Abstract

From the very beginning every prophet/preacher of God was endowed with a particular style of prophecy preaching, which was distinguished by the uniqueness of the individual's personality, mental gifts, education and culture. Therefore, the prophet/preacher's effectiveness in delivering God's message was dependent on how well these gifts were cultivated and how well they understood the "perceived needs" of the people. ;Thus, it is incumbent upon the preacher in this present age, to explore styles of preaching such as the Prophetic, Philosophical, Theological Storytelling/Narrative and Chanted. In some situations the preacher may be able to incorporate one or more of these styles in his/her preaching repertoire. ;Preachers may not always discern the "perceived needs" of the people. Therefore, it is necessary to form groups in the church to allow the parishioners to become a part of the preaching process and to discern their "perceived needs" for each style of preaching. ;The success of this project was due in part to The Sermonic Discussion Group who provided for the sermons, displayed sincerity and honesty in stating their "perceived needs" and provided constructive criticism. ;Also, the success of this project was due to the Pastor's Training Group who assisted the writer in focusing on the elements of the sermon through constructive criticism. ;The evaluation of the questionnaires revealed that both groups felt that the sermons were very good. They strongly agreed or agreed positively on all of the items except item improving my style of preaching and item the sermon was too fast. ;The results of the "Perceived Needs Chart" were as follows: For the Prophetic Style Sermon, twenty-one "perceived needs" were stated, seven were not met. For the Philosophical Style Sermon, twenty "perceived needs" were stated, seven were not met. For the Theological Style Sermon, twenty-three "perceived needs" were stated, nine were not met. For the Storytelling/Narrative Style Sermon, eighteen "perceived needs" were stated, eight were not met. For the Chanted Style Sermon, twenty "perceived needs" were stated, ten were not met. ;The writer has discovered that his preaching will be a combination of all of the styles used in this project