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

113 may turn out to be as rigid as an Orthodox liturgy. The order of service does not differ much in various places around Russia. Moreover, as | shall demonstrate below, the pattern of worship has not significantly changed over the past hundred years.’ It might be possible to distinguish several types or patterns of corporate worship services among Russian Baptists: regular service, prayer service, communion service, evangelistic service, and a service that includes some special event like Baptism, ordination, wedding or prayer over children.® However, the differences between these services are rather small. For example, a prayer service’ is almost identical to a regular worship service. The main difference is in sermons particularly directed on the importance of prayer, and motivating Christians to pray for a certain cause. Music also aims at creating reflective and meditative or “prayerful” atmosphere. Time-slots for extemporaneous prayers of the worshippers are normally extended, allowing anyone in the congregation to pray out loud. Since the differences between various types of services are mainly in selection of hymns, the focus of sermons, and, sometimes, the number of sermons (if a service is built around a wedding or an ordination, the major event may substitute one or even two sermons), focusing on a regular worship service would be the most helpful, as it presents a core pattern around which certain changes are occasionally introduced. The traditional pattern of worship service would be as follows: 1. The service begins with an opening prayer (in case of a major holiday like Easter or Christmas the opening words could be holiday greetings, which includes letters from the Baptist Union leaders, etc.). 2. The opening prayer is followed by a congregational hymn. 3. Depending on a size of a congregation and the development of their music ministry, there might be a choir piece (or an orchestra). Irina Timchenko, a music director from the First Baptist church in Moscow, wrote that the type or a theme ’ For a description of a Stundist worship service at the end of the 19" century, see Rozhdestvenskii, Yuzhno-Russkii Stundism, p 251. 8 Timchenko, “Muzikalnaia Osnova Bogosluzheniia...,” p 70. ° A “prayer service” is different from a “prayer meeting,” which might be a small group gathering when a few passages from the Bible are read and most of the time is spent in meditative prayer. 114 of the service influences the choice of this first hymn, which can either be a hymn- prayer (for a regular service) or a triumphant choral.*° 4. The first sermon comes next. Normally this is a shorter sermon (between 10 and 20 min.) delivered either by a guest or a young preacher who is only beginning his pulpit ministry. In many churches, this sermon is called “a call to prayer.” It is always followed by extemporaneous prayers from members of the congregation, and the time of prayer is conclude