On the positive side, churches can exhibit a wonderful spirit of community. Believers are always helping each other and often exhibit a sacrificial spirit. New believers often talk about having a close sense of family with their brothers and sisters in Christ, which they had not experienced in their own rather dysfunctional families. Members will drop in on each other unannounced and enjoy spontaneous fellowship. On the more negative side from my perspective is the tendency toward authoritarian leadership in the church.
Church discipline can seem quite harsh at times from a Western perspective.
Some churches have excommunicated significant numbers of people. The reason for this seems to be that within the Russian Evangelical subculture, church elders equate independence and lack of conformity with spiritual pride and arrogance. To disagree with the pastor can be viewed as blatant pride, and by so doing, believers may be placing themselves outside of the collective. In this kind of environment, individual initiative and expression are often suppressed. Russia today is in the throes of a fundamental cultural struggle as it seeks to come to terms with modernity.