Sermon Texts in Contexts: Why and How the Preaching of the Second-Generation African Caribbean Pentecostals Diverged from their Windrush Forebears

The exponential rise of Pentecostalism globally means that there is a need to re-consider how the gospel message is communicated through the act of preaching. While the context of white, western Protestantism has informed much homiletic training, the West is no longer the focal point of Christian faith. It is imperative, therefore, as Cleophus LaRue and Luiz Nascimento advocate, that homiletic scholars consider other distinctive forms of preaching in varied geographical spaces, reflecting the multiplicity of content, method, and practice, in contrast to the standard western homiletic tradition. For example, the lectionary, with its predetermined structured cycle of the liturgical year and associated scripture readings, is a popular approach in mainline denominations. Irrespective of sermon genre, the context of preaching is paramount for situating the content of the homily and critical to our understanding of the act of preaching itself. The aim of this paper is to analyze the ways in which the context and preaching of secondgeneration African Caribbean Pentecostals in Britain have diverged from their Windrush forebears, the first-generation Caribbean people who migrated to Britain during the post-World War II period. I will highlight the Windrush ministers among the migrants as well as the factors undergirding the development of the Pentecostal churches they established. I will consider the socio-economic challenges they faced and the societies from which they came as the context for the eschatological themes of their sermons, noting the connection between their approach to preaching and the African oral traditions. Though experiencing similar depressing conditions to their predecessors, the second generation had rather different responses as a consequence of heightened “black consciousness” and ensuing calls for their homilies to engage with social issues affecting their constituents. Significantly, this paper traces the preaching of the second generation as it moved away from the “end times” themes of their ancestors, incorporating instead experiences of everyday life. I argue that African Caribbean Pentecostalism has itself been shaped by context. The factors influencing the hermeneutics of the second generation have resulted in sermons that depart somewhat from the norms of their Windrush originators.