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Exploring a Model for Equipping Colombian Pastors and Lay Leaders

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Exploring a Model for Equipping Colombian Pastors and Lay Leaders ABSTRACT EXPLORING A MODEL FOR EQUIPPING COLOMBIAN PASTORS AND LAY LEADERS IN THE SKILL OF NARRATIVE PREACHING by Juan Carlos Mejía The purpose of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of a training experience consisting of a workshop, a follow-up meeting, and a focus group for fifteen pastors and lay leaders of three churches at the Christian Fellowship Church in Bogotá, Colombia. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the workshop in terms of the knowledge, attitude, and practice of participants’ narrative preaching, the project for this study used an Explanatory Mixed-method design. It used both qualitative and quantitative approaches where participants completed questionnaires before the workshop. Subsequently, with the help of a focus group, I tracked the knowledge and practice of narrative preaching for two weeks after preparing one sermon and again, two weeks later with the questionnaire and a focus group after preaching one narrative sermon. The main results of this research were that (1) these pastors and lay leaders defined narrative sermons as a way of preaching where a story is told based on biblical text; (2) most of the participants had never received formal training in narrative preaching before the research and did not think they were sufficiently prepared to preach in this way; (3) the participants expressed that the reasoning behind narrative preaching was to better keep the audience’s attention and to improve communication with the congregation; most of the participants believed that narrative sermons are very well received; (4) most of the obstacles to preaching narrative sermons were found in acquiring enough practice in creating and constructing them; and, (5) without exception, all of the participants want to include narrative sermons in their future preaching ministry. This is to certify that the dissertation entitled EXPLORING A MODEL FOR EQUIPPING COLOMBIAN PASTORS AND LAY LEADERS IN THE SKILL OF NARRATIVE PREACHING presented by Juan Carlos Mejía has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for the DOCTOR OF MINISTRY degree at Asbury Theological Seminary Mentor Date Internal Reader Date Representative, Doctor of Ministry Program Date Dean of the Beeson Center Date EXPLORING A MODEL FOR EQUIPPING COLOMBIAN PASTORS AND LAY LEADERS IN THE SKILL OF NARRATIVE PREACHING A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of Asbury Theological Seminary In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Ministry by Juan Carlos Mejía May 2015 © 2015 Juan Carlos Mejía ALL RIGHTS RESERVED TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... xi CHAPTER 1 PROBLEM ....................................................................................................1 Introduction ..............................................................................................................1 Purpose .....................................................................................................................2 Research Questions ..................................................................................................2 Research Question #1 ..................................................................................2 Research Question #2 ..................................................................................2 Research Question #3 ..................................................................................3 Research Question #4 ..................................................................................3 Research Question #5 ..................................................................................3 Definition of Terms..................................................................................................3 Narrative Preaching Knowledge ..................................................................3 Narrative Preaching Practice ........................................................................3 Pastor and Lay Leaders3 Ministry Intervention ...............................................................................................4 Context .....................................................................................................................4 Methodology ............................................................................................................6 Participants ...................................................................................................6 Instrumentation ............................................................................................6 iii Variables ......................................................................................................6 Data Collection ............................................................................................7 Data Analysis ...............................................................................................7 Generalizability ............................................................................................7 Theological Foundation ...........................................................................................8 Overview ................................................................................................................11 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE .............................................................................................12 Introduction ............................................................................................................12 Theological Framework .........................................................................................12 The Pentateuch Retelling12 The Prophets Retell the Story ....................................................................17 The Story in Mark’s Gospel .......................................................................22 Luke’s Report.............................................................................................25 The Central Character of the Story—God .................................................29 The Narrative Sermon ............................................................................................35 A Definition of the Narrative Sermon .......................................................35 The Value of the Narrative Sermon ...........................................................37 Narrative Sermon Cautions ........................................................................42 Types of Narrative Sermons ......................................................................45 Steps from Text to Narrative Sermon ....................................................................53 Step 1—Determining the Biblical Pericope ...............................................53 Step 2—Developing a Passage Outline .....................................................56 Step 3—Developing a Theological Outline ...............................................59 iv Step 4—Checking the Work ......................................................................61 Step 5—Writing the Sermon in One Sentence ..........................................62 Step 6—Determining the Homiletical Outline ..........................................62 Step 7—Developing the Outline into a Full Manuscript ...........................64 Step 8—Developing the Introduction and Conclusion ..............................66 Step 9—Writing a Draft from Start to Finish ............................................67 Step 10—Becoming Familiar with the Sermon and then Preaching without Notes ..............................................................................................69 Research Design.....................................................................................................70 Summary ................................................................................................................71 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................73 Problem and Purpose .............................................................................................73 Research Questions ................................................................................................74 Research Question #1 ................................................................................75 Research Question #2 ................................................................................75 Research Question #3 ................................................................................75 Research Question #4 ................................................................................75 Research Question #5 ................................................................................75 Participants .............................................................................................................76 Design of the Study ................................................................................................76 Instrumentation ..........................................................................................77 Variables ....................................................................................................77 Reliability and Validity ..............................................................................77
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