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

on inspired by the world-changing events of incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection. Baptists, in particular, who often pride themselves on their commitment to the unshakeable authority of the Scriptures, must demonstrate not merely that they know what the “Word of God” is (Matthew 22:29), but must also show that they are capable of expressing it in the material reality of their lives by working in solidarity with society and the wider church. The post-Soviet Baptist community now has a historic opportunity to lead the way into a vision of open Christianity and church without walls. CONCLUSION The Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity has unleashed a new impulse for wholesale social reform and a desire to jettison the burden of lingering neo-Sovietism and its dysfunctional modes of social interaction. It is difficult to predict what the outcome will be. As Hegel claimed, human actors are caught up in the drama, but no-one has seen the script. The Owl of Minerva takes flight only at dusk®’ and we will only learn of the true significance of the Revolution of Dignity in hindsight. But even now it is apparent that historians one hundred years hence will look back at the Revolution in 2013-14 as the time when Ukrainian society took a bold leap (as opposed to the previous timid steps) away from the post-Soviet vices of corruption, cynicism, and irresponsibility. The Revolution marks a return to the values of freedom, compassion and solidarity that proved so fatal to the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and which similarly, in due course, will deliver the coup de grdce to the equally discredited and dysfunctional regime of Vladimir Putin’s Russia. From a Christian perspective, the Revolution may prove to be God’s gracious call to the churches in the post-Soviet space to engage proactively in the transformation of unjust, corrupt social structures, to demonstrate solidarity with those fighting for freedom and justice and thereby to become salt and light to their society. Ukraine’s Christian community, by demonstrating solidarity with its people, has helped to blaze a new trail out of the post-Soviet captivity of the church, which other countries in the region may now follow. Perhaps, we may speculate that whenever Putin and his corrupt Kremlin apparatchiks are finally forced to release their stranglehold on Russian public opinion and when the church in Russia rediscovers its true prophetic voice, even Russia itself will have its own peaceful Revolution on Moscow’s Red Square.*? Whenever this happens, and when the Russian © Hegel, Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp 1986), 28. *3 Unfortunately, the leaders of the Russian Baptists have generally supported the corrupt political authorities in Russia. A resolution issued by the Russian Baptist Union on 30 May 2014 expressed words of praise and gratitude to Vladimir Putin: “We express to you our special gratitude for defini