SERMON OF THE YEAR 2017
Left to right: Ann Calver, Natalie Collins, Carole Hodgkins, Jo Swinney and Calvin Samuel
The finals of Sermon of the Year 2017 were held on a balmy June evening
in the chapel at the London School of Theology. Four preachers took to the
podium for ten minutes each, speaking on the subject ‘God in the Dark.’ While
their styles and approaches were markedly different, each of them gave
talks that were moving, challenging and interesting. Several of those present
commented that they hadn’t expected to enjoy an evening of back to back
sermons as much as they did!
The panel, made up of LST Principal Calvin Samuel, last year’s winner Natalie
Collins, and Anne Calver, an LST allum, Baptist pastor and author, gave
thoughtful and detailed feedback after each sermon as well as concluding
comments as they announced the result.
The winner of the competition (pictured above) who was awarded a year of
free study at LST, was Carole Hodgkins, a retired secondary school teacher
preaching for the very first time. She spoke about the death of her daughter
who was a young mother at the time and how Jesus’ words to his disciples at
the Last Supper had comforted her. The panel were hugely impressed by both
her content and delivery.
Christopher Took was this year’s runner up, winning a 50% tuition fee
discount. His sermon was packed with cultural and literary references and
he preached with confidence and conviction.
If you would like to be updated with information about next year’s competition,
please visit www.preachweb.org/sermon-of-the-year
2 LWPT