sustain:if:able kiwi

IAMS 2026 presentation: The role of digital technologies in the diffusion of handmade missional innovation

A late night.

But a privilege to present some of my Ordinaryknitters research at International Association of Mission Studies (IAMS) in South Africa this evening.

I am so grateful to the IAMS conference organisors for allowing hybrid participation. It takes more work but it makes conference attendance possible in a world of climate emergency and tightening budgets.

My presentation, on Making as connecting: The role of digital technologies in the diffusion of handmade missional innovation was part of the Christian Communities and Mission thematic stream.

One of the overall themes of IAMS was on the digital, so the call for papers allowed me to look at my interviews with knitters of Christmas angels through the lens of the digital. I knew there was plenty of evidence of making as connecting (the title of a great book by David Gauntlett) in real time in local congregations. But did the digital contribute to connecting?

Relooking through the interviews with knitters provided plenty of evidence of the value of websites, social media, QR codes, social media and YouTube videos playing a role in how the knitted angels spread. It was appropriate to then be able to present on the digital in an online setting.

The conference organisors asked for a 2000 word paper 2 months prior, which was available to be read by participants. The presentation time was given over to a brief summary, followed by conversation.

Hence there were plenty of great questions including

• can I have a knitted angel pattern please?
• did the engagement and motivations for knitting change over time?
• is there longterm fruit from the knitted angels?
• how to understand the digital connecting, given the value of face to face connecting in craft?
• does it matter if the open source website that began the project is not longer online? how to understand the transitory nature of the internet?
• could my research generate a website that shares knitting-as-mission and craftivism projects?
• what happens to symbols, like angels, when they cross cultures?

In preparing the 2000 word conference paper, I ending up drafting a full 5,000 word journal article, which with a few days of tidying up footnotes, is worth submitting.