This book is the work of two experienced theological educators and is an analysis and appraisal of the ministry of the post-Soviet Church. As the authors observe in their introduction, the hopes that emerged after the collapse of the USSR were not realised: euphoria has given away to fatigue and frustration; churches have not grown; and wider society remains a moral vacuum, tarnished by political corruption, a legacy of the Soviet era. More recently, Russia's increasingly anti-Western stance has made it even more important that the post-Soviet Church takes ownership of its own future in order to build a culturally relevant identity. In this, the authors assert, it can be assisted by Western help but the result must be authentically its own. For historians the most intriguing chapters of this book concern the history of the Church in the years prior to and following the fall of Communism. It has been said that the experience of persecution undergone by the Soviet Church in the years from 1917 to 1989 is unprecedented in Christian history. As the book explains, the current state of both church and society in post-Soviet countries is inextricably connected with that past – a past which contains tragic chapters of infiltration, persecution, labour camps and executions. The book also addresses questions which have perplexed many observers of post-Soviet society: how could the freedoms and hope of the early years have disintegrated? What happened to the Church after its initial explosion when the Wall came down? If the position today is one of stagnation, how has that come about? Without the answers to these questions the post-Soviet Church, so desperately needed as a moral anchor in societies still struggling against corruption, fear and oppression, cannot flourish. The authors’ analysis is informed by their rich experience as theological educators in Eastern Ukraine who understand both Western and East European mindsets. They show how some congregations still struggle to create new models of leadership and community that are different from their dysfunctional Soviet forebears. With considerable perception they identify the shortfalls of the Western incomers who arrived to help rebuild the Church, showing how those evangelists’ lack of appreciation of the culture that they came to and the way in which it had been formed by both Soviet and pre-Soviet history then led them to pursue immediate results at the expense of long-term lasting progress. In that these were the same mistakes made by secular NGOs and foreign governments (mistakes which continue to be made elsewhere), their conclusions have a far wider relevance than church-planting alone. In spite of their experience in Donetsk, the city now at the centre of a region torn apart by conflict, the authors’ message is that there is ‘a future and a hope’ for the post-Soviet Church. The later chapters of the book are of a more specialised nature, exploring detailed proposals for theological education to equip the Church for the future – proposals which they support with persuasive theological reflection. The book is essential reading for any individual or organisation involved with the post-Soviet Church and it is to be hoped that, among that constituency, it will receive a wide readership.