About the Report
The East-West Church Report is an independent digest of developments at the interface of church, state, and society in the former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe.
While today a rich diversity of sovereign nations, the territories that we study all experienced the tragedy of anti-religious authoritarian rule during the 20th century. Even multiple decades after the rapid collapse of their Communist regimes, the negative moral and social impact of anti-religious policies continues to resonate—and far more deeply than was assumed (or hoped) following the sweeping changes of 1989-91.
Our publication was founded as the East-West Church and Ministry Report back in 1993 in response to the explosion of missionary activity in the former Eastern Bloc. From the outset, the Report served as a clearinghouse of reliable information—often in high-quality translation— about indigenous Christian communities, and encouraged Westerners to engage in enriching and culturally sensitive ministry. Emphasizing face-to-face interviews, we continue to uphold the voices and experiences of local Christians; in order to have a serious understanding of Christians in the region, we need to take them seriously.
While major media increasingly appreciate that Christianity is an important factor in the region we cover, secular reporters usually do not have the capacity to evaluate the nuances of its role. As the social media era of skewed information evolves, Western Christians tend to follow developments of concern only through their particular church or denomination. The East-West Church Report is that rare initiative guiding readers through the attitudes and ideas of Christian communities different from their own, in the belief that respectful relations between Catholics, Evangelicals, and Orthodox are otherwise impossible.
Much remarkable research on Christian life in the ex-Soviet space is conducted by both local and Western scholars. Typically aimed at a narrow academic audience, requiring lengthy reading, or otherwise inaccessible to the wider public, this may go unnoticed by ordinary Christians. Featuring interviews with key scholars as well as reviews and summaries of their work, the Report seeks to make broadly available the latest academic insights into Christian culture and history in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
For a modest fee, 20-page issues are delivered to subscribers as emailed PDFs, currently twice annually.
Institutional subscribers may distribute issues to those within the institution (e.g. students using a university library). Other distribution/reproduction of whole issues or individual articles requires the permission of the East-West Church Report. Once permission is granted, the following statement is to be carried with the reproduced material: “Reproduced with permission of the East-West Church Report.”
The East-West Church Report has been assigned ISSN 2576-344X by the Library of Congress in the United States. As the East-West Church and Ministry Report, it bore the ISSN 1069-5664 until the end of 2017.
Views expressed by interviewees and guest authors do not necessarily coincide with those of the East-West Church Report.
