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An Examination of an Ongoing Process of Transition of an Older Generation Church to a Narrative Form of Preaching
Ford, Tim
Ford, Tim
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2017-06
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Abstract
Preaching remains central to the Evangelical Church tradition. This research
examined whether the style of preaching in one such church could usefully be
transitioned into another style which might be more widely helpful for congregants.
Analysis of this church’s archives suggested a preaching pattern that tended towards
a single style, often in ‘points’ and ‘sub-points’ irrespective of the literary genres of
the biblical text preached upon. The style primarily conveyed information to the
listeners and in varying degrees offered ‘application’ to their lives. The aim of the
research was to examine whether a focus on the narrative of the Bible, from individual
texts to the biblical meta-narrative, and setting this within the congregational life
narratives, would offer a better and more varied style of preaching. The proposed
preaching style emphasises engagement with the text rather than primarily offering
information about it.
Richard Osmer’s reflective cycle was adopted as the methodological framework for
this thesis. The research was conducted within the church community and was
largely a qualitative inquiry. Congregants reflected on past and present preaching,
and on a series of sermons preached in a narrative style. The congregational
research was then examined in the light of established homiletic literature. The main
findings were a positive response to the new style, and unexpectedly that there was
an interest in congregants being directly involved in sermons through interjections,
particularly in offering life illustrations that relate to what the preacher is saying. This
moves away from a preacher and hearer framework to that of the sermon being a
shared event. As a result of the research a preaching model called ‘threefold
narrativity’ is proposed in the thesis. This model allows for variations of the style of
individual sermons within the model, and a means by which a preacher may monitor
the balance of sermons is offered. Ways of implementing change in order to utilise
this model were then considered, and a final meta-reflection of the process is made.
Citation
Ford, T. (2017). An Examination of an Ongoing Process of Transition of an Older Generation Church to a Narrative Form of Preaching (Doctoral dissertation). University of Chester, United Kingdom.
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University of Chester
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Thesis or dissertation
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en