Are You Serious? How Research with Children and Youth Challenges Homiletics

This article captures a panel discussion at Societas Homiletica’s conference in Groningen in June 2024, in which we ask, are we really willing to listen to young people? As the church and the academy adapt to shifts in society, it has become apparent that practitioners, teachers, and researchers of preaching need to pay attention to marginalized persons and communities. Children and youth, however, remain sidelined in academic homiletical research and the practice of preaching. Each of the four authors, who hail from different contexts (Norway, Sweden, USA, and Canada), contributes to this article by drawing from their respective research into preaching and worship that foreground the experiences, perspectives, and needs of young people. We conclude by identifying themes emerging from our conversation and challenges our research poses to homileticians and preachers.