Courses

Instructor: Jonathan Micheel

Description:
Preachers are very attentive to the content of sermons, and rightly so. But the form or structure of a sermon often just happens. Preachers order their thoughts and words intuitively, arranging things in a way that seems to make sense to them and, they hope, to their hearers. While an intuitive approach can work, preachers can grow in their craft by attending to the underlying structure of their sermons. By learning about ways that ideas and words progress through a sermon, they can discover what makes various sermon structures tick and utilize the strengths of each structure in their preaching.

This course will introduce participants to sermon structures and forms within several categories. Narrative forms let the biblical narrative give shape to the sermon to harness the power of story, and related structures like Lowry’s Loop and the Four Pages of the Sermon utilize narrative dynamics. A variety of thematic structures (beyond only “theme and parts”) continue to be valuable for clear presentation of the Word. As participants examine imagistic structures, they will learn how to tap into the power of images in a way that strengthens the proclamation of the Word rather than distracting from it. The concepts of inductive and deductive movement will appear as the class discusses each of these sermonic forms.

In summer 2024 this course will run June 24-28 from 7:15-9:55 am.

To access a pdf with a listing of all the summer quarter 2024 classes and their schedules, click the following link. Summer Quarter 2024 Schedule Course activities will include background reading, discussing content presented in class, and analyzing sermons. The main project will involve writing and preaching sermons that utilize the structures learned in the course.

Area of Study: Preaching & Worship
Tuition: $400
Course Number: WR5009
Course Credits: 1.0