Edgy Faith and Edgy Learning Report, Prof Clare Watkins, Dr James Butler and Dr Ian Jones.
We are delighted to announce the report of the Edgy Learning Project. Working with 7 sites which are in some ways “edgy” this theological action research project explored faith and how it grows, develops and is passed on in places experienced as “edgy”. Some were “edgy” in relation to church, like chaplaincy and pioneering ministry; others were “edgy” socio-economically, facing challenges of unemployment and cost-of-living; and others were “edgy” in other ways concerning race, ethnicity, and working with prison leavers. What we found were the joys and challenges of faith in those places of edginess. We reflected together on a wide range of issues that arose from the work within the sites: the challenges of faith being passed on; the ways in which faith is discerned in these different contexts; the effect of pressures from funders and sponsoring denominations on work at the edges; the importance of agency and being known for people living at the edges; the glimpses of what edgy spirituality looks like; the things more mainstream churches can learn from such edgy experiences; and questions of how such work might – and might not – be replicated in other places. The research was carried out by Clare Watkins and James Butler working at the University of Roehampton, and Ian Jones from the St Peter’s Saltley Trust. The research was funded by the the St Peter’s Saltley Trust and the Susanna Wesley Foundation. The report can be read here. Edgy Faith and Learning – project report – The Susanna Wesley Foundation.
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Holy Communion Online Report, Dr James Butler and Dr Ashley Cocksworth.
The report from the theological action research project looking at the practice of Holy Communion Online in the Methodist Church is also due to be released. Contributing to the work of the Methodist Faith and Order Committee making their recommendations to the Methodist Conference, this research looked at 5 different groups currently engaging in Holy Communion Online in the Methodist Church. It was carried out by Ashley Cocksworth and James Butler at the University of Roehampton and funded by the Susanna Wesley Foundation. The research seeks to contribute to the conversation around the celebration of Holy Communion online by drawing on the theology developing within the actually practice. We found that not only did people experience it as meaningful communion, but for many it was experienced as an intensification of that experience. The report explores the ways in which the lived practice of Holy Communion online contributes to the theological discussion. Read the report here: Online Communion – The Susanna Wesley Foundation.
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How to do theological action research: A Theological Action Research Field Guide, edited by Stefanie Conradt, 2025.
The Theological Action Research Field Guide is a multi-authored work, to which people across the network have contributed. Funded and designed by the Susanna Wesley Foundation, this field guide is aimed at doctoral students and practitioners working with theological action research. It offers practical guidance, exercises, reflection questions and experiential vignettes that will enable and encourage theological action researchers to master their own project and research journey. To access your own digital copy, please follow this link. You can find out more details on how to secure a hard copy on the website of the Susanna Wesley Foundation! To access the bibliography substantiating this work, please follow this link.
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Christian Faith and Christian Learning: a theological action research approach. Clare Watkins and James Butler, Routledge 2026.
This book is the fruit of a five-year theological action research project, that James and Clare carried out at eight ‘sites of learning’ in the British Methodist Church. In keeping with theological action research sensibilities, the main body of the book takes the reader on a journey of conversation and reflection, informed by contemporary practice and experience, scripture, academic theology, and the wider Christian tradition. What results is a radical reframing of how ‘Christian learning’ might be construed, privileging the ‘learning in ordinary’ of quotidian lived faith. Such a framing carries with it implications for how teaching, learning, and training is best understood for our churches, and contributes to renewed theological thinking on faith, knowing, and what it means to be a ‘disciple’ of Jesus.
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Cameron, Helen. “Theological Action Research.” In Messy Methods in Researching Religion, edited by Linda Woodhead et al. Oxford University Press, 2025.
In this chapter, Helen Cameron describes the origin of theological action research and illustrates the process involved when working with this methodology by drawing on a worked example from the ARCS project (see Cameron et al, Talking About God in Practice, 2010). Exploring the messiness when partnering with local teams, the chapter then draws on other researchers and students to demonstrate how this methodology has been used. This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of theological action research and a helpful starting point to learn more about this methodology.
The book is aimed at students wanting to explore a range of methodologies for studying religion and the messiness that can ensue.
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Watkins, Clare. Disclosing Church: An Ecclesiology Learned from Conversations in Practice. Routledge, 2020.
This book is a direct follow up to Talking About God in Practice: Theological Action research and Practical Theology, authored by one of the original researchers, providing a systematic analysis of the impact of the “theological action research” methodology and its implications for a contemporary ecclesiology. The book presents an ecclesiology generated from church practice, drawing on scholarship in the field as well as the results of the theological action research undertaken. It achieves this by including real scenarios alongside the academic discourse. This combination allows the author to tease out the complex relationship between the theory and the reality of church.
Addressing the need for a more developed theological and methodological account of the ARCS project, this is a book that will be of interest to scholars interested not only Western lived religion, but ecclesiology and theology more generally too.
Watkins, C. (2020) Disclosing Church: An Ecclesiology Learned from Conversations in Practice (Explorations in Practical, Pastoral and Empirical Theology). London: Routledge
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Watkins, C. and Shepherd, B. (2014). The Challenge of ‘Fresh Expressions’ to Ecclesiology: Reflections from the Practice of Messy Church. In: Ecclesial Practices 01 Jan 2014. Volume 1: Issue 1. Pages: 92–110 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/22144471-00101005
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Cameron, Helen, and Catherine Duce. Researching Practice in Mission and Ministry: A Companion. SCM, 2013.
This book is written for people engaged in ministry and mission, who wish to research either their practice or aspects of the Church and world that provide the context for their practice. The three purposes of this book are to demonstrate:
- how to design research that enables questions about practice to be answered;
- how to understand the underlying approach or methodology of research;
- how to manage a piece of research as a project alongside other responsibilities.
Cameron, H. and Duce, C. (2013) Researching Practice in Mission and Ministry: A Companion. London: SCM
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Cameron, Helen, and Deborah Bhatti, Catherine Duce, James Sweeney and Clare Watkins. Talking About God in Practice: Theological Action Research and Practical Theology. SCM, 2010.
This is the first book-length treatment of the ARCS project. Action Research: Church and Society was initiated by the Pastoral and Social Studies Department of Heythrop College, University of London in 2006. One year in, the project became a collaboration with the oxford Centre for Ecclesiology and Practical Theology at Ripon College, Cuddesdon, a Church of England Theological College. This book reports two main outcomes. First, a methodology called theological action research, and second, a model for theological reflection, called the four voices of theology.
Cameron, H., Bhatti, D., Duce, C., Sweeney, J. and Watkins, C. (2010) Talking about God in practice: theological action research and practical theology. London: SCM
Theology and Action Research Network 