Abstract:
This article reported on the second cycle (selective coding) of grounded theory research of
sermons on poverty in the South African context, with Matthew 25:31–46 as the sermon text.
The problem which the author was researching pertained to the question: How do congregations
in the Dutch Reformed Church (Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk) and the Uniting Reformed
Church handle the care for the poor in practice? A theoretical sample of congregations with
outreach projects to the poor and humble was drawn. After the analysis of the sermons was
conducted, the next question to be addressed was: What are the categories and properties of
the projects by congregations as the how of the care for the poor? New thinking on the issue
of preaching on poverty is necessary because homiletic literature in this field of preaching
does not address the how question. The author therefore described a theoretical framework
for the interpretation of the projects, as well as an anthropological view of the communication
occurring on an equal footing, with the givers in the projects functioning as social capital and
the receivers (the poor and humble) as the participants with their own responsibility and
freedom. The classification of the projects in categories showed that a wide variety of different
types of projects to the poor have emerged from the sermons.
