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

role of the as the instrument of ‘divine presence, rather than moralising discourse. listeners, therefore, is to come with their hearts prepared for a sacred event. The balance of heart or mind, emotions or reason is an important question when persuasive discourse is concerned. In the Russian Baptist context heart and emotions take priority. Believers are invited to come, humble themselves, repent of their wrongdoings, and allow God to work in their lives. For the majority of participants in worship, such qualities as humbleness and a repentant heart exclude “the spirit of criticism.” Speaking about the audience, it is important to notice the absence of “educated listeners” as Brown calls them. At the same time, it would be wrong to say that ordinary members in Russian churches are biblically illiterate. On the contrary, people generally know the Bible very well. They can easily quote various passages from the Scripture. However, their ability to go beyond literal understanding of biblical passages is rather limited. A. Popov wrote, The beliefs of the ECB concerning the Bible defined the methodology of Bible studies. The principles of simplicity and holiness implied that spiritual (not intellectual) development was the key to a correct understanding of sound biblical teaching. As a result, these evangelical believers treated education in general and Christian education in particular with great suspicion because, in their opinion, it was likely to be an attempt at forgery — an attempt to forge genuine spirituality. For them true spirituality could be reached only through personal holiness, which could be achieved through deeper fellowship with Christ.”° Hence, despite people’s ability to freely quote Biblical text, it is still possible to speak about the absence of ‘educated listeners, able to hold preachers accountable,’ the point made by Kornilov.** 3° Jensen, Envisioning the Word, p 43. “° A. Popov, “The Evangelical Christians-Baptists...,” p 110. “ Kornilov, “K Voprosu ob Avtoritete v Khristianskoi Zhizni,” pp 14-15. 130 Due to various reasons mentioned earlier in this work, such as political oppression and somewhat forced emphasis on spirituality, the pulpit, from being a symbol of the baptistic movement in Russia (which started through preaching, simplistic retelling and application of the Biblical narrative into the lives of people), became a sign of special anointing and authority for the chosen few, consequently limiting the right and desire of ordinary members to read and interpret the Scripture. Individual theologies of the church leaders (pastors and to a lesser degree church councils) became a major formative factor in shaping all aspects of Baptist ecclesial life. Pastors turned into sole arbiters who accepted/rejected preachers and sermons as appropriate or heretical, edifying the church or disturbing and disrupting the congregation, as well as making decisions regard