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

2 Preaching in educational space Church and University in paradox The leadership of the Russian Baptist Union made various attempts to solve some of the problems of local churches that | have mentioned earlier in this work. First of all, they tried to achieve it by offering educational opportunities to pastors and preachers of local churches, when the change of political landscape (Perestroika, and the subsequent fall of the Communistic State) made it possible. The contemporary period in the history of theological education in Russia begins in 1989 with the opening of Odessa Theological Seminary. Following the collapse of the USSR, a number of Seminaries, Christian Institutes, Colleges and Bible Schools were opened in Russia, 224 Ukraine and other former Soviet republics. Mark Elliot notices that in 1990-1992, over 40 various educational programmes appeared in the countries that previously were part of the USSR. He points out that nowhere in history did protestant churches have so many programmes for full-time theological and ministerial training, as they did in post-Soviet countries. ’® The vast majority of these institutions were founded, funded, and operated by Christians from the USA.*® Schools varied from large institutions (within the post-communist context) such as the MTSECB with their own campus, library facilities and extended faculty to small one-man organised and taught “seminaries,” sometimes run at premises of local churches. Konstantin Tetereviatnikov noted, The essence of the appropriated paradigm was as follows: the evangelical believer, who wanted to become an effective and qualified minister, was supposed to receive appropriate theological training with emphasis on biblical studies, hermeneutics, languages, systematic theology and applied disciplines, such as homiletics, pastoral ministry, evangelism, discipleship, etc.7° At first theological schools enjoyed great numbers of students, but most of their graduates did not find places in church ministries.~* Similarly, churches did not express 8 M. Elliot, “Bogoslovskoie Obrazovaniie v Postkommunisticheskii Period: Polozhitelniie i Otritsatelniie storony Zapadnoi Pomoschi” [“Theological Education in Post-Communistic Period: Positive and Negative Sides of Western Help”], in Put Bogopoznaniia, Vol. 1 (Moscow, MTSECB, 1996), pp 18-19. 19 E.g. Astory of the beginning of MTSECB and the role of US Christians in its formation can be found in A. P. Kosinko, “Stanovleniie Bogoslovskogo Obrazovaniia kak Osushchestvleniie Dukhovnikh Chaianii Evangelskogo Bratstva” [“Formation of Theological Education as Fulfillment of Dreams of Evangelical Brotherhood”), in Put Bogopoznaniia, Vol. 1 (Moscow, MTSECB, 1996), pp 9-13. ?° Konstantin Tetereviatnikov, “Perspectivi Vospitaniia Sluzhitelei: Proshloie, Nastoiashcheie i Budushcheie” [“The Prospects of Forming Ministers: Past, Present, and Future”], in Traditsiia Podgotovki Sluzhitelei V Br