sustain:if:able kiwi

a table to welcome research cohort B

Yesterday involved laying a table of welcome for cohort B in research investigating the social impact of spiritual practices. The welcome included the offer of participant diaries to record individual experiences and a pre-survey. Plus cheese and crackers and my research diary for ethnographic observations as I introduce spiritual practices and we begin 8 weeks of exploration.

There is a lot of energy involved in recruiting participants, then finding a time and venue that works. So week 1 has a sense of anticipation and expectancy, as strangers connect, questions are clarified and we settle in our shared experience of spiritual practice.

The highlight was a participant holding two types of journal diary – one hard cover, the other white daisy – one in each hand, weighing which they would choose as a companion for recording their experiences over 8 weeks.

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.

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.

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).

social impact of religious practices: pilots and letter boxes

I’m researching the social impact of selected religious practices. The 12 month research project is funded by John Templeton, located in the University of Birmingham and administered through the University of Otago, where I am a Research Affiliate with the Centre for Theology and Public Issues.

I am using an action research approach, in which I invite people to share a selected religious practice for a period of time. I conduct a survey at the start and end, using several established psychological scales, to explore if participants experience any changes in aspects of social connection and human flourishing. I ask participants to keep a journal, writing weekly about their experience of the practice. I also host a focus group in which participants reflect together on their experience of the religious practice. These three modes of gathering information uncover how religious practices are experienced in relation to social aspects.

In November, I gained ethics approval.

In December, I began a pilot. Undertaking a pilot allows me to get things up and running. It also gives me feedback on different parts of the research, testing the questions I am asking and understanding how much time is involved.

This pilot involves working with a local congregation who have an established religious practice. During Advent, the congregation are invited into four weeks of slowing and silence in daily life. This is facilitated by lighting a candle for a defined period of time. The practice occurs during the worship service. People are also invited to take and light a candle daily in their homes, as a way of continuing the practice in daily life. During Advent, the length of silence slowly increases (in this case, one minute in week one, two minutes in week two, and so on). Could this practice, of slowing and being silent, impact social connection and human flourishing?

In this pilot, I am testing two of my three modes of data gathering. Participants interested in being part of the research have given their ethical consent. They have each been sent a survey. They have also been given a journal, in which they are invited to respond each week to four questions about their experience.

Which meant that this week my time as a researcher included dropping journals in letter boxes and wondering what people will write, as they reflect on their experience of this particular religious practice. Such is the joy of undertaking empirical research into the real life experiences of religious practices in daily life.

The social impact of selected religious practices research project is one of seven different research projects I am currently involved in. For example, I’m also involved in researching digital activism, experiences of reading out loud, knitting as craftivism and race, justice and mission in the history of Oceania. Plus I’m undertaking longitudinal evaluations of different interventions in two church organisations and have just wrapped up a project writing resources to encourage ecological readings of Advent and Christmas Bible readings.