sustain:if:able kiwi

Recruiting research participants = buying journals

One of the best parts of researching spiritual practices is buying research journals for my participants.

Journals are one of several ways I am gaining feedback. A survey at start, middle and end offers insight into impact over time. A focus group middle and end allows participants share their experiences with each other. An individual journal, completed weekly, captures unique insights and individual experiences. Together this mix of quantitative and qualitative data illuminates how people experience spiritual practices (for more on this 12 month Cross-training research fellowship with University of Birmingham, go here).

It was a joy this week to observe a participant in cohort A write something in their journal as they made a connection in the middle of exploring a spiritual practice. While I am learning with and from cohort A, now into it’s third week of exploring, I have been busy recruiting for further cohorts. I have waved journals as part of a verbal notice in a church service and providing information for church newsletters. I have even provided short videos, to play in church services when I have been busy with other commitments.

As a result of my recruiting, I have 3 more cohorts getting underway over the next few weeks. Which is quite daunting, as it means a very busy data gathering phase. But also really exciting as the number of participants increase and the variety of experiences multiplies.

And I get to buy more research journals! All with research ethics information pasted inside, along with the four writing prompts to get people started. All arranged in piles on the floor – for cohort B, C and D.

Because one of the best parts of researching spiritual practices is buying research journals!

recruiting for social impact of spiritual practices cohort

It was fun to be recruiting yesterday for participants in my social impact of religious practices research project. I did a short promotion in the notices at a local Presbyterian church, complete with flier to wave, along with consent forms and information sheet.

I was helpfully introduced as a person of many parts – minister, leader and theological educator. And for in that moment – researcher.

The social impact of religious practices research is made possible through the support of a grant from John Templeton Foundation, awarded via the grant entitled “New Perspectives on Social Psychology and Religious Cognition for Theology: Training and Developing Science-Engaged Theologians,” University of Birmingham.

Exploring Christian practices research cohort

I was very excited to begin a social impact of religious practices cohort this week. It was great to welcome participants with a hot drink and a heated room as I gathered their consent forms.

We then made introductions, first of ourselves, next of the research. As a Psychology and Theology Cross-training Fellow, I am learning about Christian practices through action-research, exploring practices with others over 8 weeks, gathering their feedback through several short surveys, focus groups and individual journal keeping.

A key resource is Adele Ahlberg Calhoun’s Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices that Transform us (IVP, 2005). She defines spiritual practices as processes that “put is in a place where we can begin to notice God and respond” (Calhoun, 20).

As part of the introduction, I talked about two approaches to exploring spiritual practices. One is the smorgasboard approach, where you spread out a buffet of practices and pick and choose across a wide range of practices. Another is the savour approach, where you go deep by focusing on a specific practice.

I introduced the “go deep” spiritual practice we will be savouring and we began our first week of exploration. How people respond is already providing rich insights into how people experience Christian practices.

I am wanting to recruit several cohorts, as part of learning with and among different communities. So if you or your church community might be interested, do message me.

A “Three months on” report

This week my work for AngelWings Ltd involves the writing of a “Three Months On” report. As a research organisation, we have been contracted to explore the experience and clarify the impact of a revitalising initiative in a denomination over three years. This has required us to design two unique surveys, make introductions to 18 local congregations and conduct participant observation.

What is the impact? What are the learnings? This is the first of three reports we are writing over a three year period. After each report, we then offer to facilitate learning conversations about the data, to help with clarifying further iterations.

Currently the writing involves juggling data from 91 responses to an impact survey, 47 responses to an experience survey and feedback from 18 conversations, along with 2 participant observations.

Which meant some cafe time today, with a large sheet of paper and highlighters undertaking thematic analysis from the research diary. It is just fascinating to discern threads and identify findings among local congregations.

IAPR 2025 abstract acceptance

Well this was not in the 2025 bingo sheet but delighted to have a conference paper accepted for the biennial International Association for the Psychology of Religion in Birmingham 2025.

Titled: Listen up: The Social Impact of selected religious practices, my paper will present initial findings from my social impact of religious practices research with Psychology and Theology Cross training fellowship, funded by John Templeton. Over 12 months, I am undertaking action research by gathering people to explore spiritual practices over 8 sessions and inviting their feedback through pre- and post-survey, keeping a research journal and sharing their experience in focus groups.

For years I have offered teaching in mission and discernment. This research project allows me to explore in greater depth what is happening for people and how the Spirit might be present through spiritual practices.

While I’m naturally curious, I find working across disciplines quite intimidating. The Psychology and Theology Cross training team have been so helpful. They provided encouragement to submit. They provided several abstracts from previous conferences to help demonstrate what it means to write up research in the domain of psychology (which is so different from theology). Further, they also offered feedback on abstract drafts, not only suggesting additions but also offering edits to help keep the abstract within the required word limits. So constructive!

Finally, I’m also grateful for grant funding from John Templeton which makes this possible. Being an independent scholar, there are significant costs in attending conferences and funding makes presenting research possible.

Best of all, my partner-in-life and research, Dr Lynne Taylor, has also had her research accepted. So we will get to experience Birmingham together.

It means a 3rd consecutive experience of a UK summer, following on from my Glasgow University funded research in 2023 and my IASH/Edinburgh University funded research in 2024.

3 weeks in UK for research presentations

I’m in the United Kingdom for 3 weeks, from 23 March to 14 April, 2025. I am excited to speak about three different research projects that I’ve been working on for several months.

First, I am in Glasgow, speaking at the University of Glasgow on Mission, Empire and Coerced Migration on Thursday 27th March, 5pm. This is the fruit of my 2023 University of Glasgow Library Research Fellowship.

Second, I am in Edinburgh as part of the Festival 55th of IASH. I am co-ordinating the Grassroots and indigenous digital faith-based activism colloquium where I am one of 6 people delivering a paper. This is fruit of my time as a Research Fellow at IASH in Edinburgh in June/July 2024.

Finally, I am in Birmingham for the Psychology and Theology Cross-training fellowship. As part of this week in Birmingham, I am presenting a work-in-progress on my research into the social impact of spiritual practices in religious organisations.

Then home. Yippee.

introducing spiritual practices

I’m researching spiritual practices. The project is part of a Psychology and Theology Cross training fellowship, funded by John Templeton, that extends over 12 months.

I’m researching the social impact of spiritual practices. I could research by reading Scripture or exploring church history or reading books that seek to describe and explain spiritual practices. But I’m curious about how people respond to spiritual practices.

So I’m looking for people willing to explore spiritual practices over 8 sessions and to give feedback on their experiences in several ways, including several surveys, two focus groups and keeping and individual journey.

This week I offered an introductory session in a local Christian congregation to consenting adults. Arriving to an empty church, I noticed they had several couches in their foyer. I pulled several chairs around the couches into a circle and got myself organised.

Each couch and chair got a Bible verse and a post-it note. During the session, people would choose a brightly coloured pen to underline a key phrase that stood out to them from the Bible passage and write down their ideal snacks that I could provide to sustain us through our sessions. I got out a Bible and my go-to book, The Spiritual Disciplines Handbook by Adele Calhoun. I laid out my teaching notes, along with my research diary and pen for taking my own notes as people shared.

It was great to be researching with people, beginnning a conversation about their experiences of spiritual practices and what it might mean to “learn to live freely and lightly” (Matthew 11:30, The Message).

Grassroots and indigenous digital faith-based activism colloquium: April 4

I’m thrilled to have pulled together and to be part of the Grassroots and indigenous digital faith-based activism colloquium, in Edinburgh on 4 April, 2025.

The day involves 6 papers, presenting research on faith-based digital activism in Asia, Africa and Oceania. The full colloquium programme, with abstracts and author details, is Conference programme Grassroots and indigenous digital faith-based activism.

The Grassroots and indigenous digital faith-based activism colloquium is nested within the 55th Festival of IASH, exploring fruit of their three year project around decoloniality. To further my June/July 2024 research fellowship with IASH, I proposed a gathering around indigenous digital faith-based activism. I wanted to gather other scholars from diverse contexts with the hope of working toward an edited book.

IASH agreed. Other sponsors came on board, including Researching Indigenous Studies and Christianity Network (RISC), the Centre for Theology and Public Issues (CTPI) and the Centre for the Study of World Christianity (CSWC). A call for papers went out in late November. Blind peer review happened through January, along with lots of ongoing organising with IASH. It has been a thrill to work with different research centres and to collaborate with scholars from diverse contexts. And in a few weeks, to be able to present some of my research into Oceanic digital activism in Edinburgh.

People can attend either virtually or face to face.

To register for in-person at IASH, RSVP Dr Steve Taylor at kiwidrsteve@gmail.com and advise any dietary or access requirements. Lunch is provided. Bookings are limited to 8 people.

Virtual delegates can register here. This will allow access to the Grassroots and indigenous digital faith-based activism colloquium plus all events associated with the IASH’s 55th Anniversary Celebrations: Institute Project on Decoloniality Conference on Thursday 3 April and Friday 4 April.

Race, Justice and mission: Glasgow archival perspectives on missionary engagement and South Pacific “blackbirding”

With a nod to sea shanties and the need to decolonise history, here’s a summary of some writing I’ve just completed, and a presentation I’ll be doing at Trinity College, University of Glasgow, in a few weeks time.

Race, Justice and mission: Glasgow archival perspectives on missionary engagement and South Pacific “blackbirding”

“There once was a ship that put to sea … to bring us sugar and tea and rum.” Sea shanties make for catchy TikTok viral hits. They also make visible mercantile activity and migratory labour flows upon which empires expanded.

Historical imaginaries often begin with ships that put to sea and journey from north to south. Yet in the corners of the archives are experiences from the Pacific northward, as Indigenous peoples engaged in what they saw as reciprocity in Oceanic voyaging.

This paper analyses the work of Williamu, an Indigenous man from the islands then called the New Hebrides, who lived in Scotland between 1861 and 1862. During his time in Scotland, Williamu wrote nineteen letters. These were translated by Rev John Inglis, who in 1883 was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Glasgow for his linguistic skills.

Williamu’s letters, housed in the University of Glasgow Archives and Special Collections, provide a remarkable account of the Indigenous meeting the imperial. They also contain tragedy as Williamu processes the death of his wife, Dora, from diseases carried by ships that put to sea.

This paper will examine these letters using frames of locating, initial encounter and theodicies of migration. It will document the agency of Indigenous people as initiative takers and the presence of “sugar and tea and rum” in the histories of migration and religion.

Listening with Purpose: A Theologian Reflects on the Interface between Theology and Psychology

I am privileged to be building bridges between theology and psychology as a Psychology Cross-Training Fellowship Programme for Theologians Fellow. This 16 month interdisciplinary programme is run by the University of Birmingham and is funded by John Templeton. It involves 3 intensives in Birmingham, monthly online coaching and mentoring. It also funds a small part-time research project over 12 months – in my case researching the social impact of religious practices. I wrote about the interdisciplinary experience a few weeks ago and the Cross-Training blog picked it up. My blogpost was prompted by a post from my mentor, Dr Guy Itzchakov, who researches empathic and non-judgmental listening at the University of Haifa. I’m cross-posting what I wrote for the Cross-Training blog here:

A few weeks ago, I cycled over a recently completed bridge. The modern two-lane structure, with eye-catching visual features, spans Mata-au, the South Island’s largest river. A 136-year-old single-lane bridge remains, repurposed for cycling and walking.

The two bridges got me thinking about the nature of interdisciplinary research. The historic single-lane bridge used traffic lights to regulate traffic flow. Each side took turns. Crossing meant waiting for cars from the other side to hurtle on past. In contrast, the recently built two-lane bridge allows both sides to move. The result is improved safety and new traffic flows.

Photo by Lynne Taylor at https://lynnetaylor.nz/.

Building bridges is the aim of the Psychology Cross-training Fellowship Program for Theologians. The Fellowship feels like the making of a modern two-lane bridge. Rather than separate disciplines hurtling past each other, the Fellowship invites the fields of psychology and theology to create new flows of traffic by exploring shared interfaces.

Listening
One shared interface between psychology and theology is listening. Psychology has explored how high-quality listening improves social connection. The intentional use of two ears builds community and enhances human flourishing. Research has outlined the essential roles of attention, comprehension and intention in high-quality listening.

Theology has commended listening as a spiritual imperative, a way of responding to God’s command to “listen” at Jesus’s transfiguration (see, for example, Matthew 17:5). Listening is then embedded in a range of spiritual practices.

But, like cars waiting to cross a one-lane bridge, research in psychology and theology has had little impact on the inquiry of the other. In a recent blog post, Professor Guy Itzchakov reflected on the interdisciplinary possibilities for listening between psychology and theology. As a psychologist in the science of listening, he utilised themes of connection, empathy, and loneliness to suggest that listening is a practice that “transcends disciplinary boundaries.”

Psychologists like Dr Itzchakov conduct research at one end of the bridge. As a practical theologian, I start at the bridge’s other end. At my end of the bridge, while listening to God is considered important, and listening is taught in practical ministry courses, empirical research into the social impact of religious listening practices is rare. What might building bridges with psychology contribute to theology? How might psychological theories of listening as attention, comprehension, and intention, illuminate sacred religious texts?

Attention
Attention involves being fully present to a speaker without internal and external distractions. Humans have a unique ability to filter sounds. We can listen closely in a noisy café or hear the voice of a loved one in a throng of people.

Attention provides ways to understand silence as a Christian practice. Christian services of worship often include silence as an element of corporate prayer or in hearing Scripture read aloud.

Silence is thus an antecedent or a precondition of quality listening. One cannot pay attention if one is speaking. Through the lens of attention, the religious practice of silence can be understood as similar to warming up before exercise. The practice of silence involves stretching the listening muscles in preparation for enhancing social connection.

Hands formed together create a red heart. Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash.

Comprehension
Comprehension refers to how listeners signal they understand the speaker. Summarising what I think I have heard from another demonstrates listening and deepens our sharing.

The lens of comprehension illuminates the practice of lectio divina, particularly in group settings. Latin for divine reading, lectio divina encourages listening to sacred texts. When used in groups, there is often a time of sharing what individuals are hearing. This sharing deepens comprehension. Sometimes, the interpretations of others in the group provide insight and deepen connection. At other times, diverse interpretations or provocative questions raise hermeneutical questions and encourage respect across differences.

Intention
Intention describes how the speaker experiences a listener. High-quality listening involves communicating acceptance, empathy, and curiosity. Sometimes, this is verbal, with words of agreement. At other times, it is through back-channel behaviours like body posture or a nod.

In The Spiritual Disciplines Handbook, Adele Calhoun introduces the practice of slowing and describes its use at the start of a meeting: “I want to give you a moment of silence to leave behind what you are coming from. I want us to be present to each other in our discussion together. Take some deep breaths and relax. We will start in one minute” (2015, 90). Slowing is a practice that signals an intention to fully present.

Through the lens of attention, slowing, like silence, is like a warming-up exercise. The intention of being “present to each other” enhances the possibility of high-quality listening.

Hence, psychology illuminates the social dynamics embedded in spiritual practices. Attention, comprehension and intention provide ways to think about the role of listening in religious practices.

The “I am” as a Listener
Attention, comprehension and intention can also be used to analyse theologies of revelation. A particularly striking description of God occurs in Exodus 3, a narrative of great significance to the religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. God is a listener in the account of Moses and the burning bush. The “I am” pays attention as they hear the cries of the suffering in Egypt (3:7). The “I am” communicates comprehension as they send Moses to respond to human misery (3:10). The “I am” signals intention by instructing Moses to take off his sandals as an observable listening posture (3:5).

The narrative in Exodus also describes what it means for humans to listen. Moses pays attention by choosing to hide his face (3:6). His comprehension is deepened because he asks multiple questions (3:11-13). His intention is signalled as he returns to the suffering community from which he had earlier fled (4:29).

Moses’s behaviour can guide religious practice. The Exodus narrative encourages questioning the Divine and choosing solidarity with the suffering as a way of service. Ecclesiologically, the church glimpses ecclesia discens and the behaviours that mark a learning community.

Attention, comprehension and intention illuminate Moses encounter with “I am.” For the Abrahamic religious traditions, listening is defined, not as a one-sided monologue but as a co-creative movement toward solidarity with the suffering.

Conclusion: Listening as a Theological and Psychological Practice
Theology has much to learn from psychology. Attention, comprehension, and intention illuminate the social dynamics embedded in spiritual practices and provide ways to analyse theologies of revelation. As a practical theologian, I am finding practical and intellectual, individual and communal benefits in building a two-lane bridge with psychology.

Flow a theological film review of an ecological fable

Monthly I write a film review for Touchstone (the New Zealand Methodist magazine). Stretching back to 2005, some 180 plus films later, here is the review for February 2025.

Flow
A theological film review by Dr Steve Taylor

Flow is an animated and imaginative delight. A meowing cat must face her fear of water. In the face of rising waters, the cat sees a passing boat. Making a leap of faith, the cat pounces into a floating animal ark. Carried away by a sudden flood, an unlikely crew of animal creatures are swept toward uncertainty.

Flow is also a cinematic winner, awarded the 2025 Golden Globe [update – and an Academy Award] for best-animated feature. Big-budget studio films like Disney and Pixar have traditionally scooped film animation. Flow’s low-budget win is a triumph for Latvian film-maker, Gints Zilbalodis. It is also a ground-breaking moment for indie film and open source animation software, which was used by Zilbalodis and his animation team.

The animal characterisation in Flow is superb. Each animal’s journey across unknown waters is filled with humour. Cats cough hairballs and dogs chase tails. Secretary birds learn to steer, while lemurs and capybara learn to share. Together these animals learn that their survival relies on trust.

While Flow will attract families and delight lovers of cats and animals, the movie also offers much as an “ecological fable.” Flow’s animal ark floats past statues likely made by human hands and cities built by human endeavour. There are signs of civilization, yet humans are absent. Is Flow an apocalyptic telling of the collapse of human civilization? Or an imaginative reflection on pre-history of our planet? Approached as fable, Flow invites us to think imaginatively, first about ecology, then about theology.

Flow connects with several Genesis stories. In the beginning, in Genesis 1, God’s Spirit hovers over the waters. From the waters emerge sky, land and swarms of living creatures. Those of Pacific origin find in these verses the beginnings of a moana theology.

Flow invites us to think imaginatively about creation’s prehistory without humans. After all, there were no humans for five and a half of the six days of creation in Genesis 1. The earth grew and multiplied in ways unique and creative. Flow invites us to think with and among the creativity of the early days of the Spirit’s work in creation.

A few chapters later, in Genesis 6 to 9, God’s Spirit again hovered over the waters. In the Noah narrative, we read of an ark adrift on rising flood waters. We hear of animals together seeking salvation and a bird who acts as God’s messenger, a winged bearer of good news of ecological survival.

Flow invites us to think imaginatively about the survival of animals of both sea and land. After all, the rise of flood waters as described in Genesis 6 to 9 must surely have been a gift for fish, sharks and whales. As the waters of the deep burst forth, those who swim experienced new room to play. Equally, as floodwaters shrink, sea creatures of the deep risked becoming beached. In a world of finite resources, the ecological imagination of Flow reminds us that expansion for some is a contraction for others. Approaching Genesis in light of Flow offers animated and imaginative reminders of the Spirit’s work in a world without humans.

Rev Dr Steve Taylor is the author of “First Expressions” (2019) and writes widely in theology and popular culture, including regularly at www.emergentkiwi.org.nz.

pausing and projects

It is good to pause. It is better to pause with coffee.

Today I’m pausing with coffee after submitting a research application. The application is for travel, accommodation and research assistance to enable a small qualitative research project to better understand a citizen science climate justice initiative by a denomination.

Research applications take time. Applications are always a bit of a punt with funding never guaranteed. However, every application advances my thinking. Putting words on a paper sharpens connections. Developing costings require planning. So an application becomes a way of crafting new futures.

I’ll hear more about this application in May. Until then back to the other (eight) research projects I have at different stages of completion. But only after a pause. With coffee!

introducing ordinary time festival research

(used with permission).

Delighted to be published in Theology Today journal (last article, scroll down. Or go here). Here’s a bit of the backstory, something I wrote when the article was published online in August. Now that it’s published in paper, here’s a short video of me introducing the research.

For those who like to read not watch, here’s the script:

I’m Steve Taylor, I research and write. Recently I’ve written about why – and how –  Christians can love festivals.

The Christian year is divided into the major seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter on the one hand, and ordinary time on the other. Churches and ministers and lay people put hours of time and energy into celebrating the major seasons. Christian feasts and festivals like Christmas, Easter and Pentecost gather lots of attention. Which then raises the question – if we put so much time in the major seasons around Christmas and Easter, then how should ordinary time be celebrated? What might it mean for our faith and our life as a church to put energy and focus into festivals in ordinary time?

I began to research if there are ways to connect ordinary time with festivals. Theoretically, one place to explore why – and how –  Christians can love festivals is the work of Amy Plantinga Pauw. Amy read the wisdom literature of the Old Testament and called for the value of ordinary time. From Proverbs and Ecclesiastes she drew out 6 themes of

• making new,
• longing,
• giving,
• suffering,
• rejoicing
• joining hands

She called this a wisdom ecclesiology and argued these 6 themes are essential to life of the church. So that’s a possible why. Which raises the question of how? How can Christians love “ordinary time” festivals?

So I researched three “ordinary time festivals,” three ways that local churches and local ministers and lay people could put some “Christians love festivals” energy into ordinary time. I used video footage and web documents and newspaper reports and I discovered that “wisdom ecclesiology” to research

• A harvest festival in Scotland, occurring in a farming shed during Covid
• a spin and fibre festival celebrating wool and craft in Australia.
• a local community festival started by a group of local churches in Aotearoa New Zealand

Three different types of ordinary time festivals in 3 different countries.

I discovered evidence of those 6 themes. And where they were not found,  I suggested some easy ways that the missing themes could be added. I also suggested a 7th category, what I called local placemaking, to add to Pauw’s wisdom ecclesiology. Because the empirical research made clear that ordinary time festivals are a great way of celebrating the particularity, the special, the incarnated qualities of a local community.

So my why and how research has implications for churches wanting to connect with their communities. First, those wisdom ecclesiology themes of

• making new,
• longing,
• giving,
• suffering,
• rejoicing
• joining hands
• placemaking

give a reason for churches and groups to love ordinary time festivals. Second, ordinary festivals give a how – how might churches work in particular and local ways to placemake – to connect the wisdom of Christian ordinary time with the special qualities of our local communities.

If you want to read more see my article in a journal called Theology today. Called “Ordinary-Time Festivals: An Application of Wisdom Ecclesiology.” Theology Today Volume 81, issue 4. Or follow my blog – emergentkiwi.org.nz – where I place resources and thinking. Because, Christians can love festivals.

colours and community building

Today was the first church council meeting of the year. By way of devotion, as Chair, I took along a box of different coloured pens. Placing the pens in the middle of the group grabbed attention and created curiousity. A perfect way to begin.

“What was the colour of your Christmas,” I asked? “What was the colour of your summer?” Folk chose colours. “And if you want to test your colours, feel free,” I then said, as I handed around small pieces of paper.

After a few minutes of choosing and colouring, we shared with each other about the colours we had each chosen.

It worked splendidly. A real depth of sharing. New insights about each others realities. Greater awareness of how we could pray and support each other.

Then some questions about what being good news might mean among us. What if the range of colours among us also connects with the experience of folk in the community? What does the range of colours mean for how we preach and care as we move toward Christmas in 2025?

And so a prayer as the meeting began, that our work as a council would engage the full reality of the colours among us and the community in which we are part.

Choosing colours was a simple exercise that resulted in sharing of stories and supportive listening. Choosing colours builds healthy teams.