Inspired by 2024 National Prayer Breakfast in Moscow, Institute of Religion and Policy (IRP) head Anton Ignatenko sees new role for Protestants in Russian society
A video interview with him was published by the channel of the Seventh-day Adventist Church:
— In the early 2000s, when I worked with the [Russian] Presidential Administration, Protestants and other Christian denominations, except the Orthodox, took a completely different place in our society and in the relations with the state than they do now.
The current Prayer Breakfast is a powerful, visible evidence that Protestants, first of all, form an integral part of Russian society. But not only that: they form the vanguard of our society, because the Protestant Christian community has its own special, unique and heartfelt vision of the values that Christianity represents to society.
We will also talk about this in the plenary meeting and in the sections. There is something that has been heard for decades — this is Protestant business ethics, business as a ministry. But now it is the Year of the Family, announced in 2024 in the Russian Federation, and our entire current Prayer Breakfast is dedicated to this topic. In family, moral and spiritual values, Protestants also speak their unique — and at the same time unmistakable from the Christian point of view — word to the whole Russian society.
— One of the tasks of the National Prayer Breakfast is to strengthen work in the social sphere. What is the most effective way to combine the efforts of religious organizations, government, and non-profit organizations in order to increase the effectiveness of serving those in need in our society?
— Volunteers have been in great demand for several years in those areas where, so to speak, service from heart to heart is required. I worked as a government official myself and I understand that the state apparatus, even when it tries, cannot always reach the person who needs it. At the same time, volunteers — especially those imbued with spiritual and moral values, who orient themselves, help and work on behalf of religious organizations – have proven themselves to be the best for a number of years. This concerns helping people in difficult life situations — those who have suffered from life circumstances, be it natural disasters and, unfortunately, fighting, displaced persons. The believers there are very, very good at helping. And they not only provide financial assistance, but also warm you soulfully.
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