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

portant that Baptist Churches in Russia (and particularly its pastors) have to learn, it has to be said that there are no perfect preaching styles, just like there are no perfect churches. In a similar way, various significant weaknesses can be found in any approach to ® This conclusion is based on my personal observation of multiple small group Bible studies, where | have participated growing up in a Baptist church in Voronezh (Russia), frequently working as an interpreter with a number of churches in Bryansk area (Russia), being involved with international church and working with students at IBTS, Prague (Czech Republic), leading a young adults Bible study group in a Baptist church in Edinburgh (UK), and currently serving as a pastor of a Baptist church in Bury, Greater Manchester (UK). ® For a critique of such traditional reading of biblical texts and churches’ unwillingness to accept new approaches to interpretation, see Victoria Antonenko, “Principles for Interpreting Jesus, Parables and the Way They are Understood by Evangelical Christians in Russia,” in Theological Reflections, Vol. 4, 2004. 208 preaching, whether traditional or modern. It might be helpful to refer to the work of Charles L. Campbell as an example. In his analysis and critique of narrative preaching (particularly works of Fred Craddock, Eugene Lowry and Charles Rice), Campbell points out various limitations of this popular contemporary approach. Recognising the positive impact that the narrative preaching approach made on contemporary American preaching, he also points to its serious short-comings. One of them is a heavy emphasis placed on the individual experience of listeners during the preaching event,°? which, as he argues is the driving force behind this approach to preaching.” This leads to individualistic perception and retelling of the story through listeners’ individual experiences,°° which therefore becomes the main source of people’s understanding and knowledge of God. The danger and limitations of such approach are first of all in a shift from the focus of preaching, as ‘human experience becomes the focus of the sermon, rather than God in Jesus Christ, whose identity is rendered in the biblical narrative.’°° Campbell argues that in its pursuit of ‘relevance’ for the listeners, preaching misses numerous important parts of the Christian story, which is omitted, if ‘it cannot be evoked from experience.’ Thus, Christianity is ‘relegated to the private realm. The gospel becomes divorced from serious, radical, public claims and from a concrete, public community of faith.’°” However, Campbell falls into a similar trap. Although he recognises the limitations of preaching for shaping people, and indicates that there is a danger of corrupt practices of the community of faith to have the power to corrupt the practice of rhetoric, he still sees preaching as the main solution, the main instrument of resisting the fal