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

rough their advice, challenging questions, recommendations, and through their encouragement and inspiration. First of all, | would like to say ‘thank you’ to the community of International Baptist Theological Seminary, Prague (IBTS). Every research colloquium was a massive inspiration for me. | am very grateful to all the tutors and students for their input into my project. However, | have to add that being part of IBTS residential community in Prague has deeply affected the way | understood both academic work and Christian ministry, and | feel privileged to have had this experience. | would like to express special gratitude to my supervisory team, David Brown, Keith Jones and Parush Parushev. These people have introduced me to theological studies and academic research. They have encouraged me to take on this project. This work would have never been completed without their priceless advice, guidance in my research, and encouragement. | greatly appreciate the support of Bury Baptist Church, our church family over the past four years, who allowed me to have ample time to finish this thesis. And | particularly want to thank Fiona McEwan for her careful proof-reading of my writings. | am thankful to my parents, for their assistance and encouragement, and to my sons, Alexey and Daniel, who have patiently waited for their father to ‘finish his book without pictures.’ And last, but not least, | want to express my deepest gratitude to my wife, Yulia. Her encouragement, inspiration, and patience are impossible to overestimate. vii Abbreviations ARUEC — All-Russia Union of Evangelical Christians AUCECB / VSEKHB — the All-Union Council of Evangelical Christians — Baptists (in Russian — Vsesoyuznii Sovet Evangelskikh Khristian — Baptistov) BCC — Bible Correspondence Courses BV — Bratskii Vestnik [“The Herald of the Brotherhood” ] BWA — Baptist World Alliance CCECB — Council of Churches of EvangelicalChristians-Baptists CECB — The Congress of Evangelical Christians - Baptists EBF — European Baptist Federation ECB — Evangelical Christians — Baptists GULAG - Glavnoie Upravleniie Lagerei [Main Camp Administration] IBTS — International Baptist Theological Seminary, Prague MTSECB - Moscow Theological Seminary of Evangelical Christians — Baptists NEP — New Economic Policy RCCEF — Russian Church of Christians of Evangelical Faith RSFSR — Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic RUECB — the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists TCMII — Training Christians for Ministry (TCM) International Institute (USA, Austria) USSR — the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics viii Translation Whenever Russian sources are quoted, all the translation work from Russian into English is done by me, unless specified otherwise. The English language quotations of the Bible come from the New International Version. Russian Synodal version is used for all biblical quotations which are translated fr