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

r generations of Christians are observed. 112 The pulpit holds central place in the majority of the church buildings. Those congregations who have built their Houses of Prayer during the last 15-20 years may have a shape of a concert hall or a gothic cathedral, with pews always facing the choir and the pulpit. Often, the pulpit is either at the centre or the side of the stage. Many congregations have converted regular homes into places of worship. Hence, they were unable to structure the space according to their wishes. Nonetheless, they still tried to arrange pews or chairs in such a way to ensure that people could see the preacher (not necessarily one another).° Worship pattern Russian Baptists take pride in having a Bible-based worship event. This does not mean that their service follows certain patterns extracted from biblical text.° Rather, it is an attempt to be different from the Russian Orthodox Church, which follows strict liturgies. The absence of rigid liturgy, open spontaneous prayer and extemporaneous preaching ‘with the anointing of the Holy Spirit’ were those characteristics of Baptists and Evangelical Christians that attracted many people at the early stage of the baptistic movement in Russia. However, despite this positive experience in history and often repeated claims that Baptists do not have traditions, Baptist worship in Russia ° In conversations with a number of pastors, whose churches went through the building process, | could identify three issues which normally influence the church as it develops their building. These are financial abilities of the congregation, its size, and priorities in ministry. The last aspect does point to a practical manifestation of a theological stance of a church. Whether there is a lot of space for a Sunday school for children or extended cooking facilities, etc., indicates the priorities and therefore the theology of a particular community of believers. However, there is little or no evidence that any Russian Baptist church has engaged in a specific theological reflection in the process of creating a place of worship. For more on how theology is reflected in architecture see Richard Kieckhefer, Theology in Stone: Church Architecture from Byzantium to Berkeley (New York, Oxford University Press, 2004). ® Although, several references to biblical text are used to show that a Russian Baptist service consists of the same elements as the meetings of the first-century church. “Simplicity” is considered to be an indication of “the true spirit’ of worshipping God (e.g. V. Popov, “Otechestvenniaia Shkola Propovedi...,” p 44). For an analysis of the origin of Christian worship service see Valerii Alikin, “Istoki Khristianskikh Sobranii: Ellinisticheskii Banket ili ludeiskaia Sinagoga” [“The Roots of Christian Gatherings: Hellenistic Banquet or Jewish Synagogue”, in Theological Reflections, Special edition: Church Worship: Past and Future (2011).