Reaching the Postmodern Audience: A Critique of Preaching in the Churches of Christ in the Northwest

Preachers in the Churches of Christ in the Northwest lack basic knowledge and skills in effectively communicating with the postmodern people who attend their Sunday morning worship services. The postmodern era has perhaps been around only for the last thirty years. There have been several books written on the subject, yet only one book was found by a Church of Christ writer. It is apparent that Churches of Christ lag behind in scholarship in this area.

This dissertation collected facts concerning the end of the modern age and the beginning of the postmodern age. These were put into a format whereby readers can gain a basic understand of the changing eras.

The project associated with this dissertation gathered audio taped sermons from Church of Christ preachers throughout the Northwest. The sermons were analyzed and compared to a list of criteria developed from the basic study of postmodernism. A later, follow-up survey was sent to gather information on how much reading and education the preachers had in this area.

Only five of the forty-one sermons submitted scored better than fifty percent on the evaluations. And, only two of the sermons submitted were considered good, postmodern sermons. In the follow-up survey, it was found that preachers have done some reading and studying in this area, but that Churches had failed in designing worship services and Bible classes to reach the postmodern audience.
Upon completion of this study, a general picture of the current conditions of preaching in the Churches of Christ in the Northwest is available. The limitations of the study were discussed. And several suggestions for further studies were offered.