sustain:if:able kiwi

a researching life and 24% of my winter evenings

Last night was another session in my research into the social impact of spiritual practices. It was raining and misty as I drove to Cohort D for our sixth evening sharing in spiritual practice.

I began this data gathering phase of the research on 1 May. It’s now the 31st of July. I’ve conducted 26 sessions with 4 cohorts over the last 92 days. 24% of my evenings this winter have been out and about researching!!

Thankfully, only a few nights have been raining. Pleasingly, all my participants have been engaged, engaging and informative. Gratifyingly I expect to shortly have 7 focus groups, 23 weekly journals and 64 survey forms. That’s a very rich store of qualitative data to inform my research into the social impact of shared spiritual practices (as part of the Psychologically engaged theology crosss-training with John Templeton)

(I know that social media posts are supposed to have visual images to draw attention. But honestly, it was too wet, dark and cold last night to grab an image of a wet and cold Dunedin night!)

emoji-gesis! Visualising online climate change activism: public eco-theologies in grassroots climate-justice organisations article

I’m delighted to have some new research published in Theology journal.

Taylor, S. (2025). Visualizing online climate change activism: public eco-theologies in grassroots climate-justice organizations. Theology, 128(4), 247-256. https://doi.org/10.1177/0040571X251354942

Keywords – climate justice – digital activism – public theology – social media – visual grammar

My paper explores how visual images are used in digital activism. Visual images are a key dimension of online communication. I research the social media visual images of two UK Christian organisations activating for climate justice.

I describe visual grammar analysis and emoji-gesis. I demonstrate how colour, perspective and composition read the header images of these two activist organisations. I do emoji-gesis by tracking how emoji’s communicate different activist journeys.

The visual grammar of the two organisations is distinctive. The visual posting is a public theology that communicates activist journeys, intergenerational participation and prayer. Images of prayer as public witness offer a unique online activism, different from how secular activist organisations mobilise collective action. The research has practical implications for Christian organisations. It encourages developing unique visual identities rather than one-size fits all approaches to activism.

I’m delighted for several reasons.

1. Its great to have some emoji-gesis published. The article includes analysis of emojis used online in climate justice organisations. There is an entire paragraph where I write with the emojis (the Theology journal kindly let me offer a colour version for free).
2. It’s always great to be published academically and to watch work grow and improve through peer review and copy editing.
3. This is the first public research output emerging from my research fellowship with IASH, Edinburgh. There has been a long slow burn – applying for the research fellowship, navigating research ethics in a different university, learning in a new city.
4. It’s a placemarker and the first in what will be a range of outputs from the Grassroots digital activisms project. There is a book chapter accepted. The April 2025 colloquium is a work in progress toward a special issue of a journal. There is ongoing research which could well result in more outputs.
5. To have all this emerging from what was such a fun 7 weeks in Edinburgh is very satisfying.

brief review of Material by Nick Kary

Glad to have read Material by Nick Kary. It explores handcraft by sharing interviews with crafters in the South of England. Basket makers, copper smiths, furniture makers reflect on place, making and identity. 

It’s an intense read, tightly woven but worth the readers attention. My copy has around 15 pages marked that have helpful thoughts about the process of making. It’s given me new ways of thinking about my own research of makers, both those who knit for Christian mission and who activate in digital space for climate justice.

baking cakes and marking research transitions

Three of my action research cohorts have finished in recent weeks. As part of our ending, I’ve enjoyed baking cakes.

Banana cakes, with either chocolate or lemon flavoured icing!

I’ve baked cakes for several reasons.

1. It marks a change. Probably as much for me as for my participants, it’s a way of marking and ending. As I cream the sugar and mash the bananas, there’s a chance to reflect on our time together and be aware of a change.
2. It expresses gratitude for time. My participants have generously given eight hours to share together in spiritual practice over eight sessions. Some research projects offer incentives to participants, like book vouchers or cash payments, to thank them for their time. However, financial incentives can make the research feel more transactional and might not match the motivations of my participants. A homemade cake feels an appropriate thankyou for my particular cohorts.
3. It manages the debrief. Once the final pieces of data are gathered, I offer to share a brief explanation of the research design. Some participants are interested. Other participants aren’t. Having a cake provides a way to relationally manage the range of responses. I offer serviettes and invite people to take a slice of cake and leave if they wish. Or to stay, enjoy the cake and learn a bit more about the research. People are different and the cake help manage the debrief with a bit of humour and humanity.
4. It navigates a relational transition. The ending of data gathering means there is a farewell. This is with myself as the researcher. It can also be between the participants. Some people want to linger, to ask me a specific question, to make an observation or to arrange to connect in a different way with someone they have enjoyed connecting with a bit more deeply. Having cake helps with this relational transition.

I’ve not baked cakes for other research projects. But it’s been an appropriate way to end this project and mark transitions with the different cohorts who have shared with me in religious practice over this particular piece of John Templeton funded research.

Blessed are the ethnographers

Blessed are those who observe (Psalm 106:3).

After 21 sessions facilitating shared spiritual practice, this week I found myself starting to run out of pages in my participant observation research journal. Which meant I was blessed to be able to buy a second research journal.

I am conducting action research into the social impact of spiritual practices. As part of a John Templeton funded project, I’m currently running 4 cohorts in the late afternoon and evenings. I’m gathering data through focus groups, along with short surveys at the start, middle and end. I’m also inviting participants to keep a weekly journal, to help me understand their individual experiences over time. Finally, I’m also observing. Which means taking notes of responses and interactions.

After every session, I write these notes up as research memos. Often stretching to 3 pages, these research memos will help me remember what happened, when I come to analyse the data in a few months time. The research memos also enable me to record my experiences, helping me get the impressions in my own head down on paper, as a further source of data.

My observations of 21 sessions mean pages and pages of notes. So a milestone this week, after 20 hours of facilitating and observing, at the three-quarter mark, to realise I would need a another brand new research journal.

In a curious quirk, the Psalm for this morning offered encouragement. First, in ways similar to the beatitudes, God blesses those who observe. Ethnography and research memos gain God’s favour. They are empirical methods that value human interactions, create structure in gathering data from lived experience and make the researcher transparent.

The rest of Psalm 106, verse 3 provides a reason for observing – “do what is just.” Ethnography invites critical reflection on the practices of the church. Practical theologians use observation as a tool in bringing change.

Sometimes church practices contribute to injustice. When that happens, ethnography and observation become a prophetic call for change. Sometimes church practices contribute to life. When that happens, ethnography and observation offers encouragement in the seeking of God’s justice hear on earth.

I’m glad that my ethnographic research is blessed :).

spiritual practices when life is out of balance

Spiritual practices when life is out of balance – how might psychology informed research offer resources for preaching on spiritual practices of lament, rest and mindfulness? How might psychology insights and resources be woven with Christian scripture?

Lament – Psalm 69:1-3; 13-16; 33-36; John 11:17-22; 30-37.

Rest – Exodus 20:8-11; Matthew 11:28-30 (The Message translation).

Christ-centred mindfulness – Psalm 62:1–3; 5–8; 11-12: Matthew 6:24-34. A thoughtful reminder to stop rushing and instead remember we’re a part of something bigger than our individual worries. This practice involves experiencing the world as being filled with signs of God, and slowing down long enough to see heaven in ordinary things.

These resources are drawn from Dr Lynne Taylor’s teaching with medical school students, my (Dr Steve Taylor’s) current research into the social impact of spiritual practices and our combined experience of the Psychology and Theology Cross-training through University of Birmingham.

researching the sounds of silence

As I explore spiritual practice, I find that sounds are being magnified. This week, as I researched the social impact of the spiritual practice of silence, I recognised

• a heater whirring
• human voices making introductions
• the turn of paper, the scratch of pen on paper as survey forms are completed,
• a match being struck and a candle lit, calling us to silence
• a phone timer sounding to call us out of silence
• the exhale of a person’s breath as a lit candle is blown out
• the rustle of lolly wrappers as an ending treat

Such are the sounds of Cohort C experiencing the spiritual practice of shared silence. This is one of 5 cohorts I am researching with as part of my John Templeton funded 12 month research of the social impact of spiritual practices.

Transforming Work with Brill (2024)

Delighted with the publication of Transforming Work: Missiological Perspectives for the Church in the World.

Several chapter authors have provided short summaries of their work.

an open door to welcome cohort C

Cohort C in my action research into the social impact of spiritual practices began last night. There was an open door on a chilly autumn evening.

Cohort C is a variation of cohort A, B and D (which begins tonight). Cohort C is shorter – 4 weeks not 8. Cohort C has different snacks – Werthers Originals. Cohort C is a different practice – silence. There are reasons for these variations, which I might explain in a future post.

But amid the changes, the same four ways to gather data remain. As part of the Psychology and Theology Cross-training research fellowship funded by John Templeton through the University of Birmingham (my project is described here), I am gathering data using surveys, focus group, individual journals and my participation. Together, this gives me qualitative and quantitative data, shared individually and with others.

On the first night we made introductions. Spiritual practices were introduced, first in general, then specifically in relation to silence. A candle was lit and we settled into a period of shared silence. We began with 10 minutes on our first night. It will be 20 minutes the second week, and 30 minutes the third week. Could sitting in silence with others have a social impact?

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.

grassroots digital activism 12 months on

A year ago today I submitted my research ethics approval to undertake novel research into grassroots digital activism in climate justice. I was wanting to hit the ground running with my Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities (IASH) Fellowship through Edinburgh University in June and July 2024.

My interest in researching grassroots digital activism in climate justice had been sparked by two experiences. First, research with Te Pae Tawhiti 2040 project on the future of theological education for the Anglican Province of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia and being in Fiji hearing the priority of climate justice among those in the Anglican Diocese of Polynesia. Second, being asked to write a book chapter on mission and digital cultures for a handbook with Oxford University Press and finding less research on the marks of mission of treasuring creation than telling and tending disciples.

Thankfully, the ethics approval was granted and the Fellowship with IASH was a great experience. In the 12 months since, a range of research outputs have flowed. These include a journal article with Theology and an academic book chapter with Bloomsbury (both forthcoming). There have been 4 presentations of the research. Plus a successful 1 day Colloquium back in Edinburgh in April this year, which I continue to progress toward an edited book.

Yesterday I pulled out the ethics consent forms. I needed them as I talked with a digital activist group about their possible participation in the project and as I write up a second book chapter. It was uncanny how 12 months on, the ethics consent forms still exactly fit with how the research has unfolded.

Looking at the ethics consent forms helped me recall the excitement and vulnerability of starting a new research project and stepping into an overseas university ethics process. Along with joy at what has resulted and hopefulness about the ongoing future of this particular research project.

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.