Archpriest Vladimir Puchkov answers.

In the word «missionary» we usually put a simple and understandable meaning: the preaching of Christ outside the temple and worship. For more than two thousand years, this sermon has been very different: from fiery apostolic speeches in crowded places of large cities to the bold preaching of the gospel to the powerful of this world, followed by an appeal to the faith of entire nations. From officially sanctioned, and therefore deeply formal, disputes with schismatics and sectarians to a randomly uttered prayer on the battlefield, hearing which young warriors – yesterday’s atheists for the first time thought about God. They still didn’t know or hear Him. The free position of the Church in the past decades has made it possible to develop missionary work in many directions. Some missionary initiatives have been successful, others not. However, the past years have certainly been years of opportunity for all who have somehow labored in the missionary field. Even those who wanted to preach on trains were not deprived of this opportunity.

However, times tend to change. Everything is clear: the years of opportunity are gradually fading into the past. In the 90-ties there were many seekers among people, in the 2000s there were many interested ones. In churching, some of them joined the clergy, others formed the backbone of many parishes, monasteries, and communities. Others, having become members of the Church, eventually left it. The rest of the seekers by now also managed to find (and those who were interested – to find out), then lose interest and become disappointed. Naturally, without any desire to look for anything in the future.

Our time for the seekers and the interested is much poorer. Even among young people, who at all times are more susceptible to searching than those who are burdened with age, family and official position. In most cases, a modern young man is either an indifferent pragmatist, aimed at fulfilling a well-thought-out and clearly formed life plan, or a frivolous poser who lives more on Instagram than in the real world, or an activist – an eternally preoccupied fighter whose care is such that it would be better he/she was indifferent. There is, of course, a category of thinking young people, they read books and are able to think critically. However, some of them don’t need any missionary work, since they have already managed to become a church member, and some devote so much time to study or work that if they find time for spiritual needs, it is only to the detriment of sleep.

Accordingly, the attitude of our potential flock to religion and faith bears little resemblance to what the Church has become accustomed to dealing with in recent years. The overwhelming majority of people are frankly indifferent to religion. They are either generally indifferent to such topics, or «in my childhood my grandmother took me there, I know everything there, I’m not interested». Among the activists, however, directly opposite sentiments reign, but this is little consolation, since some of them are not indifferent simply because of their temperament and the habit of poking their noses into all squabbles, another part is ready even now to grab a cudgel and run to remake the Church for their own ideas, and the rest all declare ideological disbelief with the same fervor. Needless to say, in such a state of society, many of the previous missionary developments lose all relevance? And to create new ones, a number of factors must be taken into account.

First of all: not everyone is ready to listen to us and not everyone is happy with us. Modern human is a free person. So, in any case, he/she thinks him/herself. Therefore, he/she is terribly afraid that someone would encroach on his/her freedom, infringe on his/her rights, limit his/her desires. He/she worries about his/her freedom as with a written bag and quite sincerely believes that if he/she doesn’t violate civil laws, no one has the right to restrict him/her in anything or prohibit him/her in any way. And to persuade anyone here is absolutely pointless. We just need to understand that we don’t need to strive to be heard where not that to hear us, not ready to listen. It is impossible, even having the fullness of truth, to try to impose this truth apart from desire and will. Therefore, the position of a moralizer, a teacher of morality, or simply a convinced know-it-all, will inevitably be a losing one for the Church. It is necessary to focus primarily on those who are ready to hear and listen. They, perhaps, are few, and even with the Church they are often brought together by misfortune or need. But, on the other hand, it is precisely the misfortune with need that can open a person’s soul towards God. Of course, the one who says that this is not so much missionary work as shepherding will be right. But the whole point is that in our time one can hardly be separated from the other.

But, if so, it will be useful for us to think about where we are trying to attract a person? Theological speculations about the mystical Body of Christ and the gathering of believers united by hierarchy, doctrine and the Sacraments are hardly appropriate here. A person comes to a specific priest, to a specific temple. What does he/she see there? Order in everything, dignified worship, competent preaching, availability of the clergy and discipline among the parishioners? Blessing, if so. And if not? Are there not many cases when cashiers and cleaners swear right in the middle of the church, when regular parishioners shamelessly climb with their remarks to those who came for the first time and don’t know anything, when the distribution of holy water resembles a battle, when a sermon turns into an hour-long conversation about nothing? And there are also illiterate brochures in candle shops about herbal medicine and the dangers of vaccinations, there is propaganda of doomsday and intimidation with biometrics. And this is also, if we ignore the quality of church singing, the level of icon painting, and just an elementary taste in the formation of the decoration of the church. You can talk about the main and the secondary as much as you like, but each of these factors forms the general impression. Both the main and the secondary will ultimately have an impact on a person, therefore, no matter how paradoxical it may sound, modern missionary work begins with putting things in order in the temple. And again, it doesn’t matter at all whether the parish is rich or poor, the temple is magnificent or modest. In a wretched but cleanly cleaned church, praying is sometimes so good that you don’t pay the slightest attention to wretchedness. Or, for example, an amateur parish choir, unable to perform exquisite composer’s chants, not always sounding clean, but feeling the rhythm of the service, singing without pauses and attempts to master a previously unknown work from the first try, sometimes disposes to prayer with its reverential mood, which seems: the best singing is impossible to imagine. And in order to eliminate bad taste in the decoration, sometimes it’s not necessary to order three dozen icons in the same style from the icon painting workshop. It is enough just to remove a couple of icons in the depths of the sacristy, creating a feeling of dissonance and confusion of styles, and to prefer simpler decorations than the pretentious elements. And so with everything. This work doesn’t seem difficult at all if it is approached responsibly and carried out competently. True, you first need to want. Because, as practice shows, the main reason for intra-temple problems is not the lack of money for the parish or the time of the abbot, but elementary indifference, multiplied by the traditional Russian «whatever, that would do».

Now let’s pay attention to the fact that usually brings a person to the temple. Problems and illnesses, the death of someone close, or just following tradition. Not knowing faith, a person becomes superstitious. And when superstition forces someone to cross the threshold of the temple, one of the strongest temptations is to use the superstition of the person who came to keep him/her in the Church. «If a dead man/woman is dreaming, then he/she asks for prayers», «so that the sorcerers cannot harm, you need to confess», «when a child doesn’t sleep well, you need to commune him/her»… Undoubtedly, God brings people to Himself in many different ways. But it leads so that a person, finding him/herself in the Church, begins to grow spiritually, and not churched with him/her his/her semi-pagan, semi-socialist way of thinking. In the end, such a primitive faith will either bore such a believer him/herself, or he/she will discourage not one or two potential Christians from among those who think and doubt from the Church. Hence the rule: do not lie in any way, even for, it seems, missionary purposes. Anyone who comes to the temple deserves to be honest with him/her. It is within the power of those who know the truth about the faith of the Church, its teaching, its structure and history to consciously and fully become churchgoers. Therefore, not only obvious lies, but also unverified, unfounded information should not be given to the neophyte.

And finally, the last thing. Any person to whom we speak about Christ should be of interest to us. Not as a mission object, not as a potential parishioner, but as a person. And here and now. A sincere interest disposes of the listener, arousing in him/her a mutual interest, which, as you know, is very, very important for a preacher.

The bottom line is simple: our time is a time of change. Sooner or later, these changes will also affect the Church, in a tangible volume, in fact, are already affecting. Shouldn’t we think about the fact that if God brings people to our churches (after all, the arrival of a new person is not so much our merit as God’s Providence), then it directly depends on us whether they will remain in the Church. Thus, modern missionary work should consist not so much in attracting people to the Church, as in the desire to help those whom the Lord has called to remain in it. And even more so not to scare away, not to embarrass, not to offend.

As for me, this is how modern missionary work is. Perhaps less tiring and dangerous than in the old days, but no less responsible. Perhaps it is behind him that the immediate future of the Church is.