Abstract
An Investigation into the Experience of Congregational Preaching at the Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) in Soweto, Diepkloof Assembly
Preaching is one of the main pastoral or congregational activities that takes place in all Christian congregations. The Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM), Diepkloof Assembly in Soweto has been selected as a study sample to investigate how church members experience their pastor’s preaching at church during worship services.
In this study an empirical research was conducted by employing a qualitative research methodology, in which explorative, descriptive and contextual approaches have been applied. Phenomenological interviews were conducted among ten members of the AFM Diepkloof Assembly. The theory of data saturation was applied while conducting the interviews. This theory means that the researcher keeps on collecting data (e.g. by means of interviews) to obtain new data until no new information comes up.
In this research, a literature study of the theoretical framework of preaching was undertaken to find out what the contemporary scholars think of congregational/pastoral preaching. There is a lack of African or black scholarship in this regard; most of the literature is from white scholars. Nevertheless, the researcher did establish a sound theoretical framework on congregational/pastoral preaching.
Fieldwork mainly consisted of data collection through in-person, tape recorded interviews. This was followed by data analysis, through categorisation and a thematic analysis to draw scientific categories from the collected data. The findings, after data analysis, indicated that congregants generally regard:
the Bible as central in preaching
preaching as something that gives answers or solutions to real life problems
the preacher to be important and he/she must be in agreement with his/her message
preaching as having some influence on them to change their lifestyles for the better
preaching as a necessary activity that covers as wide range of subjects about (Christian) life.
It was noted during this study that there are no empirical studies that have been undertaken on how church members in black township churches experience their pastors’ preaching. The literature control among white church members in suburban churches indicates that:
preaching must help to lead people to change (Swift,2005:18)
the person of the preacher plays a very crucial role in his/her preaching (Venter & Kim, 2004:147)
the teaching sermon should get more attention in our day (Pieterse, 2005:230)
the audience must be involved (be part of) in the preaching (Swift, 2005:230)
the preaching must be relevant to the lives of the audience (Swift, 2005:232).
The above results of the literature control confirm what was gathered from the research findings.
In conclusion, preaching still plays a very crucial role in the congregations, and that pastors and lay preachers need to continuously work on their preaching skills and methods to make it more effective and relevant to the contemporary church community and in society in general.
Dr. L.J. (Dennis) Erasmus
Dr. S.J. (Lilly) Nortjé-Meyer