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

of AUCECB, the only programme that Baptists received permission to have during the Soviet era (A. |. Mitskevich, Istoriia Evangelskikh Khristian- Baptistov [History of Evangelical Christians-Baptists] (Moscow, 2007), p 405. 3 & collection of Prokhanov’s lectures on homiletics, which later was published as a book Kratkoie Ucheniie o Propovedy: Opit Evangelskoy Gomiletiki [Short Teaching on Preaching: Experience of Evangelical Homiletics] (Korntal, Svet na Vostoke, 1969, accessed on 04.03.2014 from http://www.blagovestnik.org/books/00107.htm). 76 But God did not leave our people without His visitation. He is sending his spiritual bread to the people, which is God’s Word, which was hidden from the people for hundreds of years, and yet, which resulted in Russia’s Evangelical movement and which has given us new Gospel preaching.“ Prokhanov’s goal was to bring spiritual renewal and transformation to the whole of Russia (this caused a rift from the CECB, which did not perceive such intense involvement with the wider society as a biblically sound pursuit). He viewed preaching as one of the key tools in reaching that grand vision. Hence, he invested a lot of effort in organising the Bible school, various courses and seminars on biblical interpretation and homiletics.” His lectures tried to highlight the importance of studying the discipline of homiletics and applying its insights to the process of preparation and delivery of a sermon. At the same time, he did not discard prevailing highly spiritualized views on preaching, saying that ‘Desire to study preaching, turned into a science about preaching, resulted in a deadly formalism... Preaching in its highest meaning is the word of God transmitted through the lips of a man.’”° Prokhanov presents four types of preaching (depending on their purpose): (1) evangelism, sermons that call sinners to repentance; (2) edification or upbringing of Christians in their faith; (3) evangelism-edification, directed at calling sinners to repentance while providing education for believers; and finally, (4) interpretation, when the Scripture is being explained and made clear. He offers almost no further explanation on the types of preaching, compensating it by providing four sermons by Spurgeon, F. B. Meyer, and Prokhanov. He draws a sharp distinction between preaching, contemplation (beseda, literally ‘a talk’) and a lecture. * Prokhanov, Kratkoie Ucheniie o Propovedy, Introduction. This quote from Prokhanov’s book requires a clarifying remark. Obviously, being a passionate proponent of theological education and particularly homiletics, Prokhanov’s sharp critique of what seems to be ‘a pastor with theological training’ has to be seen in a context of the prevailing Orthodox ecclesial culture. Hence, when talking about ‘sermons, which speak of rituals’ and ‘full of polemics’, Prokhanov, first of all, aimed his critique at Orthodox preaching. It was assumed that Russia