Church social work from the point of view of Russians and social workers of the Russian Orthodox Church

The article examines the attitude towards church social work in Russia and its main tasks from the point of view of the country’s population and parish social workers of the Russian Orthodox Church. The research assesses the growth potential and key problems of social work organization. The research is based on the results of three sociological surveys: two national representative surveys - “Orthodox Monitor” (2011, 1500 respondents), and “Religion and Church” (2020, 1549 respondents), and an online survey of social workers of the Russian Orthodox Church (2021, 217 respondents). The research indicates that the Church’s orientation towards intensifying social work coincides with the general demand of the country’s population for the Church to carry out such activities. On the one hand, almost half of the population of Russia (43%), including Orthodox Christians, adherents of other religions, and non-religious people, express their readiness to participate in Church social activities on a regular basis. 27% of respondents noted that they could also involve their acquaintances in these activities. On the other hand, social workers emphasize the difficulty of attracting a sufficient number of volunteers as the main problem hindering the development of social work in parishes. In this regard, it can be assumed that more effective organization of access to participation for the weakly religious or non-religious population is the key source of the growth potential of church social work.