sustain:if:able kiwi

box half-open on the social impact of selected religious practices research project

Are you a box half-empty or half-full sort of person?

Yesterday marked the end of funding in a 12 months research project. Thanks to John Templeton, the University of Birmingham Cross-training Fellowship and the Centre for Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago, for a day and a half each week, I’ve worked away on the Social Impact of Selected Religious Practices.

I could thankfully close the box on what has been a wonderfully productive period. The outputs include

• my first every open science Pre-registration
• five cohorts exploring spiritual practices over either four or eight weeks in three different church communities
• three visits to the University of Birmingham in England – in July 2024, April 2025 and August 2025 – to be with and learn from other researching Fellows
• five sermons, shared with Dr Lynne Taylor, on spiritual practices that contribute to life balance and well-being
• my first ever poster presentation at the Psychology-engaged Theology Conference
• three academic presentations, including a paper at the International Association for the Psychology of Religion, another paper at Ecclesiology and Ethnography and a seminar for the University of Otago Theology Programme.
• two online presentations on Listening in Ministry and Listening in mission to people training for Anglican ministry
• two blog posts for the Cross-Training Fellowship, Interruptive Interviews at the Intersection of Psychology and Theology and Listening with Purpose II: A Theologian Reflects on the Interface between Theology and Psychology
• my first ever go at a Registered Report with an academic journal (a Registered Report is a form of journal article where the methods and proposed analyses are peer-reviewed prior to research being conducted)
• a Listening training in religious contexts: theoretical and empirical research resource (also uploaded to the open science platform I’m building). The resource identifies 6 practices that could be used for listening training in religious communities, as a platform for further research.

With so much work, and so many outputs, it would be fitting to close the research box with a deep sense of gratitude.

However, I’m thankful and excited that this particular research box remains half-open.

• First, a private trust is funding another 11 weeks of part-time research at the start of 2026. This will enable work to make public more of the resources I’ve developed, plus conduct several more spiritual practice cohorts to thicken up the data I’ve been gathering, looking at the social impact of silence.
• Second, I have 6700 words of results from the data gathering I’ve done to date that I need to tidy up for a journal article (or three actually!).
• Third, I have that Registered Report under academic peer review. If/when it’s accepted, I hope to crank into a quantitative study of Advent spiritual practices and I’ll be looking for congregations to work with me.
• Fourth, I’m running a webinar during 2026, as part of my Research Affiliate role with the Centre for Theology and Public Issues at the University of Otago | Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka. This webinar will summarise for church leaders what I’ve learnt from my 12 months of research into the social impact of spiritual practices (message me if you want an invite).
• Fifth, I’m hoping to develop further research collaborations. I am looking for academics, congregations and denominations who are interested in the social impact of spiritual practices and the role of listening in the processes of change.

In other words, I’m hoping that the research box in relation to the social impact of selected religious practices is not half full, but is really half empty. And that over the next 1 to 5 years there will be more empty boxes to fill, exploring in broader and greater depth the spiritual impact of spiritual practices. If you’re interested in the results or further collaborations, email me on kiwidrsteve@gmail.com.

Listening training in religious contexts: theoretical and empirical research resources

I’ve just uploaded the Listening training in Religious Contexts: Theoretical and Empirical Research Resource. The resource lists 6 practices that can be used for listening training in religious communities. Each practice is described in theory and action. Relevant literature on listening in religious contexts is referenced and new research opportunities become evident.

The resource is intended to be a living document. I plan to continue the research into the social impact of shared spiritual practices. I am seeking collaborators, both academic and church, to share in further research.

As part of my learning about, and commitment to, open science, the resource is placed online at the Open Science Foundation. It sits alongside other resources from my Social Impact of Selected Religious Practices research project, including the pre-registration of my action-research design, a teaching lectio divina content outline and interview schedules.

This new resource is a public output from the Social impact of selected religious practices. Thanks to the Cross Training Psychology and Theology Fellowship at University of Birmingham and to John Templeton Foundation for valuing research that has public outputs.

listening capital defined

I define listening capital as an asset that results from being fully present in high-quality listening. Investing in listening capital has benefits that are immediate and long term. It builds trust, encourages partnerships and cultivates capacity for risk.

The possibility of capital being more than simply economic is present in a definition of capital as “heterogeneous resource combinations” (Endres & Harper, 2020: 161). They observe that capital includes land, natural resources, financial capital, human capabilities and other intangibles.

While capital is often interpreted in monetary terms, the concept of social capital has received increasing attention within social economy research (Lewis & Chamlee Wright, 2008). Chris Woods summarises social capital as “bundles of knowledge obtained through social interactions, such as networking, [that] creates norms of trust, reciprocity, and respect” (Woods, 2025: 13).

High-quality listening strengthens connections between speaker and listener. Community relationships are intensified as listening cultivates a positive emotional climate and mutual understanding (Kluger & Mizrahi, 2023). High-quality listening results in a sense of togetherness and increased interpersonal disclosure (Kluger & Itzchakov, 2022). The elements of high-quality listening include attention, comprehension and intention. High quality listening results in feelings of belonging, connection, and acceptance and thus contributes to social connection and human flourishing.

Hence listening capital is a social asset that grows as listeners invest in high-quality listening. Investing in listening capital becomes an important element in leading through change.

The concept of listening capital and the benefits for change management and community development emerge from reflection on my research. This includes my John Templeton funded research into the Social Impacts of Listening Practices in Religious Organisations. It also includes impact evaluation research I have done for organisations in Australia and New Zealand, including ethnographic observation of consultancy processes and interviews with participants about their experiences.

Across these different research projects it is clear that being listened to builds trust and opens people to consider different perspectives and new insights.

Listening in ministry and mission

It was lots of fun over this weekend speaking online to ordination candidates at Cuddesdon, England. We lived as a family at Cuddesdon for a Northern Hemisphere Christmas experience in 2011. So it was a delight to be able to offer something back to a place that had kept us warm and snug during several snow snaps.

I was asked to speak for two 90 minute sessions. One session was on listening in ministry. Another session was on listening in mission. It was fun to work over zoom and to invite participants into various listening experiences all while I was projected on screen. To help with engagement, one session involved lectio divina and sharing in pairs (the photo was taken while participants were sharing in pairs). The other session involved two case studies with group work.

The sessions were based on my cross-training research into the social impact of shared spiritual practices. It has been really helpful to think about the implications of the research for congregational leaders. I am 11 months into what is a 12 month project. So to be asked to think about the “so what” was perfect timing really.

It was also an integrative and redemptive experience. With Mark Johnston, during 2015-2020, I had developed and taught a course called Listening in Mission. So it was a rich experience five years later to return to those notes and think about how my current research into shared spiritual practices might inform and expand my thinking.

Thanks Cuddesdon for inviting me. Thanks Psychology Cross-Training Fellowship for the current research opportunities.

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.

The Social Impacts of Listening Practices in Religious Organisations

The Social Impacts of Listening Practices in Religious Organisations: A pilot study*

This project applies research related to the science of listening to analyse how religious practices might contribute to social connection and human flourishing.

In religious settings, the importance of listening is emphasised. A range of religious activities could be said to facilitate listening, including contemplation, confession, examen and lectio divina. However, there is little theoretical or empirical research into the social dynamics surrounding these religious practices. In psychology, there is a growing body of research into the science of listening and how attention, comprehension, and intention contribute to social connection and human flourishing.

Hence, research is needed to understand how selected religious practices contribute to social connection and human flourishing in religious organisations. This twelve month pilot study will
• undertake a literature review to assess religious practices against the psychological framework of listening structures and listening as attention, comprehension, and intention
• conduct a real-world intervention by offering selected religious practices in small group settings in local religious communities
• conduct mixed-methods research to assess the social impacts of these interventions. Two religious practices will be offered. Quantitative data will be gathered using pre- and post-intervention psychological measures to assess social impact over time. Qualitative data will be gathered from participant observation, participant research diaries and summative focus groups exploring how religious practices contribute to social connection and human flourishing.

Hence, the research project will offer theoretical, practical and foundational benefits. Theoretically, the project creates an interdisciplinary dialogue between listening research in psychology and religious practices. Practically, the project sheds light on how religious practices might foster stronger connections within religious communities. Foundationally, this pilot study will guide further research into the social impact of religious practices.

The research project offers an exciting mix of academic outputs in psychologically-informed theology and research shared with religious communities and religious leaders. Some of the outputs include
• an academic article
• a conference presentation
• an online presentation of findings to interested church leaders
• an online workshop inviting interested researchers and religious leaders to consider further research into the role of listening in community building

For enquiries or to register interest in the online presentation or online workshop, please email s.j.taylor at otago.ac.nz (Research Affiliate, University of Otago | Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka; Psychology Cross-Training Fellow, University of Birmingham; Director AngelWings Ltd).

*This project was 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.

listening as community building in public spaces

It was great to begin a research side project yesterday and sit at a public community event doing some ethnography.

The side project is researching the science of listening and social connection, seeking to understand what happens when adults gather for an hour to have great literature read aloud. It is a pro-bono AngelWings Ltd project that complements and localises my Birmingham University/John Templeton Cross-training research into the social impact of listening in community organisations.

This research side project will use a mix of methods, including observation and interviews with readers and listeners. So yesterday involved not only observing, but also introducing myself and the research with information and consent forms.

Hence, the photo is of a brand new research journal and pen for taking notes, along with consent forms and information.

For those who want to know more about the project and the connections I am making between researching listening and community building, see here.