The spiritual potential of a person. Spiritual potential of a modern person. Opportunities and manifestations

21.10.2019

It all started with the fact that I realized an urgent need to understand myself, find my own path and draw up a "map" by which I can always orient myself in life. My values - what really matters to me in life - have become my "card". Rather, they were already my "map", as they determined my every choice. But the problem was that I did not realize which of them were true, and which were imposed by mass culture and society, spontaneously rooted in me.

"Change your values and you change your life." Anthony Robbins.

Choices that run counter to true values lead to dissatisfaction and upset. Realizing this, I decided to figure out what true values are, what their essence is and how to manifest them, that is, to live in accordance with them. To this end, I have studied many best-selling books "about the most important thing in life", biographies of people who have influenced the minds and hearts of millions of people, and also drew on my experience and observations. As a result, this project was born, in which I reveal the essence and principles of human true values, and how to live in accordance with them.

Our values are the foundation of our personality. Changing values, we ourselves and our life change. I invite you to take a fresh look at yourself and what is truly important to you in life. Redefine your values and prioritize them to lay and strengthen the foundation for a happy and harmonious life.

This is the first article and the chapter of a future book about human true values, where I reveal one of the most significant, in my opinion, values - "spiritual growth" ("spirituality").

How to Unleash Your Spiritual Potential

Do you want to understand yourself, relieve stress, get rid of fears, feel happiness and harmony? Then choose a day and devote it to your soul. This article reveals the essence and basic principles of human spiritual growth. The affirmations (phrases for repeated repetition) and the practical methods given in the article will unlock your spiritual potential and introduce you to your true Self.

So what is spiritual growth? What's the point?

In every person, there is a struggle between the Ego and his true Self. The Ego always wants to control and needs constant approval from the outside. The True Self, on the other hand, is immune to criticism and is not afraid of any trials. The ego is your own imaginary image, it is your social mask. The True Self is your spirit, your soul. The ego lives in fear, the true self in love. We get true fearlessness and freedom when our point of reference becomes not the Ego, but our true Self.

"I am an eternal particle of the spirit"(Vedic aphorism, "aham brahmasmi").

The source of our consciousness is the immortal soul, and the body is like its temporary clothes. And no matter what material wealth we have, all this will sooner or later disappear. If your point of reference is the Ego, then you will be concerned, first of all, with success, money, fame and bodily pleasures. If the starting point is the true self, then you will only be concerned about one question: "Why do I exist on earth?"

"I am a Buddha, - and you are also a Buddha ... You just have not yet understood this,"- said the great teacher to his students.

Suffering and fears appear as a result of the pursuit of material well-being and concern, first of all, with things, and not with the soul. Whereas the primary meaning and purpose of life is to realize that we are not human beings receiving spiritual experience, but spiritual beings receiving human experience.

"The richest man in the world is not the one who has the most, but the one who needs the least."(Robin Sharma).

Principles:

Life is a school of growing up and everything that happens to us is beautiful;
Man is not complete. He makes the transition from an animal to a spiritual existence;
God (or Goddess) in an embryonic state lives in every person;
The task of a person is to reveal the divine potential in himself, through the knowledge of his True Self, his soul;
Not having learned to control oneself, one's thoughts and feelings, one cannot achieve spiritual self-realization.

Application

Affirmations:

I am more than what I seem to be. All the strength and power of the world is in me;
I direct my attention to the spirit within me that animates my body and my mind;
I lovingly nourish the God (goddess) who lives in an embryonic state in the depths of my soul;
Every day I open myself more and more: my potential, my love and strength, all the best in myself;
I am a spiritual being. My potential is limitless;
Everything behind me and everything in front of me does not mean so much compared to what is inside me.

Practice

Diary of Spiritual Growth. Start keeping a spiritual growth journal. Every day, write down your discoveries, observations and internal changes in it. By noticing your spiritual growth and the degree of self-disclosure, you will begin to better understand yourself, others and the world around you.
The practice of silence. Avoid conversations, television, reading, music, and radio. Enter the state "To be here and now". You can sit, walk, or run. The main thing is to stop thinking about anything and strive somewhere. By doing this practice for at least half an hour a day, you will begin to feel your higher "I" and the strength that you carry in yourself. Over time, thoughts will become less and less, and there will be more and more peace and tranquility.
Practice of non-judgment. Once and for all, decide for yourself not to criticize, condemn or evaluate the events that are taking place anymore. Remind yourself of this whenever you find yourself wanting to judge or judge. When you stop analyzing and labeling, there will be a silence, a pause in your mind. It is through this pause that you come closer to your true Self and gain spiritual strength.
Meditation... When you are immersed in complete silence, you will know God within you. It is ideal to set aside at least half an hour in the morning and evening for meditation.
Communication with nature. Regular communication with nature gives you a sense of unity with all life, harmonizes you and fills you with energy.

Summary:

Every day open more and more to the power and love within you, more and more realize yourself as a spiritual being. When your true self becomes your point of reference, you will know your true nature, and you will never experience fear and insecurity. You will enjoy the fullness of life and discover limitless creative possibilities.

The problems of the development of the spiritual potential of the preschooler's personality are value-based priorities against the background of the general decline of the spiritual culture of society. They are actualized by the urgent needs of the time and the lack of attention to educational work in this area in all levels of education, and in particular in preschool. The very concept of spirituality has complex, multi-component interpretations of a philosophical, psychological, pedagogical direction.

Since the spiritual potential of a person is manifested through his spiritual needs and values (intellectual, moral, aesthetic), emotional culture, moral and aesthetic ideals, worldview, ability to create, the main ways of its formation in preschool childhood lie in the plane of social and moral, emotional and value , cognitive, artistic, aesthetic and creative development of the child. The realization of the spiritual potential of both an adult and a child is possible on the basis of an established (for a preschooler - laid down foundations) spiritual culture, the components of which are intellectual, moral, communicative, artistic and aesthetic, national, family and household, environmental, legal, Christian, moral ethical culture and the like.

First of all, this concerns the process of forming openness to the world in children, fostering behavioral skills, a conscious attitude towards oneself as a free, independent person and to one's duties, which are determined by connections with other people, the formation of readiness to perceive the surrounding information, fostering sympathy, empathy, the desire to learn people to act correctly. A position of openness to the world, acceptance of the world and oneself is good. It is useless, generous, and requires no reward. Positions as a condition for the harmonious combination of man and society, their achievement of perfection.

Goodwill begins in practical child-adult interaction. An adult represents society for a child, occupies a central place in her inner world, acts as a carrier of information of educational content. The relationship of the child with the parents is characterized by a specific emotionally sensitive attachment. The joint experience of joy and worries contributes to children's understanding of the rules of living in a family, responsibility for the well-being of another. The child gains the experience of the correctness of the action and, as a result, confident behavior. On their basis, the system of the preschooler's relationship to reality is developed and improved. The child's experience is enriched through the experience of what he encounters in life, his openness, understanding, awareness, and active actions. Through communication with nature, the man-made world, cultural achievements, and later with other people, a general picture of the universe and attitudes towards it is formed.

The environment (nature, small family, where the child was born, living conditions) also has a great influence on the spiritual development of the child. Nature, being a human habitat, a source that nourishes his vitality and inspires to save his wealth, at the same time contains a huge potential for the all-round development of the individual.

Nature arouses the child's curiosity, influences his sensing and evokes a sense of beauty. It can be said without exaggeration that the child most fully learns the beauty of the surrounding world through the perception of the beauty of nature.

Influencing the emotions of a child with its aesthetic qualities - perfection of form, varied and (depending on the time of day, season, lighting) changeable color, nature evokes aesthetic feelings.

This contributes to the manifestation of an emotional attitude towards objects and phenomena of nature. Attracting a child to the sources of spirituality begins with the ability to see the beauty in the environment: this is the first flower, and a delicate spring leaf, and colorful trees in autumn, blue sky, and a snow-white blanket of winter.

Admiration for the nature of the native land is inextricably linked with love for the Motherland. A child is characterized by an instinctive interest in the place where he was born and lives, where his parents were born, the parents of the parents. But patriotism in its universal human sense needs to be brought up. This will come in handy stories about the history of your city or region, excursions to historical monuments, a visit to the theater.

By means of a valuable vision of the world, the formation of a national character, worldview is also a bright, figurative native word.

Folklore takes a significant place in the life of a preschooler. Children can understand sayings, proverbs, peace talks, teased, fairy tales, legends. If tongue-in-cheeks (teasers) are a child's response to an offense, an unfriendly attitude, an underestimation of virtues, a desire to restore justice through a vulnerable word, punish the offender, then peace talks are used to restore companionship.

A powerful tool for the formation of spiritual values in preschoolers is the regional cultural and historical environment, cultural and historical heritage, cultural and historical space. Features of the surrounding nature, mentality, traditions of being, artistic and aesthetic creativity of the native land have a significant spiritual impact on children. The principle of local history in working with preschoolers is closely related to the regional approach to the selection of cognitive and educational material. The cultural and historical heritage, as a spiritual and educational tool, provides opportunities for the formation of the spiritual values of children and their families.

Of particular importance for the formation of spiritual values in preschool children, taking into account their age characteristics (dominance of figurative thinking, vivid creative imagination, emotionally rich sensations from communication with the world around them and the ability to perceive new, bright, beautiful), art has. It is the various types of art that are part of the cultural and historical heritage of the region that allow the child to assimilate the system of spiritual values, to form a sublime, optimistic, joyful, spiritualized perception of reality, an understanding of beauty in life and art.

Thus, the complex process of a person's formation, the formation of his spirituality occurs under the influence of a number of conditions (objective natural and social factors in which a person lives, an educational impact on a person, personal involvement, is formed, to participate in practical activities, self-education). The foundation of the spiritual world of a person is knowledge, mind, faith and beliefs. Faith and convictions form the basis for the formation of an individual's worldview.

The moral upbringing of a preschooler is the basis of his spiritual and mental development. But along with this, it should be recognized that it is the spiritual and mental development of the child, in comparison with moral education, that remains to this day one of the least mastered areas of pedagogical work. That is, it is important to teach the kid to analyze his thoughts, feelings, actions and strive for the highest, pure, good. The forms and methods of this work can be different. The main thing is that they form in the child kindness, the willingness to always come to the rescue, the ability to sacrifice, the desire to give more than to take, the ability to understand the feelings of other people and recognize their right to their own individuality. It is these traits that unite highly spiritual people.

Therefore, the main task of the nearest society is to create conditions for the accumulation of the first positive universal human spiritual experience by preschoolers through their active involvement in various types of activities: play, cognitive, communicative-speech, subject-practical, visual, musical, motional, theatrical, and the like.

Works of art (visual, musical, arts and crafts, literary, etc.) should be widely used as a means of developing the spiritual potential of children in a preschool educational institution and a family. It is also mandatory to rely on the cultural and historical traditions of the people, the individual clan and family, preschool institutions and groups, as well as the environment.

These means especially intensively affect the emotional sphere of the child, and then are most effective in the formation of interest in the available age-related elements of the spiritual heritage of mankind, familiarization with the spiritual practice of cognizing the world of people, nature, things, their “I”, the acquisition by children of their own experience.

The revival of spirituality and morality is impossible without the inclusion of parents in this circle as the first teachers of their children. The parental community is the only one with which the child is connected all his life, and it is to her that he owes his personal happiness, success in professional activity, harmony with the world, and sometimes the meaning of life. However, public consciousness is not yet ready to accept the idea of spiritual and moral parentage as the highest human value, a principle and even a paradigm of spiritual and moral revival of the family and society.

Humanization is still largely limited to external changes, without affecting the deep foundations of relationships between people, in particular, in the system of relations "parent-child". Therefore, the psychological and pedagogical task is to strengthen the understanding of the foundations of spiritual and moral humane parental pedagogy, spiritual humanistic psychology of paternity.

The spiritual and moral foundations of a person is a condition for the integrity and self-development of a person. Unfortunately, the issues of the spiritual and moral development of parents have not yet been resolved by psychological and pedagogical science and practice as successfully as required by the defining nature of this phenomenon in human relations.

Thus, the structure of parental spirituality can be correlated with the following components:

The need-value component - needs, value orientations;

Cognitive and intellectual component - features of the mental sphere (observation, critical thinking, depth, curiosity);

The strong-willed component - dedication, perseverance, self-regulation;

The activity component is the management of one's inner world in accordance with spiritual value orientations;

Sensual and emotional component - the emotional sphere of a person;

Humanistic component - respect, empathy, sympathy;

The aesthetic component is aspiration, beauty needs and beauty creation.

A baby's soul is not twilight, but the light is bright, clean and very beautiful. Adults should do everything to make it fill our whole life with happiness.

Taking into account the possibilities and needs of personality development during preschool childhood, the process of purposeful formation of the child's spiritual potential should be guided primarily by the following main manifestations.

Manifestations of the child's spiritual potential

The desire to get to know the world around you and yourself in it, to get to know more deeply the works of different types of art;

The desire to perceive and create beautiful things, independently engage in artistic activities;

Understanding of basic moral and ethical norms and the ability to follow them in their behavior;

Respectful and careful attitude to all living things, inanimate nature and objects of the man-made world, responsibility and other basic qualities of a person.

Families of pupils and teachers of a preschool institution are an environment that makes a significant impact on the spiritual world of a child due to their constant close contact with children, high authority and trust on their part.

Elements of Christianity as a means of forming spirituality

We should agree with scientists and practitioners who propose to integrate elements of religious enlightenment into the context of the spiritual development of preschool children, without resorting to proper religious education and observance of religious rituals, worshiping icons, memorizing prayer texts, etc. At the same time, such spiritual requests can be satisfied in the conditions of family education, because the right of parents is to determine which religion and how to attract their child (of course, without violating any of its rights, without violence and coercion).

SPIRITUAL HUMAN POTENTIAL

INTRODUCTION

The tree grows from the leaves

assimilating solar energy and carbon dioxide,

and the roots along which water rises to the leaf.

Before we will give answers to the following questions.

How do we know about the possibility of the transition of psychic energy into mechanical energy? Has anyone seen that a person, without physically acting on an object, could move it, etc. If we are such a reliable source of information, then how can you describe what is happening inside a person at this moment? In other words, what resources are being affected that the average person has no idea about?

Once the mathematician and philosopher Descartes a thought was expressed that became general philosophical: “When scientific thought approaches the mystical description of the physical phenomena of the surrounding world, it is then that science and religion will merge into a single spiritual-scientific worldview” ... Perhaps this time has come!

Modern description of interactions and the phenomena between microelements is a scientific mystery. It is well known that the surrounding physical world: from the summer wind, a person near a forest stream to distant mysterious quasars, consists of elementary particles and is described by the interaction between them. Imagine that you are a physicist and register an elementary particle in a laboratory - determine its spatial coordinates. The amazing thing is that science cannot determine its speed of movement - it simply cannot tell how fast it is moving. And, conversely, if you have determined the energy of a particle, then you cannot say for sure: "The particle is located within the laboratory or somewhere on the street, among passing cars and passing pedestrians." This is the principle of uncertainty. Moreover, the more accurate the definition of the spatial or temporal characteristics of a particle, the greater the spread of the opposite characteristics - temporal and spatial. It may be that, knowing the energy of a particle on planet Earth, the latter is at the edge of the Universe! This is incredible scientific mysticism. On its basis, modern technology, the nuclear industry, the electronic industry operate, earth satellites and ships make space flights. There is also an equally incredible physical principle - this is the principle of correspondence. So, having registered the event of the creation of an electron-positron pair (as you know, an electron is a constituent part of an atom that make up physical matter), then, after some time, having registered one of the particles of the pair, you can accurately indicate the properties of another particle. Now imagine that after the birth of an electron-positron pair, the particles were in free motion, hundreds, billions of years have passed, and these particles are separated by boundless cosmic spaces. And, nevertheless, as soon as you have registered one of them with the detectors, have determined its quantum properties, how instantly another particle acquires the corresponding properties. The particles are, as it were, interconnected with each other by an invisible informational interchange, the speed of which is instantaneous. Thus, if a particle has a certain set of quantum properties, then the other has properties corresponding to it and no more.

These quantum principles the physical world is subordinated. Each part of it is interconnected and interdependent with the rest. In such a world we are born, grow, work and then leave it, being its integral part. In accordance with these principles, if we could be aware of and control the internal quantum state of an organism, then we could understand the life of the Universe, then travel through time and space would be available.

Unlike “inanimate” matter we are the organized spiritualized fabric of the universe. And so much so that we can be aware of the universal mystery, we can control it, and we can control it! What can in our body act as those elementary particles that are interconnected with the microcosm, which determine the information exchange in the Universe, which we could control and manage?

One of the assumptions is as follows. These are nerve impulses that flow along incredibly complex branched fibers from one nerve plexus to the next. It is they, more precisely the complex of the nervous system: the brain, the medulla oblongata, the nerve plexuses and their nerve fibers, the currents of energy in them - that is what makes us cosmic! living creature. At the same time, nerve impulses are the current of those elementary particles that are subject to quantum principles and are interconnected with each object and with the Universe as a whole. The nerve plexuses transform the currents of energies, acting as station-organs associated with a certain range of properties, phenomena and processes of the universe. And the central nervous system controls and controls nerve impulses and plexuses ... This is the discovery of Man. Not in the sense that one of the representatives of humanity made a discovery, but in the sense of both the discovery of the continent of America and the discovery of the cosmism of Man.

Until now it was believed that a person has five organs of physical perception. Now is the time to pay attention to yourself, relying on spiritual and scientific rationalism. Such a layer of human culture as the Aryan speaks about the perception of the world through other channels. We find a mention of this in the Semitic culture, from which Christianity traces its history. The Hindu culture speaks of the nerve plexuses as lotuses, chakras, padmas, the awakening of which leads to their more active states, which is manifested in the disclosure of the ability corresponding to the lotus.

Little needed- it is to hear yourself, and thus - the world around you. This explains the fact that the disclosure of our abilities or the third signaling system lies through spiritual attainment.

One of these nerve plexuses- This is the throat, which is responsible for the quality of vibrations. It has 16 petals, each of which is responsible for a certain property of vibrations (see fig. Designation - 11). One of the petals rises up to the chin, allowing us to speak soft, tender speech that children can easily comprehend (designation - 12). A pair of petals, which are located on either side of the previous one, determine the speech addressed to adults (designated - 13). Whoever speaks with children through these petals is incomprehensible to little people, and, conversely, while a person speaks in childish speech, the people around him do not take him seriously and do not pay attention to him. This nerve plexus has petals, the active state of which brings magic speech (designation - 14), the ability to scream (designation - 15), sing (designation - 16). There are petals through which speech acquires depth, wisdom (designation - 17) and color (designation 39). Yes, exactly the color! And there are four more nerve petals. Unlike the previous ones, they are in a latent state. Only with spiritual growth do nerve endings grow in the human body. It is through these petals that we sing in the ether with primordial energy.

Throat nerve plexus is responsible for the type of speech, which can be from soft to tenderfast ( children) to vibrations of the ether field ( ethereal speech). Control and concentration of currents organism in this nerve plexus empowers a person

In addition to this course, there are the following:

A person sets a goal - rejuvenation and beauty. The nervous system responds to the target. Petal 79 is activated or becomes excited. The task of a person becomes to find such a mental state when the tension in the center disappears. What does resonance and the propagation of nervous vibrations in the nervous system mean? A miracle happens. Thus, the psyche is positively polarized and the organism changes.

For two weeks of exercise with the prostatic nerve plexus, endurance increases by 2-4 times, sexuality and attraction to the opposite sex increase, facial expression changes, forgotten events are remembered, a person makes new plans, etc.
In the future, the correction of the currents of the prostatic center is carried out several times a year. This is enough to restore the body and live for 100 years.

I wish you successful research!

The article is devoted to the main problems of the evangelical movement in Russia and, to a certain extent, in other countries of the post-Soviet space. The main attention is paid to the issues of methodology for disclosing already known and new problems of the evangelical movement, as well as new conceptual approaches in the study of the phenomenon of "evangelical blessings", in particular, through the concept of the spiritual, social and ethical potential of the Church, as well as the concept of the "market of religions".

At the beginning, the author gives a characterization of the concept of "spiritual potential" and gives a generalized assessment of the potential of the evangelical churches in Russia. Further, in line with the concept of the "market of religions", an analysis of the same problems is given, but from the standpoint of the external, secular world. At the end, an overview of some of the most pressing, according to the author, problems of the evangelical churches is given and brief comments as recommendations for their solution.

Part 1. Spiritual Potential of Evangelical Churches as God's Blessing for the Church and Society

Until now, the concept of "spiritual potential" is very slowly entering the everyday life of both scientific research and religious journalistic literature. Today there are only a few definitions in the spirit of Western scientific sociology. In a condensed form, we can define spiritual potential as values and principles that are formed in the process of spiritual and moral growth of an individual as a result of assimilation of God's revelations, participation of believers in joint worship meetings, interaction of Christians in community events and services. 1
Spiritual potential has structure, volume and quality; it can accumulate, develop - but also degrade, decrease.

Its central function: to form in the believer strong motives for transforming the spiritual, moral and social characteristics of a person according to the spiritual standards of the Gospel, giving the whole process of transformation a Christ-centered and creative direction. Its main driving forces are spirituality and evangelical dedication, manifested in such spiritual and social qualities as evangelical activity, solidarity, participation in the ministry of the Church and its community.

Its main products: at the level of personality - the continuous transformation of the believer into the likeness of Christ, at the level of the community - an enriched spiritual and moral life, as well as various ministries of believers. Spiritual potential cannot be reduced to a simple sum of spirituality, morality, civic virtues and the ability for social service of their individual carriers. All these qualities become part of the spiritual potential only when they are ready to “work outside”, to influence others, or, as economists say, to be invested to obtain spiritual and social returns (hence the term “spiritual capital”, widely accepted in Western literature, which we have replaced here with "spiritual potential").

Volume and quality. The bearer of spiritual potential is both the believer himself and local churches. The quality of spiritual potential is understood as the transforming power of the church's influence on the way of thinking, worldview, values and real behavior of both believers themselves and their close and distant environment, including the whole society. We emphasize that, although every church and every religion has spiritual potential, in principle, only the evangelical spiritual potential can have a creative and transformative dynamic.

When the spiritual potential of Church members reaches a high level, it begins to have a beneficial effect on the world already at the level of society, forming social institutions enriched with gospel values, large arrays of socially valuable qualities in the form of "social capital" (trust, cooperation, solidarity, civic responsibility) as well as "ethical capital" (honesty, discipline, openness, benevolence) and many others. 2

Religious sociologists have long described the main positive properties of religions, but works devoted to the influence of culture and religion on society, its politics, social sphere and economy have become widely known relatively recently. The findings of such renowned scholars as Gary Becker, Peter Berger, Helmut Angler, Robert Woodberry, Lawrence Harrison, Robert Putman and Francis Fukiyama hold the idea that Protestant values and principles, in the form of the spiritual potential of church communities, have contributed to building trust in people. the development of public institutions, the establishment of high standards of civil and political freedoms, as well as economic growth, technological progress and curbing corruption.3

Part 2. The current state of the spiritual potential of the evangelical churches of the CIS countries

In contrast to the developed countries of Protestant culture (USA, Germany, etc.), the spiritual potential of the evangelical churches of the CIS countries, both in volume and quality, could not reach the level at which it begins to give social institutions an impetus for self-development, when on its basis whole arrays of ethical and social potential are being created, capable of producing positive changes in the entire society, generating cultural dynamics with new civil and moral relationships.4 At the same time, the spiritual potential of the evangelical churches of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and other countries has excellent prospects for their own improvement, accumulation and development.
So, the main driving forces of spiritual potential are spirituality and evangelical commitment.

2.1 Spirituality

Spirituality has many definitions and interpretations, but in the context of this work we are interested in spirituality as the depth, strength and thoroughness of the personal beliefs and experiences of a person associated with his faith - what is usually called the strength and measure of faith.

The internal logic of the development of gospel spirituality can be expressed through the sequential passage of the main stages in the life of a believer: conversion, communication with God, rebirth (being born again) and personality transformation. At the same time, communion with God and transformation never end, transforming into continuous spiritual growth of the personality, its growth in faith. The formation of spiritual potential is subordinated to the same logic: first, a person encounters new spiritual values, then they are accepted and approved by his faith, are fixed in his consciousness, behavior and everyday life, and only after that the spiritual potential through the ministries of the transformed personality begins to bear fruit, to provide influence on others. Ultimately, the existing spiritual potential of the community becomes the source of additional spirituality of the individual and the church. On this interaction between the spiritual potential and spirituality of the church, a strategy for the church's breakthrough into the surrounding society can be based. They alternately play the role of a leading and a driven link: first, on the basis of the achieved spirituality, the church itself is built, its spiritual potential is strengthened, and then the spiritual, moral, social and organizational resources of this potential expand the boundaries of the further spiritual growth of the community and each of its members.

The first essential sign of spirituality and its main resource is undoubtedly communion with God. Although the source of spirituality is in fact the Holy Spirit, which, as a person grows in faith, certainly supports and guides him, faith itself can grow and strengthen in the heart, manifest itself in the actions, words and thoughts of a Christian, and also improve through his spiritual experience, assimilation theological truths and regular ministry. Without the application of personal effort, this process can slow down and stop altogether; in some cases, sin and temptations can even turn it back, bring a person to falling away from God. Weak spirituality is the main reason for the low spiritual potential of the individual, the community, and through them the whole Church.

Communion with God is a unique phenomenon inherent only to believers who are regularly in personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It is communion with God that leads a person to rebirth, which, in turn, charges all other aspects of a Christian's personality with its creative power and, ultimately, leads to an increase in the qualitative parameters of his spiritual potential, the total productivity of a group of believers and the entire church.

We can confidently assert that Russian Evangelical Christians are not inferior to their foreign brothers in the sincerity of the experience of God, communion with God and rebirth. But our communion with God on the personal and general church levels lacks a depth of understanding of theological truths.5 We lack the knowledge and techniques with which we could describe in these truths not only our own inner world, but also the external environment: the reality around us, the system of social, civil, political and economic relationships between people. One can have a fiery faith, a warm heart for love and service to people, but the absence of a unified, expanded and assimilated theology weakens the influence of the individual believer and the entire church on the world around him.

The main gifts of communion with God can be considered the rebirth of a person: being born again and his subsequent transformation, which can continue throughout his life. Transformation is a personal commitment to a life of holiness. It manifests itself in an internal renewal and change, first of all, of the Christian's thinking, his values, motives, behavior and everything that makes up a new life in Christ and through which we become like Christ.

However, we should not howl about the so-called social, social gifts that a Christian reborn in the Lord receives as a result of his transformation into "the glory of the Lord." It is after the rebirth, in the process of transformation, that Christians become an example for those around them, a kind of message to people from the Lord, like “... a letter written in our hearts, recognizable and read by all people” (2 Cor. 3: 2). The high productivity of the transformation is given by the consistency and determination of a steady stay in it, not only during the period of the “spiritual growth” of the new convert, but throughout his life. For this, the Lord gives us confidence, hope and boldness (courage) to help us: “Having such hope, we act with great boldness” (2 Cor. 3:12).

2.2 Gospel Commitment

Gospel commitment is the spiritually motivated readiness of the believer to serve the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth, which comes in the process of transformation after being born again. Evangelical dedication can be viewed as a special complex of spiritual and social qualities of a Christian: evangelical activity, spiritual zeal, solidarity, involvement in the cause of the Church and loyalty to his community. In the real life of a believer, this property is manifested in his readiness to bear responsibility for the Church and his community, to serve people for Christ's sake - both in the church and outside it, both in a group and personally. In addition, this also includes responsibility for your Church and your community, the desire to always be involved in its joys and problems. These qualities of evangelical consecration can and should be learned, but in our churches this task was never set, let alone to be realized.

And, nevertheless, the main drawback of the Russian evangelical spiritual potential, its basic difference from the spiritual potential of the countries of the Protestant tradition, is that the overwhelming majority of evangelical believers undergo an incomplete, truncated transformation, which almost does not affect their parameters of social life, public morality, labor and civic ethics. A person's spirituality, without receiving encouraging feedback from cultivation in moral, civic, and social virtues, often fades and loses its transformative power. The Bible calls us: “and do not conform to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may know what is the will of God, good, acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12: 2).
A truncated transformation is not just an incomplete transformation, but a dead-end branch of the sanctification of believers; the misfortune that became the fate of the Evangelical Church in Russia. Regardless of the amount of accumulated spiritual potential, as well as the number of Christians, such a transformation, in principle, is not able to influence the improvement of social and moral qualities of a person, on the formation of new social institutions.

Part 3. Products of the spiritual potential of churches

As noted above, the products of the gospel spiritual potential are varied, numerous, and of extraordinary social value. But in Russia their volume is so low that it does not allow to exert a noticeable influence even on the closest circle of unbelievers. Basically, the results of the action of spiritual potential are limited to the communities of local churches. Let us remind you once again that only through complete transformation does a person gain access to the most valuable fruits of spiritual potential: morality permeated with gospel spirituality, social and civic virtues, fruitful service to God and people inside and outside the church.
Consider here just two products of the gospel spiritual potential that are actually present in the evangelical church: moral standards and social service.

3.1 Morality and ethical standards

Morality has always had a powerful demonstrative, "witnessing" property. It is by the moral purity of a Christian's actions and words that those around (both believers and non-believers) can judge the state of the spiritual potential of the individual, community, Church. This is what Jesus repeatedly reminded his disciples of.

Evangelical Christians have long distinguished themselves by high standards of personal and family morality, work and work ethics. Until recently, the evangelical churches of Russia managed to maintain the purity and holiness of relations between believers and at the same time serve as an example to the world, to be held high by a candle in the darkness of the morally decaying society around them. At the personal and social levels, they were distinguished by absolute sobriety, refusal from tobacco and drugs, as well as hard work, purity of family relations and law-abidingness.
But gradually the ethical standards of evangelical Christians began to experience a certain erosion. These negative processes accelerated in the early 90s, and in recent years, lighter standards of personal and family morality have been increasingly introduced into the evangelical environment. Divorces, cases of adultery, etc. have become frequent (although not widespread, as among the Orthodox and non-believers).

There are four main reasons here:

the ever-increasing openness of believers, especially young ones, to the world around them, its influence and temptations, as well as their spiritual and moral unpreparedness in the face of the onslaught of a whole avalanche of new temptations;
a massive influx of new converts from the world, from secular families, where moral and ethical standards were clearly underestimated, and in whom the rejection of the standards that were enshrined in the process of their entire previous life and upbringing, sometimes takes a long and difficult time;
the strong influence of Western liberal norms of personal and family morality, the carriers of which are either Western missionaries or graduates of Western theological schools who have returned to their homeland.
the most important thing is the weak rootedness of high evangelical standards of ethics, due to the underdevelopment of the spiritual potential of churches.

Under the pressure of the changed living and working conditions, the ethical norms of believers, based mainly on the traditions of the old semi-patriarchal order, easily gave way to the new liberal trends.

The Church today has largely lost the role of educator, counselor and counselor on moral and ethical issues; the process of reproduction of high standards of Christian morality and ethics has ceased in it. Many questions are deliberately hushed up; pastors who play the role of peacemakers, in vain attempts to retain old and attract new members, diligently bypass the sharp corners of moral conflicts.

New opportunities for economic activity have dramatically expanded the range of professions and areas of application of abilities and talents for evangelical believers - but at the same time, the flow of evidence of their low standards of work and business ethics, frequent cases of deception of partners, clients, employees ... we do not see the famous Protestant work ethic among workers in our churches; moreover, one often hears confessions that in this respect evangelical Christians are far inferior to unbelievers. Many of us have personally come across the facts of callousness, rudeness and rudeness on the part of Christian businessmen, Christian managers and even Christians who minister in churches!

Many ideas of the Reformation about moral and civic duty, in particular, about professional vocation as the highest task of a person's moral life, about which M. Weber spoke, did not become the property of the Russian evangelical churches either.
At the same time, the personal and family moral qualities of evangelical Christians, even at the level that have survived to this day, remain attractive to many non-believers. If we talk about the sphere of interpersonal, social and public relations, about those virtues that can be defined as civic virtues - unfortunately, due to various circumstances, which we do not mention here, among Russian Evangelical Christians they did not receive proper development at all. ... First of all, it is about responsibility for your church, participation in her whole life and ministry. This applies equally to civic responsibility for society and the country in which the Lord called us to work.

3.2 The ministry of evangelical Christians inside and outside churches

Another important product of spiritual potential is the diverse ministry of church members. This may include in-church ministries, as well as a wide range of out-of-church activities such as helping the poor, disabled, drug and alcohol addicted. And, of course, all these ministries are crowned by the evangelistic efforts of the church - as the fulfillment of the Great Commission and as the main source of replenishment of the growing community.

Of course, with the advent of religious freedom, the capacity of evangelical churches to carry out internal and external ministries has increased immeasurably. First of all, this can be attributed to different types of social services and evangelistic events - which, by the way, is not at all surprising, since it is precisely these two branches that the main stream of fraternal aid from foreign missionaries was directed to.

They came to our countries, driven by a sincere desire to help; many had a decent experience of organizing such ministries, finances and other resources, their own vision of problems ... But the problem is that the experience was Western; there were no trained Russian personnel at all; foreign missionaries preferred not to consult with local leaders - and the money soon ran out. Nevertheless, for all the shortcomings (which have already been discussed a lot), the programs, projects and ministries of foreign missionaries have left an indelible mark on the spiritual life of Russian Protestants. Perhaps, for the first time in history, they felt and really felt their relevance to society, for the first time they saw the results that ministry can bring to people, especially if it is well prepared and relies on a solid evangelical base.

In the late 90s, after the departure of most Western missionaries, evangelistic programs in the post-Soviet space were sharply reduced. True, Russia was lucky: during this period, a rather substantial influx of evangelists, missionaries, evangelists and teachers from Ukraine (the traditional "biblical belt" of imperial and Soviet Russia) began. As for social assistance programs, although the participation of foreign fraternal churches and missions has decreased in scale, in terms of quality, such events have become more professionally mature, manageable, and targeted.

The ministries continue to experience traditional problems. They are still characterized by poor professional training of experts in specialized programs (serving drug and alcohol addicts, people with physical and mental disabilities, etc.), poor management and underfunding. In other cases, the overstrain of the churches in the field of ministry is noticeable: there is too much to do beyond what our resources allow! in their results and, in the opinion of independent experts, this compares favorably with the corresponding programs of representatives of other Christian movements.

The main disadvantages of the ministry of churches both in the past and in the present can be attributed to the almost complete disregard for moral service in society. Here (especially in the field of personal and family morality, law-abidingness), the Evangelical Christians of Russia still have significant resources (albeit unconscious and unused) both for direct service to the people and for creating an invaluable public resource - moral authority in society.

Churches continue to completely avoid outreach ministry in the community. Moreover, such ministries are still not understood as the responsibility of the Church, or as its possible evangelistic resource. In conditions when the main competitor (ROC) resorts to incorrect methods of struggle, when society does not receive objective information about the evangelical movement in Russia and abroad - such a ministry can hardly be overestimated!

In the area of social service for our churches, a number of unresolved (perhaps not even posed) issues remain. Should we agree to cooperate with the state in the field of social service - and, if so, to what extent? In recent years, the state seems to be strenuously inviting churches, including evangelicals, to such cooperation. Such interaction can be prestigious and publicly attractive. But there are two limitations: firstly, resource-based - we have too few graduates in the areas of ministry, where in recent years it has become more and more necessary to require qualification certificates and licenses for the right to work with problematic, socially dependent and other groups of the population. Secondly, something else is unclear: if you go for cooperation, then how far can you go in it? There is a temptation to receive subsidies and even budget funds from the state for such programs and gradually redesign churches for these purposes, making them branches of state departments of social protection of the population, similar to what happened in England. But this, in turn, will inevitably lead to an increase in the dependence of churches on the state as the main employer. Here it is important to think carefully and make a fundamental decision even before the problem can become systemic.

Another important question: should we strive to create our own social infrastructure of evangelical churches (kindergartens, schools, clinics, universities, etc.) - or is it better to use the services that society and the state provide us? Foreign experience says - yes, it is worth it. This is necessary to preserve their independence and identity, for the guaranteed reproduction of values and principles that correspond to the evangelical norms. At the same time, the Russian reality does not allow an unambiguous answer to this question. Today we do not have the resources to create and develop a full-fledged social infrastructure, even if we combine the efforts of all evangelical unions. Therefore, it is best to focus on the creation of several key infrastructure elements: basic educational, educational, informational and social and health-improving institutions.
Thus, at present, the ministries of the evangelical churches, due to the weakness of their spiritual potential and the lack of basic resources, cannot count on tangible results on a national scale. In order to gain strength for full-fledged service to the world, they should, first of all, pay attention to internal ministry for the church members themselves in order to increase their spiritual, social and moral capabilities, and then help people, educate them, influence them and, ultimately, turn to the Lord.

3.3. Classification of Evangelical Christians by Level of Spiritual Potential

Numerous sociological studies carried out in recent years do not give us an adequate picture of the spiritual life of society, does not allow us to understand what is the real degree of citizens' involvement in church life, their religious activity and spiritual commitment. Many respondents call themselves Christians or believers, although at the same time they put the most different meanings into these traditional, but have become very vague concepts.

The researchers tried to measure religiosity by the correct observance of all church rites and holidays. But it turned out that knowledge and observance of rituals is very weakly connected with the basic spiritual and moral attitudes of almost any Christian denomination. Then the questionnaires added questions about the frequency and regularity of attending church (once a week, a month, etc.). This revived the process slightly, but did not clarify the situation much. The traditional identification of Christians on the basis of confession today also remains very inaccurate and does not reflect rather significant differences among believers on such issues as the quality of understanding the theological truths of their church, the level of activity within the community, the degree of obedience to church discipline, fidelity to the fulfillment of sacred covenants and other parameters. ...

The concept of spiritual potential allows a new approach to the assessment of religiosity, its strength, intensity and even productivity. If we try to group believers into categories according to the degree of development of various components of spiritual potential - spirituality, morality, involvement with the Gospel and the ministries of the Church - we can clearly distinguish four groups of evangelical Christians.

A) Christian minister- the one in whom all four of the named components of the spiritual potential are sufficiently expressed. He is a real priest of the living God; he is a minister, although not necessarily ordained. This group of Christians can include ministers of churches, missions, parachurch organizations. At the same time, many of them, due to a number of parameters, cannot enter this group, especially due to weak spiritual transformation or due to their moral qualities. This category may include volunteers, church activists, and short-term project participants. Christian ministers are well versed in the basic doctrines of the teachings of their church, they constantly read theological literature and books published by their denomination. The spiritual potential of a Christian minister, in itself considerable, is constantly growing, including the resources of his personal spirituality, theological erudition, high personal morality, and activity in the ministry. Perhaps, not all elements of his spiritual potential are presented in proportion: some have more expressed spirituality, others have a theological component, and still others have more faithfulness to service; but on the whole these universal, fully “equipped” spiritually Christians are the cherished dream of any church. Their share can reach 5% of the total number of community members.

B) Active christian may be noticeably inferior to the previous type in one or two parameters of spiritual potential, but, nevertheless, such a believer can be fully attributed to real Christians. The volume and quality of the spiritual potential of active Christians is constantly growing and is represented mainly by high evangelical dedication and regular, productive ministry. Active Christians, over time, may well fall into the category of Christian ministers. In their community, they are mainly represented by young, biblically "savvy" believers who have the main ministry both inside and outside the churches. Their share can vary from 20 to 30% of the total number of church members.

The first two types ("Christian minister" and "active Christian") are the main resource of any evangelical church; they account for most of the spiritual potential of the evangelical communities. Today their main problems are the lack of deep, systemic theological knowledge and incomplete transformation. Their other significant disadvantage can be considered a weak interest in the demands and needs of society, insufficient civic maturity, low awareness of the current agenda of the life of the society in which they live and which they serve.

V) Involved Christian... Such a member of the church does not carry out regular services, but participates in all events and actions of the community, attends not only Sunday services, but also member meetings. He is not very well grounded theologically; his knowledge of the main doctrines is based on information that he receives directly from sermons or, perhaps, from small popular brochures, booklets. The Christians involved are usually older people, women, although there are also young people among them. Their personal spiritual potential is rather low, as are all the components that form it: superficial theological knowledge, the level of morality is slightly higher than the national average. They are characterized by "background ministry": participation is more in activities, events, one-time assignments than in regular work. This is the largest category of members of local churches (40-60%), and it is she who forms the face of modern evangelical churches.

G) Christian parishioner... This is a person who accepts Christ and the Gospel, but practically does not carry out any service in the community, does not take part in its main activities. Moreover, a significant proportion of Christians in this category are not members of the church. The parishioners have a rather superficial knowledge of theological issues; although they know the basic tenets of the gospel and biblical stories, they do not develop spiritually and morally. Among Christian parishioners, a significant part of communion with God is replaced by ordinary human communion (church socialization); their spiritual experiences and reflections are superseded by cultural algorithms, traditions, rules of behavior, and so on. They are unimportant pupils in the system of intra-church theological and moral education, if there is one. This is a category of generally self-satisfied people who do not pose spiritual questions or seek answers to them. Their spiritual potential is very insignificant, but in the total number of the community they can make up 20-30%.

In general, the spiritual potential of Russian Evangelical Christians, as it developed by the beginning of the 21st century, is enough only for the simple reproduction of undeveloped spiritual, moral and social norms within the most non-expanding church. Today it is becoming insufficient even for simple reproduction: the number of churches and believers is falling, moral standards are declining, and the civic virtues of evangelical Protestantism, which have not yet received their development, are fading away.

3.4. Generalized Assessment of the Spiritual Potential of Russian Evangelical Churches

Speaking about the results of the past 20-year path of the evangelical movement in Russia, we can note the following:

1. Low volume of the very spiritual potential of churches and low quality of its main components.

2. The absence of a deeply developed, systemic theology, leading to a decrease in the quality of the spiritual parameters of the believer along their entire chain from communion with God to evangelical dedication and social and civic qualities.

3. A truncated, incomplete transformation, which deprives the spiritual potential of its categorical, symbolic property to ennoble the moral and social parameters of a person to the level of their consolidation in social institutions.

4. Concomitant with all of the above, the low quality of business and work ethics, public morality and civic virtues.

Giving a general assessment of the twenty-year period of the formation of the spiritual potential of modern evangelical churches, we cannot define it as bad, let alone a crisis. It was not a period of missed opportunities, but initially unrealistic expectations that did not and could not become opportunities. There were no objective spiritual, historical, cultural and socio-political conditions for a real Russian spiritual upsurge (rivival), but there were abundant conditions that hindered the fulfillment of these expectations.

Although no real spiritual revival has taken place anywhere in the post-Soviet space, one should not despair. There were still successes, in some countries more expressive (Ukraine), in others less. This is equally true for Eastern Europe. Moreover, the only country of traditional Christian culture that is still experiencing powerful waves of spiritual upsurge was and still is the United States. Only a long-term and steady accumulation of the spiritual potential of evangelical believers, their communities and the entire evangelical movement can pave the way for the Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian rivels.

Part 4. Evangelical churches of Russia: a view from the outside, secular world

4.1. About the concept of the "market of religions"

The approach to the analysis of the resources of the Church from the standpoint of spiritual potential is an internal, own view of its main resources from the point of view of the evangelical believers themselves. It is productive and promising for solving urgent problems of improving our churches, but it is inapplicable to the assessment of the Church and its individual communities by an external observer, from the standpoint of the secular world around us, where completely different values dominate - especially from the point of view of our inveterate opponents and enemies. Nevertheless, we should know the situation and understand what it looks like from the point of view of the main groups of modern society, its main centers of power, business, political elites, and other religious movements. This is important for understanding the situation in the world around us, for making adequate decisions and, finally, for successful evangelism in this world. One of such approaches could be the concept of the “market of religions” .8

The modern practice of religious studies (so far only foreign) includes the concept of the church as a multi-product corporation that produces a certain set of products and services for the population. The services provided by the church - spiritual, moral, social, humanitarian, cult-psychological, as well as reproducing and protecting traditions, giving relaxation - are in demand among some part of society. Such products in the form of church services, fellowships, events are offered to consumers: believers, church members, unbelievers.

The list may also include deep religious, ideological and moral conceptions, sermons, contemplation of solemn liturgies and rituals, or the warmth of fraternal communication, enjoyment of chants, a sense of belonging and even the possibility of making sense of meaning and the opportunity to ask questions that cannot be answered anywhere else. Each believer has his own individual list of such goods-services requested from the church. If the provided services suit the consumer, he is ready to pay his price: to give the church his attention, his love, his heart, his strength and talents, his money ...

In the context of this concept, pastors and priests, religious leaders act as managers who, with limited resources and serving in a competitive space, strive to ensure the survival and even prosperity of their enterprise churches.

Church and mission services, of course, are not sold or bought by believers and parishioners directly. The results of the activities of churches and their leaders have an indirect effect: in the free choice of citizens to attend or not to attend a given church, in the active participation of parishioners in internal church life and in the amount of donations (which is not the main, but important result of the provision of such services).

Thus, the rapidly growing church communities at the expense of new adherents are an example of effective "religious companies", whose services are highly competitive. This is achieved either through the quality of the services provided (the relevance of the doctrine, as well as a comfortable, widely available or simply pleasant form of organizing communications, presentations of services), thoughtfulness of marketing tactics and strategies (an advertising campaign that gathers numerous interested buyers), skillful management of church activities, - either and finally, the combination of all these factors.

Meeting the needs of church members for such services is now taking place in an increasingly competitive market for these specific goods. Competition takes place between denominations, churches and even pastors within the churches themselves. One can dispute this statement, but one cannot but agree that churches really bring to their members and the whole society different types and quality of ministry. And we must admit that now in the Russian space there is an open and hidden struggle for the souls of people between various religious trends, Christian denominations and even between Protestant churches. The one who loses in this fight leaves the stage.

From the standpoint of this concept, one can easily explain the true motives of behavior, for example, of the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church, seeking to obtain non-competitive, monopoly advantages over other confessions. In recent years, the ROC has been purposefully striving to become one of the influential centers in the country's political life and for this is consistently consolidating all possible resources of power: lobbying for legislative changes in its favor, building up economic power, putting pressure on the media, advertising itself as the only moral authority on everything post-Soviet space, etc.

4.2. The current situation on the "market of religions"

What does the average non-believer in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus really expect from an ordinary Christian church? What products-services can you get from it? First of all, he is waiting for samples of moral and ethical standards that would support him in his daily life. He wants a comfortable, specially adapted atmosphere of communication. He is looking for friends and interlocutors. Of course, he is waiting for answers to questions about the meaning of life, about the essence of the events taking place around him and sometimes affecting him very painfully. Some seek mercy in the church for those who need it. These are the most common queries of the average Russian non-believer layman.

The demands of believers for their churches are much broader. First of all, they are interested in meeting spiritual needs, the joy of communicating with their own kind, ideological needs (meeting the need to explain the modern political, economic and social picture of the surrounding reality from the point of view of the Bible) - everything that the average evangelical church can give them. Searching only for spiritual and partly cultural food is typical for a very undemanding and rather small part of the population of Russia. “Lists of needs” among believers are now constantly growing both in terms of the range of such needs and in their volume and quality.

As studies carried out within the framework of the Lausanne project show, the struggle of churches, including Protestant ones, for the souls, attention and hearts of those who have already believed, is constantly intensifying. According to the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, most Christians today never preach the Word of God to non-Christians. Over 90% of the preaching of the Gospel in the world is directed at Christians themselves! At a time when the number of new trends and denominations of Protestantism is steadily growing, and the struggle for new church members is intensifying, campaigns of "secondary evangelization" among believing Christians are repeated quite often.

But this is the West, where the production of all goods and services, including religious ones, has long been determined not by the possibilities of their production, but by active, conscious demand, leading to the result: a change in church affiliation or even confession. In Russia, there is still a long way to go to such an oversupply of evangelistic services. Nevertheless, many open public events, including those of an evangelistic orientation, are often held in a format that is understandable and convenient only for experienced Christians.

In modern Russia, the religious market is in a depressed state. Here, to an even greater extent than even in the real economy, monopoly remains, the exclusivity of the Orthodox Church is openly supported by the state, even in violation of the Constitution. But since absolute monopoly in the religious sphere looks like a defiant anachronism, the authorities are trying to replace it with what is called in the economy an oligopoly - a union of several. In this situation, a number of advantages are assigned to four "oligarchs" - "traditional" confessions, but the monopolist still remains alone.

In general, speaking about the Russian market of religious services, we can talk about the obvious non-competitiveness of Orthodoxy, the increased competitiveness of Islam and the failed breakthrough of the religious services of evangelical churches to this market. The majority of the Protestant communities in Russia in their proposal lags far behind the growth of requests of their members, as well as of people who are ready to come to it. In general, our churches have not learned to fight for souls and hearts in a highly competitive market for ideas, values and worldviews.

But this is also not a reason for despondency. Successful evangelism and spiritual capacity building can quickly make a difference, as has recently happened in Latin America. Look: even 30-40 years ago, no one here considered the evangelical churches (2-3% of the population) as a serious factor in religious life - but today they have become the main driving force behind the spiritual and social renewal of countries such as Brazil, Chile and a number of others.

Analyzing the concept of the "market of religions", we can say that the appropriateness of its application depends on the moral, ideological and scientific and methodological maturity of each researcher. But the very toolkit of the theory of the "market of religions" is quite suitable for analyzing the external, quantitative, social aspects of the Church's activity, which in this case acts simply as one of the institutions of society.

Latent demand for the services of the Evangelical Church is also experienced by Russian society, both as a whole and its individual groups and classes. These requests at the level of mass or group consciousness, in most cases, are not realized and are not openly spoken out. An indirect sign of their presence in society can be the presence in the public and public agenda of topical issues that are regularly raised in the media, government programs, speeches of political and state leaders, in the solution of which one cannot do without gospel values: these are issues of public morality and ethics, obedience , the formation of civil society, trust in government, work and business ethics and much, much more.
But our evangelical leaders keep quiet about these public goods and virtues because of their very modest achievements in this area, and more because of simple ignorance or even elementary ignorance regarding both the needs of society and the presence of such benefits in the spiritual potential of the evangelical churches. And again, in this segment of the "market for religious services", as in other parts of it, the monopoly of only one producer with his uncompetitive product dominates.

Part 5. Meeting of two streams of gospel grace

At the end of the 90s, the Institute of Sociological Analysis under the leadership of a well-known culturologist, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor A.B. Zubova conducted an all-Russian survey on a complete sociological sample, which made it possible to reveal the attitude of Russians to fundamental values. The results of the study caused a great resonance in the scientific, socio-political and religious circles of the country. The assessments were mixed, which was not difficult to assume if you read more about the findings of the researchers.9

And the conclusions turned out to be really interesting.

First, among the Russians, it was possible to identify three types, three cultural complexes - in fact, three subcultures: "Orthodox", "morally active Protestant" and "cynical-secular" or hedonistic. Each of these types was taken not as a dogmatic system, but as a cultural complex, a subculture. A. Zubov writes: “A moral and constructive“ Protestant ”attitude towards life leads to an increase in material and intellectual wealth, to the strengthening of market relations both in the economy and in politics (representative democracy, separation of powers). The moral-escapist “Orthodox” life position, when implemented by most of society, leads to the establishment of a stable but static political and economic organism, in which market relations and democracy are either absent altogether, or present as an inevitable evil, and therefore they are always vulnerable and weak in comparison with similar forms of society of the "Protestant" type. Finally, a cynical-secular attitude towards life, in our opinion, gives society great dynamism, but deprives it of stability. Both the political system of democracy and economic relations, regulated not by moral principles, but exclusively by the resultant multitude of individual egoistic wills, turn out to be unstable and prone to a landslide collapse in the event of violations of the secularism. "

Secondly, in the sphere of existential values, including moral and civic values, the majority of our country's citizens prefer the moral-constructive “Protestant” values, which are characteristic of the traditional “popular North European Protestantism”. They are equally inherent in the majority of both believers and non-believers, both religiously active and spiritually indifferent contemporary Russians.

Thirdly, if at the beginning of the twentieth century the ratio between these three types of consciousness looked like this: 70% of the Orthodox type, 10% of the Protestant and 20% of the hedonistic, then today, a hundred years later, radical changes have taken place: over 60% of the population are of the Protestant type. , 20% - hedonistic and less than 20% - Orthodox.

However, despite all the attractiveness for our churches of the conclusions of Professor A.B. Zubova, the question arises of the objectivity of this assessment. And the point is not in her numerous criticism from near-Orthodox circles, but in their own sense of the reality of the pro-Protestant orientation of the value orientations of Russians. After all, we hear and see every day that something is wrong with Protestant values in society. But turning to other, alternative sources, for example, such a respectable one as the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM), says: yes, indeed, gospel values are not uncommon in Russia.10 Although they are not stable in their manifestation in all polls, but constant, as a metaphysical given.

After all, it is no coincidence that one of A. Zubov's conclusions reads: “It turned out that among Russians there are very few people of an integral psychological type -“ ascetic-Orthodox ”,“ morally active Protestant ”or“ cynical-secular ”. The overwhelming majority of our contemporaries in various circumstances behave like Protestants, then as secularly oriented cynics, then as “Orthodox”. It can be said that Russian people are predominantly Protestant-oriented, but the statement that the majority of Russian people are Protestant-oriented is erroneous. ”11

In the context of the topics touched upon in this article, we will try to give our own commentary on these conclusions.

Today's predominance of moral and constructive values in Russian society can be viewed as a distant echo of the action of the powerful spiritual potential of other countries of the evangelical culture; echo that reached Russia through the borrowing of social institutions.

It is inappropriate to measure the impact of Evangelical Protestantism on Russian civilization by the number of Russian Protestants. It's about much more. Practically all modern public, state, economic, social, political and military institutions that were created in Russia with the help of the state (that is, from above) are the result of a long, purposeful process of “catching up” development. This process itself has been going on for more than 300 years and has never really been interrupted. Its essence boils down to borrowing and assimilating advanced Western experience in any of its forms, ranging from simple import of missing science-intensive goods to attempts to reproduce whole public institutions, industries, technologies, political and social ideas, projects, organizations. The results of such regular borrowings from the countries of Protestant culture (USA, England, Germany, the Netherlands and others) did not always meet the expectations of the Russian side, but the overwhelming majority of them left an indelible mark on the material and spiritual culture of Russia. In other words, material, social, technological products, institutions and ideas have always been in demand in Russia, based on the spiritual heritage of the truths of Evangelical Protestantism, the products of its creative spiritual potential.

The conclusions of Professor Andrei Zubov based on the materials of the aforementioned all-Russian survey precisely reflect this, albeit reduced, distant, but nevertheless real, never stopped, and most importantly, gaining momentum, the process of penetration of the products of Protestant spiritual potential into the culture and values of Russian society.

In other words, the previous reforms of the “catch-up” development of our tsars and general secretaries, who carried out numerous attempts, along with innovations, to bring to Russia and master imported Protestant social institutions, as well as creative creativity and the very life of Protestant settlers and their descendants, turned out to be, in the end, not in vain. Institutions and values, once born of the gospel spirit, transferred to Russian soil, were able to survive in very difficult and even hostile conditions. They managed to win the hearts of the inhabitants of this traditionally Orthodox country and, in the end, made their way into the spiritual and moral world of Russian society.

In this collision of such an unexpected meeting with past, unrecognized and unrecognized blessings, ideas remain, inspired, on the one hand, by spiritual potential, and, on the other, with the mundane power constructs of the “market of religions”. Here, the deeply spiritual, coming directly from the Lord, but rejected and even oppressed by the authorities, meets the powerful and economic interests of political elites striving to blindly borrow all the best, the latest, the most important. By the way, the process of such borrowing continues on an ever-increasing scale from decade to decade. Ultimately, modern goods and their moral component are borrowed and perceived by all classes, groups and strata of Russian society, not wanting to recognize the causal nature of the merits of the original itself.

We will not discuss which direction of the gospel blessing in Russia will ultimately prove to be stronger: the direct ministry of the evangelical churches, coming from faith, communion with God, transformation, or a distant echo of the actions that were once brought from the countries of the evangelical culture of social institutions and innovations. In any case, they are products of the gospel spiritual potential; they, like every gift of God, are eternal and do not disappear, even if the receiving party does not realize their true nature. One thing is certain: no matter how successful the borrowing of Protestant social institutions, no matter how close the ethical, social and civic values of people as a result of this to the standards set by the Gospel - without the Gospel churches, without their spiritual work and ministry, without the direct participation of the Holy Spirit, without accepting Jesus Christ, this will always remain only an imperfect approach to the original source. The lot of the catching-up side will always be only a miserable copying of the products of the gospel blessing.

At the same time, these two directions can complement each other. Having fulfilled their role in history as modernizers of the Russian economy and culture, the evangelical virtues of the past have become the moral virtues of today's Russians. They are, as it were, preparing the way for the future successful evangelization of the country. How this will happen, we cannot know: perhaps the Russians, enlightened about the possible fruits of God's grace (by the way, as a result of evangelistic enlightenment programs), will open their hearts themselves, or the authorities and "market" monopolists, pacified by new values, will cease rigidly resisting the Truth , or something else - it doesn't matter. The main thing is that Divine Providence, as the exponent of the incomprehensible will of the Creator, was pleased to choose such an unusual God's plan of salvation for Russia. And it is not by chance that we meet these manifestations of the gospel blessing that are spaced apart in time.

Part 6. Review of some topical problems of the evangelical movement in Russia (in order of discussion)

6.1. Spiritual Problems: The Fruits of Lack of Spirituality and Incomplete Transformation

A) Insufficient communication with God as a result of a shallow understanding of biblical and gospel truths. We can confidently assert that Russian Evangelical Christians are not inferior to their foreign brothers in the sincerity and depth of the experience of God, communion with God and rebirth. But our communion with God lacks depth (at the personal and church-wide levels) of understanding of theological truths. We do not have sufficient knowledge and techniques that help us not only to describe in these truths our own inner world, but also the external reality that surrounds us, the system of social, civil, political and economic relationships between people. One can have a fiery faith, a warm heart for love and service to people - but the absence of a unified, expanded and assimilated theology weakens the influence of the individual believer and the entire church on the world around him.

Moreover, if a believer does not know the truth, he cannot apply it! If a Christian does not understand what exactly the Holy Scriptures say about family and marriage, divorce and parenting, about trust, discipline, work, money, business, about faith, salvation, serving God, helping the poor, about the army, relations with the state and not knows clearly and definitely what answers the Bible gives to all other social questions - then such a Christian is not able to make the right decision in many situations. Such people diminish their gift of communion and rebirth, so they cannot fully live for God's glory and receive blessings.
It seems to us that insufficient spirituality is the starting point of all urgent problems of the Evangelical Church, the reason for the chronic deficiency of her spiritual potential. Therefore, this problem must be solved by creating a system of in-depth and - what is very important - a unified theology of the evangelical churches. It is necessary to establish a process of continuous teaching of the basic tenets of theology to all members of the Church, organizing the practical consolidation of theological values within the framework of various types of ministries, with the direct participation of churches. Since this task will take a significant amount of time, it is necessary today to ensure that pastors have solid theological training.

B) Incorrect personality transformation after rebirth One of the main characteristics of the spirituality of Evangelical Christians based on their birth again is their transformation in the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, the specific historical conditions of the formation of evangelical churches in Russia and other post-Soviet countries did not leave them a chance to sufficiently benefit from the gifts of transformation, especially in the part when his public gifts become "recognizable and revered by all people." An example of a distorted understanding of the gift of human transformation after his birth again in the Spirit is the desire for artificial self-sanctity.12

People in this state may feel a desire to completely break with their past life, abandon the results of their past professional activity, career and success, tend to belittle the role of education and professional skills. At the same time, many gifts and talents with which God rewards people, preparing them for real ministry, can be irretrievably lost. Such a way of behavior can simultaneously lead to the undermining of the social potential of the individual, his ability to productively interact in the world, at work, in the family and community, justifies the departure from social and civic activity and even from effective ministry in the church.

This phenomenon, a kind of idealization of weakness and poverty, characteristic of Russian Orthodoxy, is undoubtedly present in the subculture of Evangelical Christianity. This is expressed in the aestheticization of weakness and poverty, which, according to Boris Knorre, can be defined as “aesthetic admiration for the manifestations of human weakness”. In many of our churches, when evangelical believers communicate, testimonies of their weakness, failure, weakness, and self-humiliation have become a kind of style of self-presentation to each other. (Boris Knorre: "Letter about our Orthodoxy"). By the way, Christians sometimes use the aestheticization of weakness and poverty to justify their social failures.13

C) The phenomenon of over-sanctity can be considered a harsher version of this misunderstanding of transformation. Over-holiness leads to the church's self-isolation from society, from the pressing problems of today. Heightened eschatological experiences often lead to an uncomplicated, sectarian in its spirit, maxim: the whole world is in sin, and the only meaning of current actions will be overturned into the transcendent future.

Over time, such an extreme, through Pharisaical severity and demagoguery, leads to the decrepitude of moral forces, the depletion of the spiritual potential of the individual believer and the entire church. After all, the moral, civic and social virtues of an individual grow out of an environment of continuous conflicts between opportunities and values, spiritual principles and carnal desires. Without such expenditures of moral and spiritual strength, without a struggle in which God is always on our side, moral and then spiritual defeat come to replace super-sacred contemplation. As world and Russian practice shows, it is in the behavior of the super-saints that relapses of immorality and immorality are most often encountered.

D) A logical continuation of the previous defect can be considered the rejection of the spiritual and worldview setting for achieving moral perfection, perfection in service, work and deeds as a direct commandment of Jesus himself: "So, be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48 ). In some cases, this attitude appears as a continuation of the position of spiritual over-sanctity, which is opposed to indifference to worldly achievements. But most often it arises as a consequence of theological illiteracy, depriving the Russian evangelical transformation of those achievements of Protestant thought, which at one time led to the colossal growth of the spiritual potential of churches, transformed the Evangelical Christian, the Church and society, gave rise to such spiritual and social institutions as the vocation to work. and excellence, world service, universal priesthood, etc.

The main strategic way of solving these problems can be considered consistent counseling, spiritual education and systematic training of all members of the churches and, first of all, leaders and ministers. Based on the learned minimum of theological truths, each church should create a “school of transformation” for regular and continuous education, including, possibly, in the format of a Sunday school for adults. It would be worthwhile to include in the curriculum of this school a special section on evangelical dedication. In addition, the fundamentals of transformation and dedication should be used in conducting individual discipleship and counseling ministries. Finally, there could be ongoing spiritual counseling in every church on issues of transformation and evangelical commitment.

6.2. Secondary problems of the church

A) Unfavorable dynamics of the quantitative and qualitative composition of churches.

Even before the collapse of the Iron Curtain, the exodus of many believers from the Soviet Union began. Then, as a result of door openings and evangelism programs, there was a massive influx of neophytes. But it was soon replaced by the departure of recent neophytes from the evangelical churches. Many of them left the congregations almost immediately or shortly after the departure of the foreign missionaries. Immigration devastated the evangelical churches of the CIS countries by almost 1.5 million people, or almost 50% of their number. Many of the most experienced Christians rooted in the faith left. As a result, there was a sudden reset of the qualitative characteristics of the spiritual potential of the Church, which may take decades to replenish. In Ukraine, such an outflow was stronger and more prolonged. What a purely quantitative balance of these oppositely directed flows is not clear even to specialists in religion. It can be assumed that at the present time we have, most likely, a simple reproduction of the quantitative and qualitative composition, that is, stability.

Speaking about the demographic and socio-professional composition of the communities, it can be noted that in Russia the composition of the believers of the Evangelical churches continues to remain, on the whole, marginalized: the share of pensioners in the total number of believers is the largest and amounts to 40%, workers - about 30%, office workers - 11 % and students - 11%. In Protestant churches, there is still a noticeable predominance of the number of women over men: 70% of women and 30% of men. In general, the proportions that developed in Russian Protestant churches at the end of the 90s are still the same today.14

All these phenomena do not indicate the existence of any particular crisis. We can only talk about the continuation of the previous, long-term negative trends in the quantitative and qualitative reproduction of members of the evangelical churches. These trends can only indicate that evangelism by the end of the past twenty years has not become a real means of replenishing our churches with new members. Of course, we are bitter from these failures. But, by and large, this is not our crisis, but rather a failure of the Western missionary project for the countries of the former USSR. For us, this is just a crisis of our inflated, unrealistic and therefore unfulfilled hopes and dreams.

At the same time, negative changes in the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the Evangelical Church are the final result of all of the above and many other spiritual and moral problems of our movement. Therefore, changes for the better can be expected only by ensuring a steady increase in the quality of the spiritual potential of the Church, after which, undoubtedly, quantity will come.

B) Weak financial self-sufficiency

When freedom came to Russia, the long-standing traditional lack of funds increased significantly: the growth in the number of new communities did not keep pace with the economic opportunities, cultural habits and traditions of new converts. At the same time, the old churches also continued to experience financial difficulties, the main reasons for which remain typical of all churches.

For the Protestant churches in Russia in recent decades, a low culture of voluntary donations remains characteristic. In the Russian Orthodox tradition, believers have not developed a social norm - the willingness to sacrifice (tithe, donations, charity) in fulfillment of the biblical commandment. At the same time, over the past 20 years, the evangelical church has not instilled in its members the principle of civic responsibility for their organization, when for regular material assistance there is no longer tradition, but a sense of belonging to "my church", responsibility "for my church" ... Perhaps because the leadership does not have such civic involvement.

Of course, this was largely due to historical and social reasons: severe social oppression and oppression of believing Russians who do not feel responsible for the material well-being of their communities. Indeed, in the minds of most believers, financing issues were and remain the responsibility of the authorities (the apparatus of centralized unions), which were under the control of the state. On the other hand, until recently in the communities there was practically no intra-church training and instruction in achieving financial independence not only for ordinary members, but also for pastors.

The root cause of financial insufficiency lies not in the low incomes of the majority of community members, and not even in the consumer psychology of believers, but in the closed nature of the topic of financing, the lack of accountability of those who spend and those who give for these expenses. Lack of managerial accountability and financial transparency contribute to the destruction of the atmosphere of trust, ownership, and the weakening of the activity of church members in the affairs of the community.

Note that the immediate causes of financial problems can vary. If it's all about the incompetence of specialists, then the solution is quite simple: you need to find or train a professional economist, accountant, to manage current affairs. But the systemic problem of an empty church fund can be solved only by instilling in church members a sense of belonging, responsibility, including financial responsibility, for their church; that is, only by teaching church members a culture of giving. At the same time, it is necessary to instill in pastors and church leaders a culture of openly discussing important, including financial, problems with everyone from whom they expect help. Such training and counseling can be organized within the Church's Transfiguration Schools (see above)

C) Problems of interchurch cooperation and evangelical solidarity Today, one of the most important factors in the development of churches, overcoming their isolation and backwardness from life and from the achievements of the surrounding Christian world, growth in serving our Lord can be considered the transfer and assimilation of the best church experience and achievements of the churches of the evangelical brotherhood.

Such cooperation should be based on the principle of transferring valuable experience, learning by examples of real achievements of those churches that we call "model churches." The main task of such cooperation is a sharp increase in the spiritual potential of other churches that are within reasonable territorial reach.

A model church is a community with powerful spiritual potential, developed evangelical dedication and high moral standards of its members and ministers, carrying the fullness of the gospel service to its community and the world around it. This is a growing church, if not in size, then in the spiritual potential of each individual member and the entire community as a whole.

The main features of model churches are:
- they have a full range of intra-church and extra-church ministry;
- they represent all social and demographic groups of the population living in a given area;
- know about them in the state, government and public structures of the region;
- it is a church that not only invites to itself, but also it is invited by both Christian fraternal organizations and external secular institutions;
- they have strong ties with foreign fraternal churches;
- they have well-known preachers and ministers;
- they have their own buildings;
- they help other brotherly churches grow and develop.

Unfortunately, there are very few such churches, literally a few. Most are represented by the following types: “growing church”, “surviving church” and “fading church” (over 50% of the total).

The general scheme of cooperation may look like this:

It is necessary to establish permanent partnerships in the link "model church" - 3-5 ordinary churches. A long-term cooperation begins between them, with the goal of bringing these churches to a higher level of their spiritual potential, including through joint projects of social, educational and evangelistic ministry. The model church regularly organizes “open days”, demonstrations, short seminars, group consultations for leaders and activists of 25-40 churches, about once a quarter. It will also be possible to envisage holding regular conferences for the transfer of experience. Finally, each model church should open a permanent advisory center for expert assistance to "sponsored" churches.

6.3. Relationship problems with the outside world

When it comes to the relationship of the church with the outside world, whether the participants in these relations themselves want it or not, it is always implied that political issues are resolved by political methods, and this is true for both parties. Today in Russia there are actively working, including, together with the churches, 13 political centers of power; of these, the nine largest represent different blocks of the state management machine. Others include: business, political parties, the church (ROC) and trade unions.

A) State centers of power. The evangelical churches of Russia have experience of communicating with all state power centers, and there is nothing to add or subtract. In this phase of historical development, the Russian state in its relations with the evangelical churches will clearly adhere to the ideology of political gain, that is, the goals of the market for political resources. On the one hand, the churches will experience anti-Protestant pressure from the ROC, on the other hand, the actions of the state will be restrained by the protective activities of the international community (including the human rights community). One cannot count on the support of the opposition parties, since they are very weak and ideologically very opportunistic. It is in the range of these two constraints that our relations with the state will develop. The real, within the specified range, policy, the most constructive for our Church, is carried out mainly by the federal executive and, in part, by the judiciary. A conservative-reactionary position is taken by the power bloc, the army, local authorities and, under the current leadership, the Ministry of Justice. Here, until significant amounts of spiritual potential and their own political resources appear (for example, in the form of moral and civic authority), there is no room for real maneuver and independent political decision-making for the evangelical church. Our position in the field of cooperation with the state in the field of social policy was highlighted above.

B) The Orthodox Church today is an independent political center of power and sets itself a global task - by preserving and strengthening its monopoly position in the market of religious resources, to raise its own internal status and, if possible, to claim the rank of an international center of power. Figuratively speaking, over the past 20 years, the ROC has been playing with other Christian churches (including Protestant ones) in townships, while they were invited to play chess. Therefore, in the near future, under the rule of the current Patriarch, no real dialogues and cooperation are expected. However, many observers already today have the impression that the ROC is on the eve of a major internal reformation, which may lead, among other things, to a revision of relations with Protestants - for example, the emergence of cooperation in the field of moral, civil and social service. If in the near historical future such a reform does not take place, the ROC will face a systemic crisis, and even powerful centers of political power may turn out to be among its opponents.

C) Relations with the media Primary mass media, even electronic, but necessarily professional, that could adequately represent the position of Evangelical Christians to society - both friends and foes - should become one of the elements of an independent infrastructure. The Church and large communities have enough informational reasons that can and should be covered in the press. To do this, ideally, every church should have a public relations specialist (at least in large churches). On a professional level, such a person could represent the church in society. It is also desirable that our churches establish an institute of freelance correspondents. This position could be combined with the functions of a public relations specialist. As experience shows, secular journalists are not motivated to cover religious news or make analytical reviews if there is no confrontation or scandal, therefore it is vital for us to nurture our own personnel and develop Christian media.