‘To be or not to be.’ In 2020, as Covid-19 spread to disrupt the communal and embodied life of congregations, two enthusiasts for Congregational Studies in the UK, Helen Cameron and I, were pondering whether there was a future, or not, for Congregational Studies. Were we remnants of a dying species or were others like us also interested in studying congregations?
It turns out that the answer is ‘yes, and…’
We organized a 2025 online symposium* that included scholars and ministry practitioners from the UK and USA. The plenary papers and several responses to conversations and themes that emerged in the symposium were recently published in the journal Practical Theology special issue 19:2: ‘Congregational Studies in the UK and USA (2005 – 2025)’ [https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/yprt20/19/2?nav=tocList]. Here is some of what we learned.
- *Yes, there has been a good deal of recent work, but mostly driven by ministry practitioners. A fresh case is required to advocate the value of Congregational Studies to denominational leaders and the academy.
- *Yes, there is much territory still to cover. Congregational Studies in the UK will benefit from enlarging the picture of what is happening by including ‘Missing or Infrequent Voices’ like the Orthodox and Roman Catholic denominations, and attending to the growing range of diaspora congregations, such as Chinese, Latin American, and South Asian.
- *Yes, there are also critical voices to be heard. Congregational Studies can benefit from intentionally engaging in critical perspectives to recognise the positionality of the researcher and to heed postcolonial perspectives to enable mutual learning across ethnic, cultural and denominational boundaries.
- *Yes, congregational gathering spaces are ripe for study. Congregational Studies can contribute to a realm of ‘Neglected Spaces’ rarely considered as public and civic life is reconfigured — cathedrals, digital and hybrid gatherings for worship, and the practice of church planting need new attention.
- *Yes, theology’s increasing engagement with lived experience means that there can be a fruitful conversation between Congregational Studies and the social sciences.
- *Yes, Congregational Studies can make innovative contributions to knowledge by studying ‘Internal Processes’ within congregations, a feature little studied on both sides of the Atlantic, like governance, conflict, transmission of Christianity, and formation of social attitudes and political dispositions.
“There is much territory still to cover.”
In the UK and beyond, there is much room for innovative new research on congregations.
*This symposium was a partnership between the Centre for Baptist Studies, Regent’s Park College, Oxford, and Westcott House, Cambridge, an Anglican Theological College. A further online symposium is planned over 23-24 February 2028. Contact Alan Kerry to be added to mailing list: alan.kerry@regents.ox.ac.uk .
