In this thesis, Narrative Sermon: Storytelling as a Method to Reach Contemporary Listeners, for the degree Doctor of Ministry in Preaching, I have tried to demonstrate how a narrative sermon can be effective in reaching the heterogeneous assemblies of contemporary listeners. I have proceeded from the notion that the world is in a state of constant change. Together with David J. Lose I have thus identified three significant trends in contemporary society— postmodernism, secularization, and pluralism. The research question I have endeavoured to answer is: How can we use the form and method of narrative to reach contemporary listeners?
I have addressed the research question in several stages. I first analysed storytelling as well as the three trends of change in contemporary society. I then gave three narrative sermons in the church of St. Peter in Malmo. Each sermon was followed by discussions with a select group of listeners (a ‘parish project group’), which deliberated about their thoughts and experiences of the sermon.
Some of the conclusions I have drawn are summarized here. First, storytelling is effective in terms of attracting and maintaining the attention of listeners, who also more easily remember what they have heard and experienced. Second, storytelling is especially powerful when it remains close to the Biblical narrative. Such storytelling communicates well to both listeners who look for factual knowledge and those who rather want tools to interpret and understand their lives. Third, ‘the zipper’ is a method I have discovered and used to juxtapose the Biblical text and contemporary society in a manner that unites and integrates the sermon, rather than subdivide it into several parts. With the help of ‘the zipper,’ I have been able to make the sermon into a single, cohesive narrative, which deals with then (the world of the Biblical text) and now (contemporary society) at the same time. Fourth, my listeners were not as thoroughly postmodern as I had first imagined. They all, to a degree, combined modern and postmodern perspectives. Fifth, the use of storytelling in a sermon enlivens the Biblical treasury of narratives in the mind of listeners and helps them to form a Biblical imagination, with the help of which they can relate themselves to the grand scheme of things.
