Preaching and Tolerance Amongst Religion: An Analyses From Homiletic Perspective

Abstract

This paper analyses the type, structure and content of preacher’s sermons on Sunday  service of  Christian’s churches, and congregation’s perception upon sermons related to the improvement of tolerance amongst religion believers in Palangka Raya. A triangulation of qualitative and quantitative data, collected through  a range of interviews, observation, sermon recorded, and questionnaire provided  evidences  that most of sermons’ structure belongs to homiletic-deductive model and the type of sermon was dominated by expository, complemented by appropriate illustrations, while the contents consist of   messages which  aimed to strengthen the fear of God’s based on Christian doctrine, to restore moral health, and to practice those moral values, —genuine love—for  enhancing social welfare and tolerance amongst religions  believers. Congregations perceived that preachers have mastered sermons’ content very well, which supported by a well preparation of sermons,  while  preaching effectiveness was affected by preachers’ holiness behaviors. By attending Sunday service  regularly, congregations believed that there was an enrichment on their knowledge, the feeling of tranquility and readiness  to practice those knowledge and moral values in social life  characterized, among others,  by tolerance attitude amongst religion believers. It is recommended that preaching model could be innovated from deductive into inductive  model in which the contents could be more enriched by messages which aimed to strengthen genuine tolerance amongst religion believers.