Towards Understanding of the Practice of Proclamation: The Core Element of Russian Baptist Worship, Timofey Cheprasov, 2015

owing of Christ is losing its appeal not only in the eyes of the secular world, but also for many Christians, especially the younger generation of the Baptist believers. Let me offer a brief overview of my work. The first five chapters are an inquiry into the question of Russian Baptist ecclesial identity and the role of preaching (as one of their major practices and characteristic features) in forming, preserving and passing on this identity. Identity is understood as a way of communal living, which includes individual ethics, but also goes beyond it. Most of the material in the first four chapters will concentrate on questions of historical development of Russian baptistic’’ churches and their preaching, and the context in which they’ve existed. It has to be noted that historical material in these chapters is organised thematically, with each of these topics (such as cultural and theological contexts of preaching and development of baptistic educational institutions) developed historically. The rather extensive presentation of the historical material as well as the analysis of the cultural and religious environment is necessary, since it highlights the connections between the ways preaching was understood and practiced and the effect it produced on the ecclesial life of the communities. Nonetheless, it must be noted that | do not aim at writing a comprehensive history of the Russian Baptist movement. Rather, it might be helpful to see the historical part of the thesis as my attempt to retell the story of Russian baptistic communities through the lens of the development of their preaching ministry. Another important issue is that | do not deal with communities of Russian Church of Christians of Evangelical Faith (RCCEF), churches that belong to the Council of Churches of Evangelical Christians-Baptists (CCECB) or any other denominations, which were part 1° Throughout this work the term “Baptist” will refer to the congregations which define themselves as Baptists, and which is reflected in their name. The term “baptist” or “baptistic” (with a lower case ‘b’) will be a reference to a wider tradition, which includes Molokans, Mennonites, Brethren, Pentecostals, Evangelical or Gospel Christians (one of the denominations that merged with the Baptist Union in forming the All-Union Council of Evangelical Christians-Baptists (AUCECB)) etc., those who share ‘some or all of those values associated with believer’s baptism, the autonomy of the local congregation and freedom of conscience.’ (Wright, Free Church, Free State, pp xxiii). For the origin of the terms, see James Wm. McClendon Jr., Ethics: Systematic Theology, Volume 1, 7 ed., rev. and enl. (Nashville, Abingdon Press, 2002, originally published in 1986), p 19; and Rollin G. Grams and Parush R. Parushev, “Editor’s Preface,” in Grams and Parushev, Towards an Understanding of European Baptist Identity, p 10. of the All-Union Council of Evangelical Christ