Research

Seeing the big picture

Since the 1960s the pace of change in society has been relentless. For the church this has meant facing the ending of Christendom and beginning to discover how to live without it. In changing times organisations need to be research-led in strategic decision making. Today's church is no different. 

The Sheffield Centre, founded in 1997 by Church Army plays a vital research role. We have supplied information that has changed minds. Our task is to watch for the fingerprints of our missionary God. Where is he sending pioneers? What do they create and how? What are they learning that the rest of us should notice?

Research at the Sheffield Centre

The majority of our research is based on visiting places where we hear God's mission in Christ is moving forward in fresh ways.  We also either meet up with or read what others are learning and compare notes to increase our understanding of how these new ventures work.

The things that particularly interst us are the dynamics behind the activity or adventure, and then connecting across stories to discover commonalities and patterns. This process then leads us to shape theories to make sense of what we see and hear, and test these ideas against further examples that emerge. The results are then often written up in one of our publications - see the  Publications page.

Our hope is that we can add to theological understanding of the Church and Mission today, leading to changed practise and friutfulness of our wider church.