forays into society for testimony and to “catch” a few converts and bring them into the church. The open and inclusive missional vision of church without walls, by contrast, signifies movement in two directions. The church not only teaches society that which God reveals inside the church, but also learns from what God reveals to the church through social events and processes. With an open and transparent approach to society, the church ceases to be a “holy place” that is rigidly separated from the “secular world.” Social reality is seen as part of God’s creation. Society is the sphere of God’s effective action. Society is the public space which is sustained, redeemed, and sanctified by God’s presence. God is at work both inside and outside those spaces, which we designate as “sacred” and “secular.” All around the world God is active, beckoning us to participate with Him in the great work of redemption. * Moreover, the church has a sacred duty to uphold the rights of all those in society, including homosexuals, who regularly suffer from marginalisation, discrimination