New Russia Law on Religious Missions Explained

PneumaReview.com: When, Why and How did we create it?

In the past three years since we released PneumaReview.com, we’ve received so many questions on how was it built and constructed to reach such a large audience with its intentionally broad spectrum of research in Pentecostal theology. While some of the technological expertise used is protected as know-how and intellectual property, most of the web architecture and social media strategies are based on free open source technology, which could and should be used by ministries and ministry websites who are dedicated to spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ…

Introduction

I was first introduced to the Pneuma Review’s printed publication back in the seminary years. Yet not through the regular Pentecostal scholarly channels like a academia or SPS, but through the internet. Even then, the editors of this independent, but still scholarly publication, had a strong presence on the web. Sure, the Java technology used was a bit outdated, but still solid and getting the job done. By 2013, however, it was time for something new…

When

After following the printed issue of Pneuma Review for over a decade, around 2011-12 an obvious lagging was noticeable. It was a time when the volume of printed Pneuma Review has dwindled down and a clear alternative was in order within the time and space available. The only reasonable answer was in taking all past, current and future issues of Pneuma Review to the World Wide Web. It was in this time that our team decided to step in and help with the transition of the printed Pneuma Review to a custom designed internet community.

Why

Around 2013, the Pneuma Review has built up to a printed volume of some 1,600 scholarly articles and discussions plus numerous book reviews, announcements, and other valuable content. Obviously, an enormous task to envision, design, convert and present to the internet community. But it was well worth it.

The very idea of doing grass roots Pentecostal theology outside of a university or seminary context and yet on an academia level, was broadening not only the theological horizon of our movement, but the practical vanguard of Pentecostal academia.

How

First of course was the domain name. It was a miracle of its own, that after all these years on the internet, someone had not snatched the PneumaReview.com domain name before we were ready to make the transition to the internet. So our team’s first and foremost advice was, of course: Get the domain today!

But the domain was only the first of many challenges to resolve in the next few months of development. The difficulties with the digitalization of the printed publication had to first deal with the large overall audience reach and the database of both subscribers and articles. The high volume of daily visits was multiplied by the larger size of the articles. While a typical internet publication will have a 500-700 word limit, the Pneuma Review was presenting research topics of 12-15 at times even 20-25 single spaced typed pages. Just for example, Craig S. Keener’s review of John MacArthur’s Strange Fire was close to 20 pages. Combined with the growing number of articles read daily, social media involvement with ongoing discussions and its very specific audience, this was enough to scare away most web developers in the profession.

So how did we do it? Why the know-how in the technology used should not be disclosed as public domain, several strategic points in the building of the actual web property, web presence and web strategy may be of some help to readers who are working on a Pentecostal web project of their own:

1. As a main priority, the search engine optimized web platform was designed to publish all past and future issues of the Pneuma Review in an compatible digital format
2. A user friendly magazine-like design provided the options to publish individual articles and/or embed complete issues of the magazine in a PDF format
3. Database pagination for larger volume of simultaneous users and database storage was implemented to server the enormous content volume (some 200Mb of database just for the starting archive of articles)
4. SEO compatible web SCHEMA architecture was specifically designed with reader’s search engine experience in mind. The difficulty here was not providing volume to the search engines, which the article archive had in abundance, but sorting and selecting from thousand of search key words and phrases in order to attract the specificity of the audience
5. An advanced administrative panel aided the day-to-day backend operation of the web platform
6. Media embed (audio, video and live stream) was enabled as automated post attachments carried on both the website and social media
7. Finally, to increase user involvement, the social network module included auto publication, audience engagement, feedback and discussions which were seamlessly integrated between many social properties while being stored serverside for the use of the platform

Just as a side note, the architecture design of Pneuma Review to this day remains one of the very few Christian web entities out there that were specifically designed to invoke reader participation. And to my knowledge, it remains one of the largest (with well over 2,000 scholarly publications) and absolutely free to use resource of Pentecostal academia on the internet.

The road ahead…

As technology constantly progresses, there’s always so much to improve. From a purely technological standpoint, however, there are several immediately necessary measures, which Pneuma Review is due. The free registration via social login and auto translation of the article database were both envisioned in the platform from its genesis. Their immediate implementation will open this invaluable web resource to the global community of Pentecostal scholars worldwide. With this move, the SEO optimization not only of generated content, but also social media archives (by rule disregarded by most search engines as per their privacy regulations) will open a massive amount of organic back linking, which will reaffirm the importance of the website as a global community building tool.

Furthermore, the current web platform offers several valuable opportunities for marketing the product, which began as a printed publication. The way it was designed and structured, the whole database is completely printable both as a periodical and volume/series format. Using this current technology makes printing once again an inexpensive and invaluable option, as potential revenue is not only sufficient to cover the cost of printing, but also to invest in further development of the web platform itself.

Finally, the building of a Pentecostal community on the internet with the resources of higher academia is perhaps the single and most important attempt to merge Pentecostal theology and praxis within the last couple of decades. Thus, recovering not only the grass roots of Pentecostal scholarship, but remerging the purity of doctrine with the ministry of the church.

Yes, in few short years social media has provoked an unprecedented response from the Pentecostal community. But social media is not here to stay. As it changes and progresses, it will soon be obsolete as everything else in technology. For this reason, the present opportunity to engage the global Pentecostal community with theology proper via social media must not be taken lightly. And why not even a move from “dead old white guys” theology and organization to understanding God through color, ethnos and gender that truly represents the internationalization of Pentecostal faith and praxis and involves ethnicity, adversity and vanguard of the global Pentecostal academia today?

Dr. Dony K. Donev holds a doctoral degree from the Pentecostal Theological Seminary. His dissertation work explored Bulgarian Churches in North America through a paradigm of ministry which studies and people groups with post-Communist origins within the global Pentecostal movement. Currently, as a post-graduate fellow, Dr. Donev is exploring the roots of Protestantism in Eastern Europe. He is available for consultations on building Christian communities online for the advancement of faith research and spiritual understanding.

Ministering at the Vineyard

Bibliata.com celebrates 20 years in ministry online

One of our first ministry websites, Bibliata.com just celebrated 20 years of ministry online. It began in the fall of 1996 with the sole purpose to reach Bulgarians online with the Bible. We began the Bibliata.com anniversary celebration with an out loud reading through the whole Bulgarian Bible on September 16-18, 2016 involving many churches and Christian communities in Bulgaria and abroad.

After 20 years with several million annual views and visitors, it has become the standard for the Bulgarian Bible online. Through the years, virtually all Bulgarian Bible versions as well as many others in foreign and original tongues were published. Audio Bible, Video Bible, extensive Bible commentary, a national sermon archive, multiple device apps and Bible study platforms are only a few of the projects completed. Additionally, a new Bulgarian translation in the works since 2007 is close to its publication date for the 500^th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. But this is not all…

The story of the Bulgarian Bible online is centered not only in products and projects, but in the very people we work with to create a community of believers, who pray, talk, grow and live together in the footsteps of the Savior. And this is worth much more than just 20 years of work and perseverance…

Special celebration for Russian Holocaust Survivors LIVE from Israel 24-25 September 2016

Please pray for these services that God would provide protection, guidance, wisdom and peace; that there would be no hindrance or disturbance that would distract attendees from hearing and receiving the Good News.

September 15: First Day of School in Bulgaria

We Shall Never Forget

The Death of Dying Churches in the Context of Church Planting: 6 Reasons That Motivate us To Seek Church Planting Versus Church Rehabilitation

6 Reasons That Motivate us To Seek Church Planting Versus Church Rehabilitation

With the ever growing trend of Church planting, we have lost sight of the reality that too many churches are dying. We try to pretend that churches are not closing down everyday by creating hype with campaigns to rally around the numbers of new churches being started.

But if one church opens while another closes, what’s the benefit towards the Kingdom?  The math simply does not add up.  If a church is opened and has five people saved in the first service and 11 baptized the following week, but we close the doors of two other churches that same month, and this translates in an entire frustrated generation of youth exiting the church into a secular world of drugs and alcohol, then the Kingdom economics is lacking.

When there is a birth, we rejoice. When there is a death we cry.  Death is damaging, painful and entangles us in a multifaceted web of emotions and responses.  Sadly Christian churches today are dying for six major reasons:

1. The Bible has been abandoned: “Feel-good” preaching replaces fundamental Biblical principals, morals and truths.
2. We listen to too a multitude of church experts instead of hearing from one Divine voice.
3. We treat the Church as a social club paying our 10% membership dues.
4. There is more emphasis on evangelizing social media than the evangelizing the lost.
5. We like the church box and the comfort of the walls and forget about the hurt and dying world beyond.
6. It’s at times easier to close a church down to avoid dealing with the real problems.

Death is so damaging to the entire body of believers.  Should we not focus on church care rather than closing, and reevaluate the effectiveness of putting more money into opening new churches? What is it that motivates us to seek after church planting versus church rehabilitation?

1. Money is in church planting vs. debt is in church maintenance.
2. The honeymoon period of a new church is much more glamorous vs. the trials of a struggling church.
3. The problems of church planting are limited compared to the problems of dying church.
4. We all want to rejoice in a birth instead of caring for the sick or morning the dead.
5. A grand opening celebration is more appealing than a long and strenuous rehab process.
6. Positive reinforcement and recognition comes with church planting. Negative reinforcement, and at times rejection, is associated with church care and problem solving.

If you work with people you will have problems and the more people you have the more problems you will have.  And the more time you have these people, the more likely you are to have bigger challenges to overcome.  But this is no reason to give up and avoid the hard times.  Let us not let our existing churches dye while we have our eyes on starting new ones. It is when we embrace unification and restoration that bones come together, flesh develops out of past nothingness, skin covers the flesh out of former defeats, breath enters the bodies to all replace past failures and unforgiveness, and a vast army stands up stronger than ever.  What some see as a dying church, Christ sees as His resurrected and indestructible army!

30 Days of Prayer in September

In church today, we talk, read and learn a lot about prayer. Yet, the truth is that in today we do not pray as before. The church of the 21t century is not a praying church. Therefore, on its’ 10-year anniversary and as a part of the National Bible Tour 2016, during the month of September www.bibliata.com calls for 30 Days of Prayer – a national prayer strategy including current, urgent needs of the Bulgarian Evangelical Movement.

Week 1
September 1, 2016 – Restoration of the Backslidden
September 2, 2016 – Church Leadership: Bulgarian Pastors and Ministers

Week 2
September 3, 2016 – National Revival in Bulgaria
September 4, 2016 – Spiritual and Physical Harvests
September 5, 2016 – Restoration of Protestant Evangelical Heritage
September 6, 2016 – Unification of the Bulgarian Nation and the Bulgarian Church (In observance of Unification Day in Bulgaria)
September 7, 2016 – Renewal of Family Ties
September 8, 2016 – Child Protection
September 9, 2016 – Mission Work

Week 3
September 10, 2016 – The Hopeless (In observance of World Suicide Prevention Day)
September 11, 2016 – Against Fear (In observance of Patriot Day in the United States)
September 12, 2016 – Sexual Purity and Biblical Moral Principles in the Bulgarian Society
September 13, 2016 – Sanctification and Prayer for Restoration of Holiness in the Bulgarian Church
September 14, 2016 – Return Toward Evangelical Roots
September 15, 2016 – Students of Bulgaria (In observance of the first day of school in Bulgaria)
September 16, 2016 – National Day of Fasting for the Bulgarian Evangelical Movement

Week 4
September 17, 2016 – The Country of Bulgaria
September 18, 2016 – National Prosperity
September 19, 2016 – Abortion Prevention and Prayer for Mothers Who Have Had an Abortion (In observance of Abortion Prevention Day in Bulgaria)
September 20, 2016 – Deliverance from Addictions (In observance of the National Addiction Counselors’ Day)
September 21, 2016 – World Peace (In observance of the International Day of Peace)
September 22, 2016 – Spiritual Freedom (In observance of Independence Day in Bulgaria)
September 23, 2016 – Spirit of Forgiveness

Week 5
September 24, 2016 – Restoring of Friendships and Relationships (In observance of National Good Neighbor Day)
September 25, 2016 – Against Stress and Results of Stress
September 26, 2016 – Physical Healing and Deliverance
September 27, 2016 – Peace for Israel
September 28, 2016 – A Fresh Anointing
September 29, 2016 – The Persecuted Believers
September 30, 2016 – Strength and Endurance

USCIRF Condemns Enactment of Anti-Terrorism Laws in RUSSIA

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 7 signed into law a package of anti-terrorism measures the Russian State Duma passed in late June.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) strongly condemns these measures.  Under the guise of confronting terrorism, they would grant authorities sweeping powers to curtail civil liberties, including setting broad restrictions on religious practices that would make it very difficult for religious groups to operate. On June 23, President Putin signed into law yet another problematic measure: It authorizes the police to arrest people suspected of violating “generally accepted norms of social behavior,” thereby giving authorities another weapon to use against disfavored groups, including religious organizations.

“These deeply flawed anti-terrorism measures will buttress the Russian government’s war against human rights and religious freedom,” said USCIRF Chair Thomas J. Reese, S.J. “They will make it easier for Russian authorities to repress religious communities, stifle peaceful dissent, and detain and imprison people. Neither these measures nor the currently existing anti-extremism law meet international human rights and religious freedom standards.”

The anti-terrorism measures would, among other provisions, amend the 1997 Russian religion law by redefining “missionary activities” as religious practices that take place outside of state-sanctioned sites. The new law thus would ban preaching, praying, proselytizing, and disseminating religious materials outside of these officially-designated sites, and authorize fines of up to $15,000 for these activities conducted in private residences or distributed through mass print, broadcast or online media.  Foreign missionaries also must prove they were invited by state-registered religious groups and must operate only in regions where their sponsoring organizations are registered; those found in violation face deportation and major fines.

The Russian government uses its current anti-extremism law to target religious communities because the legal definition of extremism does not require the threat or use of violence.  “Extremism” charges can include the peaceful promotion of “the superiority of one’s own religion,” and have resulted in religious texts being banned and members of non-violent Muslims groups and Jehovah’s Witnesses imprisoned.  The proposed anti-terrorism measures would increase prison terms under the current extremism law.

USCIRF placed Russia on its Tier 2 list in its 2016 Annual Report. In Tier 2 countries, the violations the government engages in or tolerates are serious and characterized by at least one of the elements of IRFA’s “systematic, ongoing, and egregious” standard. For more information, please refer to the Russia chapter in USCIRF’s 2016 Report (in English and in Russian).

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