SERIAL
11
I HAD COME TO REALISE
THAT GOD HAD GIVEN ME
A GIFT TO SPEAK HIS WORD
AND I THEREFORE WANTED
TO MAKE THE MOST OF
THAT GIFT.
Phil Hutchinson
Phil Hutchinson
was chosen as the winner of his
category. Phil is currently studying for
A levels alongside his role as Junior
Mayor of Derby. He grew up in China
and Hong Kong, returning to the UK
with his family when he was ten. The
judges praised his weighty content, his
evident passion and conviction about
his message, and his steady, confident
delivery. Reflecting on his experience
of the competition, he writes
‘I entered the competition after the
encouragement of my youth worker.
Due to the opportunities that he and
others had started to give me, I had
come to realise that God had given me
a gift to speak his word and I therefore
wanted to make the most of that gift.
The title of the competition, “Reasons
for Hope”, gave me the opportunity to
speak on my favourite passage, Isaiah
61, and to talk about the hope of a new
life that Jesus has presented to our
world. It is a message that the church
still often forgets, and so in entering
the competition I hoped in part to
share that message more widely.
‘I did not expect to win the
competition, but I hope the fact that
I have encourages others in this
generation to share the things that
God has placed on their heart more
widely. We need a new generation
to rise who can authentically share
the Word of God. It is therefore
important that the Sermon of the
Year competition has begun as a
way to encourage our nation’s future
preachers.’
Natalie Collins
won the 21 and over category.
Natalie is a gender justice
specialist who runs Spark, a
consultancy to enable individuals
and organisations to prevent and
respond to male violence against
women. A survivor of extreme
domestic abuse herself, she is
director of the DAY Programme, a
youth domestic abuse education
programme. She is also a founding
member of the Christian Feminist
Network collective. The judges were
impressed by her wordsmithing and
felt she made a profound impact
through the way she wove her
personal story in with the text she
was speaking on. She writes,
‘I have been deeply convicted
that many women are called and
gifted to preach and so I entered
the Sermon of the Year to ensure
that women were represented in
the competition. Women are often
conditioned not to put themselves
forward and women and girls will
struggle to be what they can’t see.
Being part of the Sermon of the Year
has been a wonderful opportunity
to communicate the truth of Jesus’
love and liberation for all people.
I love preaching and believe it
is an integral part of equipping
Christians to live out the way of
Christ. I’m thrilled to have won the
Over 21s category and am excited to
take full advantage of the year’s free
study at the excellent London School
of Theology.’
I LOVE PREACHING AND
BELIEVE IT IS AN INTEGRAL
PART OF EQUIPPING
CHRISTIANS TO LIVE OUT
THE WAY OF CHRIST.
Natalie Collins
T he t o p 1 0 s er m o ns o f ‘Sermo n o f the Ye ar 2 016’
“Paul tells Timothy to be prepared in season
and out of season to fearlessly preach the
Word of God. My prayer is that this short
volume will inspire the next generat