We at First Presbyterian Church of Sylva have the unique opportunity to partner with researchers from the “Imagining Church Research Project” at Princeton Theological Seminary this fall, 2020.
What is this research for?
From George Mikoski, Associate Professor of Christian Education and Principle Investigator for this project:
Princeton Theological Seminary is conducting a qualitative study on congregational thriving, and your congregation has been highly recommended to us as a dynamic and creative worshiping community. After initial analysis, we have determined that we would like to include your congregation in our study. Your congregation would be part of a select group of 24 Protestant congregations in the USA!
We are interested in congregations that renew faith and hope in the expansiveness of God, the ministry of Jesus Christ, the creativity of the Holy Spirit, are doing interesting, exciting things, and are willing to share with us. Our study, which is part of a Lilly Endowment, Inc. grant will involve online data collection from a student researcher in late summer/fall of 2020, during which the researcher will view recordings of meetings and virtual worship, and conduct semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 2-8 congregational and community members via online video-chat. Based on this data (approximately 12-15 hours of time), our researchers will generate portraits of thriving congregations and communities to be shared for scholarly and public audiences. Before sharing the depiction of your congregation with scholars and the wider public, you and your leaders would have a chance to provide feedback and suggestions for revision.
At the beginning of 2021, we then will select 12 congregations from the initial pool of 24 to continue in our participatory research study of thriving congregations. This latter phase of the study will involve: giving each church a small financial grant, bringing congregational teams to the Princeton Theological Seminary campus (when it is safe to do so in 2021 and/or 2022 with all expenses paid); and having an in-person visit to your congregation by one of our researchers.
Who is our researcher?
From Ben Kreider, research assistant:
I’m from central Kansas and am a 2nd year Master of Divinity Student at Princeton Seminary. I have a background in social work, prison ministry, and hope to serve within the Mennonite Church. I love cooking, BBQ, soccer, and the outdoors. I'm especially intrigued to learn from your experiences as a smaller church in a beautiful location (I wish I could meet you all in person!) and how you all have been impacted in these past months.
Please contact the church office or Pastor Blake if you would like to talk further.