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

‘Watch, how you are listening,’ — said Jesus in Luke 8:18. Through preaching God performs His gospel seeding. Be watchful, open the ears of your heart, hear and reflect. Be like Mary at Jesus’ feet, place in your heart the seeds of eternal life. Do not sleep or doze, so that the evil one would not steal the seed planted in your heart (Matthew 13:19). Do not let your heart become a transit road for various unclean or vain thoughts. Find pearls in what was said, wonderful truths, draw lessons not only for others, but also for your personal life. Do not set your heart for criticism or judgment. Reject everything which stands in the way of your reverent fellowship with Jesus, open your heart to Him, to receive new purification “3 E. Masin in “Presviter Dolzhen Bit Osviashchen Gospodom” [“Presbyter Must Be Sanctified by God” ], Bratskii Vestnik, Vol.2 (1959), pp 58-59. “* Growing up in a Baptist church in Voronezh, | still have a vivid memory of a conversation | once had with my father. At the end of a very boring sermon, which as a teenager | found ee extremely difficult to sit through, the preacher left the pulpit with final “edification” for the listeners. He said, ‘If you do not find the sermon useful or helpful for your spiritual development, you need to pray more, asking God to open your spiritual eyes.’ The comment | made to my father was about similarities of these words to the famous fairy-tale By Hans C. Andersen, Emperor’s New Clothes, where shrewd swindlers made the emperor walk naked, convincing him and his court that everyone who could not see the ‘beautiful dress’ was stupid and incompetent. 103 and _ sanctification, new joy and edification, new blessing for the continuation of your jou rney.”” An extensive article by Sergei P. Fadyukhin’s,“° “Sovety Propovednikam” [Recommendations to Preachers], can be seen as a sum total of the previous published materials. *” It is divided into three separate parts, each covering an important area of preaching ministry. Like most other preaching publications, it opens with the person of a preacher. The author states that the preacher’s integrity and personal experience are paramount for preaching ministry. ‘The preacher is first of all a witness for Jesus Christ, which is why everything he says to his listeners must be known to him through personal experience... We, preachers, have no moral right to speak about something we haven’t lived through.’ The person cannot be a preacher unless he had ‘personal spiritual meeting with Christ’ and Christ’s personality is reflected in his life.”® The preacher’s good knowledge of the Bible is included in the list of important qualities. His growth in knowledge and understanding of the Bible first of all happens through reading and reflecting on the Scripture, and then presenting one’s thoughts to ‘senior, more experienced brothers.’ Other steps to deeper understanding of biblical texts include