This thesis illustrates how a congregation can become more fully a community of theological reflection and can experience more deeply its communal identity when people become conversation partners with each other and the preacher. The thesis emerges from a project responding to the expressed desire of the people of a small United Church of Canada congregation to experience the Bible as relevant for their lives and to foster deeper connections as a congregation. Having first worked with the congregation on projects that encourage people to (I) hear the biblical text in enlivening ways and (2) interact in lively ways during worship, the preacher then (3) invites people to participate in a circle of conversation. The four conversational moments in that circle allow, each in their turn, for: individual engagement with the text; gathering up what the people see and hear and believe in that encounter with the text; lifting up that testimony in the preaching moment; and offering the sermon's proposals back to the people for further conversation. The thesis reflects on the project in light of the elements of a conversational homiletic as described by John McClure, Lucy Rose, Scott Alexander, and O. Wesley Allen; the practical implications for preaching; and shared findings from the conversational partners.
