Contours of Postcolonial Preaching
An online Con Ed Event by Underground Institute
June 5-6, 2020 | 9am-4pm Friday and 9am-4pm Saturday
Church of All Nations, Minneapolis, MN
Description: How do we preach boldly in a time of massive change? The powers that be are not just increasing inequality and oppression, but are actively destroying the planet earth, risking the sustainability of human life itself. Young people are deserting the church, and the multicultural movement has stalled with explicit racism on the rise. We will explore the role of prophetic preaching in these perilous times in this two-day event via Zoom.
About the instructor: Jin has been preaching weekly for 30 years continuously. He is founding pastor of Church of All Nations, founder of Underground Seminary, founder & Co-CEO of K-Mama Sauce LLC, and leader of seven church-based community houses. He went to Princeton Seminary and has a DMin from Columbia Seminary in New Church Development.
Some topics we will cover:
The preacher:
One must read well and integrally the Word, the world, the people, and where the Spirit is blowing.
The more we are caught up in the natural flow of the Holy Spirit/chi, the less effort and more impact in our preaching.
The preacher has something urgent to say for our times. It is a word from the Lord “like a burning fire shut up in my bones” that cannot be held in.
Preaching with conviction is possible when the preacher can occupy multiple planes of consciousness at once, bringing one plane to the fore and letting others recede as contextually appropriate.
A differentiated preacher does not try to meet the felt needs of the people. The preacher alternately comforts and confronts faithfully, passionately and compassionately.
The preacher stands emotionally naked, so might as well go with it and be honest.
The preacher embodies a nonanxious presence so that the focus is on God and on the needs of God’s people. A nonanxious presence is not the absence of tension, but the skillful navigation of it.
Effective preaching means that the preacher is willing to preach her- or himself out of a job, and sometimes do so at the risk of life itself.
The sermon:
The sermon is its own unique art form. When the preacher is one with God and creation by the Holy Spirit/chi, the sermon becomes the word of God.
The sermon is God’s word for us today, thus preached with contextual urgency.
The sermonic moment is a sacrament in its own right. Preaching articulates the sacred story of who we are, and helps to define the meaning and purpose of Christian community and its relation to the world.
The sermonic moment is an active conspiracy between the preacher and the sacred text to unsettle the people.
All theology and interpretation are provisionally true, at best.
All preaching is testimony, and all testimony is preaching, when done faithfully.
Postcolonial proclamation does not start with doctrine, dogma or ideology as foundation, but with the kind of imagination that Jesus had to see a world beyond the one that the Roman Empire created. Such preaching enacts village renewal as the prophets of old, contra the deadly forces of Pax Americana.
Cost of Attending
Sliding scale rates based on what you can afford in good conscience:
Regular Rate: $200 to $400
Student Rate & Financial Need: $50 to $175
