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

ccessed on 02.04.2015 from http://ebf.org/ebf-saddened- by-exit-of-kazakhstan-and-kyrgyzstan). 18 Fisher Humphreys, The Way We Were: How Southern Baptist Theology Has Changed and What It Means to Us All (Macon, Georgia, Smyth and Helwys Publishing Inc., 2002), p 46. *9 Parushev, “Walking in the Dawn of the Light...,” p 107. Cf. Parush R. Parushev, “Theologie op een baptistenmanier” [Doing Theology in a Baptist Way], in Teun van der Leer, red., Zo zijn onze manieren! In Gesprek over gemeentetheologie, Baptistica Reeks (Series), Vol.1 (Barneveld, Nederland: Unie van Baptisten Gemeenten in Nederland, September 2009, in Dutch), pp. 7-22, 66-75. 139 discovering another, non-creedal way of defining the boundaries of this culture, of finding characteristics that would allow a church to be placed into this ecclesial type. © Thus, the need is there. The question is, which way to go? There are a number of ways to address the issue of establishing the boundaries of the baptistic world. Different scholars and writers (both historians and theologians) offer diverse standards to identify a baptistic church. Different terminology is used in the field, such as Baptist identity, Baptist way of doing church, Baptist vision, Baptist beliefs, Baptist traditions, Gathering church, and others. Further in this section the use of the terminology by various authors will be introduced. However, in most cases, this would be a list of hallmarks, either shared with other Christians or unique to Baptists alone. | will proceed by offering two examples, which may provide an illustration of how the question of Baptist identity can be approached. Whilst noting the importance and usefulness of these approaches for the church, | will indicate their inability to answer the question that | have previously raised — which feature can serve as an “umbrella” for a wide range of churches that will allow them to be called baptistic. In other words what is baptistic identity, and therefore, how can baptistic unity in diversity, as well as their constant development and change can be explained (if at all). Keith G. Jones suggests to address the question of Baptist identity by pointing to the holistic view of the church’s beliefs and practices, which he called an Ortho-church. This approach places an emphasis on (1) orthodoxy, having the right beliefs; (2) orthopraxis, putting those beliefs into practice; (3) orthohexis, having the right attitude to others; and (4) orthopyre, having the right fire inside — the Holy Spirit. This way of approaching the issue of Baptist identity can be very useful, first of all, in its ability to ° In this discussion on the subject of baptistic identity, it is necessary to mention Statements on Identity produced by various international bodies, such as the Baptist World Alliance (“Statement on Identity” accepted at the Centenary Congress that took place in Birmingham, United Kingdom, in 2005), which was a