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

ist churches (Mykhailo Cherenkov, “Nash Baptism: Istoriia | Sovremennost” [“Our Baptism: History and Modern Era”], accessed on 12.12.2009, from http://cherenkoff.blogspot.com/2009/11/blog-post.html). 2° G. A. Sergienko’s article on effective preaching serves as an excellent example of the split between the “old paradigm” of preaching, that places a preacher’s spirituality as a foundation for the successful proclamation of God’s Word, which was cultivated over a period of several decades, and is present in every publication on preaching in the BV, and the “new approach,” when effective preaching is, first of all, rooted in the knowledge of rhetoric, with questions of spirituality being side-lined for the sake of “professional” approach to hermeneutics, stylistic and lack of exegetical mistakes (G. A. Sergienko, “Put k Effektivnomu Propovedovaniyu” [“The way to effective preaching”], in Put Bogopoznaniia, Vol. 7 (Moscow, , 2001), pp 5-21). 227 Our church, our whole brotherhood needs more educated and professional theologians. We have already understood that for ministry in our churches we need more educated ministers. Now we are beginning to think what kind of education we need... We need good, sound, classical theological education. Nobody will contest the fact that a Christian minister is not capable of performing the ministry of the Word, if he does not possess deep knowledge of what the Bible says about God... This knowledge consists of several aspects of theology, such as teaching about God, about Christ — Christology, about humans — biblical anthropology, about Church — ecclesiology. These and other aspects of theology, as well as biblical languages — are important components of education of a serious minister, a good builder of the body of Christ. To be a Christian minister and have no aspirations to develop your thinking and search for answers to everyday spiritual questions, to neglect theological education is almost the same, as when instead of good professional medical treatment people are offered charlatanry.”° The unfortunate reality of life for such educators, is that the majority of pastors still do not see a qualification in theology as a “must have” for a good minister. Nor do they like being compared to “charlatans.” This leads to the situation where theological education is seen as damaging to the true spirituality of potential ministers, since it “develops” pride and the spirit of criticism. Another similar stance towards education sees seminaries as a threat to existing leaders, since any suggestion that a pastor/preacher needs to continue learning implies the questioning of their standing with God, their spiritual maturity, which establishes the foundation of their authority, perceived as God’s special anointing. Thus, it is, first of all, the lack of understanding of what constitutes the identity of Baptist churches, that forces the leadership of Baptist communitie