10
SERIAL
The inaugural Sermon of the Year competition
has been a resounding success. A collaboration
between London School of Theology and Preach,
the competition was designed to shine a spotlight
on the art of preaching – what are the qualities of
an excellent sermon? How can a preacher bring the
biblical text alive in today’s world? How can creativity
enhance the way we communicate the word of God?
A
s the survey we commissioned
with the Christian Resources
Exhibition in the run-up to the
finals showed, a resounding
majority still love listening to
sermons: a whopping 88 per cent of
those sitting in the pews on Sunday
disagree or strongly disagree that
the idea of a sermon being preached
in church each week is outdated.
Preaching is clearly alive and well,
but as most of us would agree, there
is always room for improvement.
We sought written submissions on the
subject ‘Reason for Hope’, and were
delighted by the overall standard of
the fifty or so entries. Four finalists
were selected – two from each age
category – based on a range of
criteria including exegetical skill,
clear structure and a compelling
application to contemporary issues.
The two under-21 finalists, Jess Makin
(aged 16) and Phil Hutchinson (aged
17) both had exams on the day of
the finals, so were filmed preaching
their sermons the week before.
Our preachers in the 21 and over
category, Siku and Natalie Collins,
preached live to a panel of judges and
an audience on the last day of the
Christian Resources Exhibition at the
ExCel centre in London.