One question, four answers

Katrina Clifford
‘Each sermon is part of the path’

As someone who has recently been commissioned as a lay preacher, I wish I could say that I remember countless (or any!) truly impactful sermons. However, that isn’t the case….

Katrina Clifford is a Southern Synod Lay Preacher and was a finalist in the Preach Magazine Sermon of the Year competition in 2021

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Geoff Felton
‘It transformed my life for ever’

Transformation or information? When I think about preaching I often ask myself the question: ‘What’s the point?’ Is it about seeing lives transformed or is it the passing on of information? Many of the sermons I’ve heard over the years have been about the communication of facts, with a strong teaching element to them….

Geoff Felton is Moderator of the United Reformed Church’s Mersey Synod

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Tessa Henry-Robinson
‘God asks Adam: “Where are you?”’

On 1 March 2020, Kelly Brown Douglas, the womanist theologian, author and Canon Theologian of the National Cathedral, Washington DC, used the opportunity of the end of Black History month, the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and the first Sunday of Lent to preach a brilliant sermon/story of spiritual actualisation, life creation and awakening….

Tessa Henry-Robinson is a minister and womanist theologian

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Cara Heafy
‘She was casually dressed and heavily tattooed’

The best sermon I ever heard was from a preacher who seemed refreshingly different from any preacher I’d encountered before. When I reflect on what was good about her sermon, I realise that what impacted me was both the message and the messenger…

Cara Heafy is a URC minister in Oxford and a hospital chaplain

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This is an extract from an article published in the April 2022 edition of Reform

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