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

Russia. However, very often these attempts were downplayed by pastors in local churches. Such promotion of education was seen as a threat to their position (since good preaching was always perceived a result of the work of the Holy Spirit, the need to change anything/continue learning for a pastor, implied that he was not close enough to God). As a result, people that were not needed or wanted in churches were sent to preaching schools and seminaries. Their preaching, when they returned, was neither accepted nor approved by pastors, nor by congregations (in most cases the pastor’s opinion was the main criteria for such acceptance), causing conflicts and frustration, both in local churches and educational institutions. However, apart from the seemingly reactionary stance taken by the local churches, the approach to teaching preaching (and other theological disciplines), employed by the University, has also contributed to the Church vs. University divide. Lacking clear understanding (or, perhaps, neglecting it) of the views on character formation and preparation for ministry, dominant in churches, theological schools attempted to teach preaching by developing students’ hermeneutical and rhetorical skills. | have argued that to bridge the seemingly inevitable conflict between the Church and the University, it is necessary to begin ministerial training with a course on Baptist identity, which would enable students to have better understanding of the ecclesial tradition they are coming from or hoping to serve. This brings me to the 238 second important element of theological education - the need to understand the theological task as discovery, interpretation, and potential correction of the convictions of convictional community. Such understanding, first of all, highlights the self-involving character of theological enquiry. It also underlines the important role of the church, as a community of reference, thus leading students to a greater appreciation of the existing convictions and practices of the Church, and therefore, enables them to see the continuity between their studies and the ministries of local communities of faith. 239 CONCLUSION | have belonged to a Baptist church since my early years. Both of my parents were baptised in their youth and have always been actively involved in the various ministries of a local church in the city of Voronezh and, later, in missionary work in the Voronezh, Tambov, and Lipetsk areas in Russia. Hence, it is not surprising that the church features prominently in a lot of my childhood memories. | have to say, however, that preaching has never ranked highly among these memories. On the contrary, sermons were something | would rather have avoided. Nonetheless, just like every ordinary Russian Baptist, | ended up listening to (or, at least being present at the delivery of) a great deal of preaching: three or four sermons in every service (four services per