Abstract:
Pentecostal preaching and Christology: an empirical study is a qualitative study
conducted in the Western Reef Region of the Assemblies of God (Back to God)
church. The study seeks to answer the question: How is Christology as a doctrinal
element manifested and treated in contemporary preaching of Pentecostal churches
in the Western Reef Region?
The rationale behind this study is that while there has been wide research about
preaching in various settings and times, not much has been written about preaching
and Christology in the Pentecostal churches of the AOG (BTG), especially in the
Western Reef Region.
The theoretical framework of the study is Richard Osmer’s four core tasks of Practical
Theological Interpretation, namely, the Descriptive task, the interpretive task, the
normative task and the Pragmatic task. Chapters 2, 3 and 4 entail a literature study
and they discuss Pentecostalism, preaching and Christology respectively, while
Chapter 5 is empirical work.
Data collection was done through ten sermons, and qualitative semi-structured
interviews with five of the preachers whose sermons were analysed. Data was
presented in narrative form and the ‘emic’ view of the participants. Data analysis was
done through Atlas.ti computer software. Presentation, analysis and interpretation of
data from the semi-structured interviews followed the thematic structure of the focus
group interview schedule.
The study revealed that the participants understood what Pentecostalism is. They also
knew what preaching entails, its fundamental components, as well as the differences
between Pentecostal preaching and preaching in other church traditions. Furthermore,
the study revealed that while interviewees had a fair understanding of Christology,
they felt that it was not sufficiently expressed in the churches of the Western Reef
Region. Interviewees also felt that preaching in the Western Reef Region was not at
a satisfactory level, mainly due to the lack of theological training for pastors.
Participants indicated that the pragmatic way forward for the improvement of
preaching in the region should be pre-ministerial theological training, which has to be taken as a matter of urgency. Furthermore, interviewees suggested that there should
be ongoing workshops for practicing ministers.
