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Practical theology method and congregations

What is practical theology method and congregations?

Practical theology method and congregations is the study of faith as practiced, by describing, interpreting, judging and acting, and of the local congregation as the unit of study. Its methods run from see, judge, act to Richard Osmer's four tasks; congregational studies reads a congregation through ecology, theology, culture, resources and process.

  • 86Sources
  • 9Traditions
  • 16Dated entries
  • 12Minutes

Study v1.1, 9 November 2026

Practical theology method and congregations

At a glance

Why it matters for reading Scripture

How practical theology studies faith as practiced in real congregations: describing, interpreting, judging and acting. Most congregations are small, while most churchgoers attend large ones.

What the study found

Practical theology studies faith as practised: describing, interpreting, judging and acting. Congregational studies read ecology, theology, culture, resources and process. Most congregations are small; most churchgoers attend large ones.

Where traditions divide

Traditions divide on what counts as a church, who may lead and teach, who approves resources, and whether health means growth, faithfulness, holiness or justice; scholars debate Scripture's place.

How the traditions compare

  • Catholic

    Holds that churches with apostolic succession and a valid Eucharist are true particular churches, and that communities without a valid episcopate are not churches in the proper sense.

    The method see, judge, act entered Catholic teaching in Mater et Magistra (1961). Catholic respondents to Osmer asked how the sensus fidelium and the communion of saints would fit his normative task.

    Sources1–3

  • Lutheran and Reformed

    The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod requires that all material of a religious or theological nature published by its agencies, including Concordia Publishing House, pass doctrinal review to certify that it accords with Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions.

    In 2023 the Synod's president asked for distribution of a new catechism explanation to stop while critiques were weighed, then allowed it to resume. Osmer writes from a Reformed perspective, and a Reformed critic of Natural Church Development asks who chose its eight characteristics and objects to placing research beside Scripture as a guide.

    Sources3–7

  • Anglican and Methodist

    The Anglican Communion defines a healthy congregation by the Five Marks of Mission, from proclaiming the gospel to safeguarding creation, while the Church of England's statistics measure it by counts of worshippers.

    Theological action research was used with eight sites in the Methodist Church in Britain from 2016 to 2020.

    Sources8–10

  • Baptist and independent

    Baptists define the church as an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, governed under Christ by democratic processes, and are led by pastors the congregation calls.

    Many congregations, especially Baptist, Pentecostal and independent ones, choose their own material under their own authority. The ministry 9Marks defines health by nine marks beginning with preaching.

    Sources11–12

  • Pentecostal

    Classical churches such as the Apostolic Faith Mission, whose local assemblies are each led by a pastor and governing body within national structures, differ from newer independent charismatic churches.

    Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu notes that Pentecostal churches such as the Redeemed Christian Church of God and Winners' Chapel in Nigeria seat more than 50,000 people, while Ghana's Church of Pentecost refuses to build mega-sized churches as a matter of discipleship policy. Donald Miller and Tetsunao Yamamori, visiting Pentecostal churches with social ministries in twenty countries, called the movement they found "Progressive Pentecostalism".

    Sources13–15

  • African Independent

    Treats the church as a worshipping community under its own leaders; Allan Anderson's comparative study of Pentecostal and Zionist or Apostolic churches in South Africa sets out their worship, liturgy and growth.

    The Zion Christian Church, founded about 1924 to 1925 by Engenas Lekganyane with its headquarters at Moria, has been estimated at 2 to 6 million members in more than 4,000 parishes, a historical range rather than a current count. A second church, the St Engenas Zion Christian Church, also traces its line to Engenas Lekganyane.

    Sources16–17

  • Confessional approach (South Africa)

    The first of three approaches Coenie Burger identified among South African practical theologians, in a research project launched in 1988: it draws on Scripture alone, taking Scripture as its only source.

    Sources18

  • Interactive approach (South Africa)

    The second of Burger's three approaches works with the human sciences.

    Sources18

  • Contextual approach (South Africa)

    The third of Burger's three approaches aims at social transformation.

    Sources18

How the field developed

  1. Modern
    1811

    Schleiermacher's Brief Outline divides theology into philosophical, historical and practical theology, held together by the task of church leadership. In that scheme practical theology is the crown of theology but also, as later critics put it, a "technology" for applying what the other disciplines had found.19

  2. Modern
    15 May 1961

    In Mater et Magistra John XXIII describes three stages for putting social principles into practice, "look, judge, act", and asks young people to learn the method.2

  3. Modern
    1970

    Donald McGavran's Understanding Church Growth argues that people "like to become Christians without crossing racial, linguistic or class barriers", the homogeneous unit principle.2021

  4. Modern
    31 May to 2 June 1977

    The Lausanne Movement's Pasadena Consultation debates the homogeneous unit principle. Its agreed statement holds that a homogeneous unit church can be a legitimate church but can never be complete in itself.21

  5. Modern
    1980

    Joe Holland and Peter Henriot turn see, judge, act into the pastoral circle in Social Analysis (Orbis edition 1983): insertion into a situation, social analysis of its causes, theological reflection and pastoral planning.2223

  6. Modern
    1987

    James Hopewell's Congregation: Stories and Structures is published, arguing that each congregation tells its own story using forms common to the wider world. Hopewell passed away in October 1984, leaving a complete third draft.24252627

  7. Modern
    1988

    Coenie Burger launches a research project that identifies three approaches among South African practical theologians: confessional, interactive and contextual. By the end of the 1980s the field there had moved from service to the Word toward an action science.18

  8. Modern
    1 to 4 August 1991

    The International Academy of Practical Theology is founded at Princeton by seven men and one woman, among them Don Browning and Richard Osmer, after meetings in 1990 at Blaubeuren and at Elspeet. In the same year Browning's A Fundamental Practical Theology argues that all theology is governed by practical interests.2829

  9. Modern
    1994

    The British and Irish Association for Practical Theology is founded. Robert Wuthnow's Sharing the Journey, published the same year, calls the small-group movement a "quiet revolution".303132

  10. Modern
    1997

    The International Journal of Practical Theology begins, published by De Gruyter in English and German. Its first issue opens with Osmer's map of "rationality in practical theology".3334

  11. Modern
    1998

    Studying Congregations: A New Handbook, edited by Nancy Ammerman, Jackson Carroll, Carl Dudley and William McKinney, revises the handbook of 1986. The National Congregations Study begins its surveys of nationally representative samples of American congregations, repeated in 2006-07, 2012 and 2018-19.35363738

  12. Modern
    2004

    Willow Creek Community Church begins its REVEAL survey, reported in Reveal: Where Are You? (2007). Jurgens Hendriks' Studying Congregations in Africa is the first project of the Network for African Congregational Theology.3940

  13. Modern
    2008

    Richard Osmer's Practical Theology: An Introduction is written for congregational leaders as "interpretive guides". The journal Contact, published since 1960, is renamed Practical Theology.413042

  14. Modern
    2011 to 2013

    The Church of England's Church Growth Research Programme runs, reported as From Anecdote to Evidence on 16 January 2014. Its researchers found factors associated with growth without necessarily establishing cause.4344

  15. Modern
    2015

    CODEC at Durham University becomes a full research center in July and launches the first MA in digital theology. The International Academy of Practical Theology meets in Pretoria.4546

  16. Modern
    2025 to 2026

    The Society for Practical Theology in South Africa meets at North-West University's Vanderbijlpark campus on digital technologies and artificial intelligence in 2025, and at the University of Pretoria in 2026.4748

How to study practical theology method and congregations

The questions it asks

  • What is going on in a congregation's practice, and why is it going on?41
  • What ought to be going on, and how might the congregation respond?4149
  • Where do Scripture and tradition sit in the method, and which voice of theology governs when operant, espoused, normative and formal theology differ?5051
  • What gives a congregation life?52
  • What faith does a congregation live and say, and how do its community, stories, decisions and resources shape it?3553
  • Do the traits that growing congregations share explain why they grow?44

Its method

Start

  1. Describe what is going on: Osmer's descriptive-empirical task, paired with priestly listening4149.

  2. Interpret why it is going on: the interpretive task, paired with sagely wisdom4149.

  3. Ask what ought to be going on: the normative task of prophetic discernment, where Scripture and tradition speak414950.

  4. Decide how to respond: the pragmatic task of servant leadership; the tasks are distinct but connected, and the interpreter moves between them in a spiral4149.

  5. Read the congregation through the frames of congregational studies: ecology, theology, culture, resources and process, with leadership in a chapter of its own3553.

  6. Listen with qualitative research and ethnography: Moschella treats ethnography as a disciplined way of listening to a congregation, from research design to writing a theological account of what is found5455.

  7. In theological action research, form a team of insiders and outside researchers whose conversation hears theology in four voices: operant, espoused, normative and formal5610.

  8. Treat ethics and power as part of the method: the researcher is often also the pastor, and research that asks questions only in English hears only some voices5557.

What to read

Its primary witnesses

  • The National Congregations Study, with nationally representative samples of American congregations in 1998, 2006-07, 2012 and 2018-19, drawn from the congregations named by General Social Survey respondents who attend services373858.
  • Faith Communities Today, which found that seven in ten American congregations have 100 or fewer weekly attenders59.
  • The Church of England's Statistics for Mission, which counts usual Sunday attendance, average Sunday and weekly attendance over four weeks in October, and the worshipping community9.
  • The megachurch surveys of 2000, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2015 and 2020 by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research with partners, and a 2026 report on megachurch attendance in 20256061.
  • The Lake Institute's National Study of Congregations' Economic Practices, published in 2019, which surveyed just over 1,200 American congregations of all faiths6263.
  • Congregational case studies, such as Ammerman's 23 congregations in nine American communities facing major change and the three congregational studies around which Browning built his book6465.
  • The 116 identity analyses of congregations in Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique gathered by the Network for African Congregational Theology66.
  • The Church of England's Church Growth Research Programme, with research strands on attendance data, cathedrals, fresh expressions, amalgamations and church planting4344.
  • Congregations' own stories, which Hopewell grouped, after Northrop Frye, into four world views: canonic, gnostic, charismatic and empiric2567.

Standard reference works

  • Don Browning's A Fundamental Practical Theology (Fortress, 1991)29.
  • Richard Osmer's Practical Theology: An Introduction (Eerdmans, 2008)4149.
  • The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Practical Theology (2012), edited by Bonnie Miller-McLemore, the first comprehensive reference work for the field6869.
  • Elaine Graham, Heather Walton and Frances Ward, Theological Reflection: Methods (SCM, 2005; second edition 2019)7071.
  • John Swinton and Harriet Mowat, Practical Theology and Qualitative Research (2006; second edition 2016)54.
  • Pete Ward's Introducing Practical Theology (Baker Academic, 2017)72.
  • Mary Clark Moschella's Ethnography as a Pastoral Practice (2008; second edition 2023)7355.
  • Killen and de Beer's The Art of Theological Reflection (Crossroad, 1994)74.
  • Studying Congregations: A New Handbook (Abingdon, 1998)35.
  • Jurgens Hendriks' Studying Congregations in Africa (2004)40.
  • The International Journal of Practical Theology (De Gruyter, since 1997) and Practical Theology, published since 1960 under the name Contact3342.

Scholarship referenced in this study

The works below shaped the field and are cited in this study, from the earliest to the most recent. Hover over a book, or select it, to see its author and the sources behind it.

  • 1811Brief OutlineSchleiermacherBrief Outline (1811)SchleiermacherSources19
  • 1961Mater et MagistraJohn XXIIIMater et Magistra (1961)John XXIIISources2
  • 1970Understanding Church GrowthDonald McGavranUnderstanding Church Growth (1970)Donald McGavranSources20–21
  • 1980Social AnalysisJoe HollandSocial Analysis (1980)Joe Holland, with Peter HenriotSources22–23
  • 1987Congregation: Stories and StructuresJames HopewellCongregation: Stories and Structures (1987)James Hopewell (October 1984)Sources24–27
  • 1991A Fundamental Practical TheologyDon BrowningA Fundamental Practical Theology (1991)Don BrowningSources29
  • 1998Studying Congregations: A New HandbookNancy AmmermanStudying Congregations: A New Handbook (1998)Nancy Ammerman, with Jackson Carroll, Carl Dudley and William McKinneySources35–36
  • 2004Studying Congregations in AfricaJurgens HendriksStudying Congregations in Africa (2004)Jurgens HendriksSources40
  • 2005Theological Reflection: MethodsElaine GrahamTheological Reflection: Methods (2005)Elaine Graham, with Heather Walton and Frances WardSources70–71
  • 2006Practical Theology and Qualitative ResearchJohn SwintonPractical Theology and Qualitative Research (2006)John Swinton, with Harriet MowatSources54
  • 2008Practical Theology: An IntroductionRichard OsmerPractical Theology: An Introduction (2008)Richard OsmerSources41
  • 2012The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Practical TheologyBonnie Miller-McLemoreThe Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Practical Theology (2012)Bonnie Miller-McLemoreSources68

Listed because this study draws on their published work; no association with or endorsement of Numa Verse is implied. Suggest a correction.

Key terms

The words that carry the most weight in this field, each defined from the sources of this study. Turn a card over to read its definition.

A term with four uses, on Bonnie Miller-McLemore's account: a way of life among believers, a method for studying theology in practice, a curriculum for educating ministers, and an academic discipline; confusion arises when one use is treated as the only one75.

The older sense of practical theology as training ministers in the offices of preaching, liturgy, teaching and care.

Three stages, described in Mater et Magistra (1961), for putting social principles into practice: review the concrete situation, judge it in the light of those principles, and decide what can and should be done2.

Holland and Henriot's form of see, judge, act: insertion into a situation, social analysis of its causes, theological reflection and pastoral planning, repeated as evaluation sends the group round again2223.

Richard Osmer's frame for practical theology: descriptive-empirical, interpretive, normative and pragmatic, each a question with a role for the leader4149.

In theological action research, theology heard as operant, in what a community does; espoused, in what it says it believes; normative, in Scripture, creeds and church teaching; and formal, in the academy5610.

The study that treats the local congregation as the unit of study; the authors of its handbook present it as practical theology36.

A method developed by David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva in the 1980s that studies an organization's strengths rather than its problems, in a 4-D cycle of discovery, dream, design and destiny52.

The Ujamaa Centre's African method of reading Scripture in groups, which starts from the lived realities of poor and marginalized communities and is intentionally contextual7677.

Donald McGavran's argument that people like to become Christians without crossing racial, linguistic or class barriers; the Pasadena Consultation held that a homogeneous unit church can never be complete in itself2021.

Where it sits

Builds on

Practical theology method and congregations

Questions people ask

No. Most congregations are small, but most churchgoers attend large ones37. In the American National Congregations Study of 2018-19 the median congregation had 70 regular participants and a budget of $100,000, while the average churchgoer attended a congregation of 360, and the largest 9 percent of congregations held about half of all churchgoers78. In the Church of England in 2024 the middle church had an average weekly attendance of 269.

Not on the evidence of Willow Creek Community Church's REVEAL survey, a self-report survey the church's own team designed and ran: it reported that rising participation in church activities did not predict whether people were growing in faith, on its own self-reported measures39. A sociologist noted that other readings of its data were possible, and a published review pointed out that it did not compare churches with different models or follow people over time7980.

Growth research can show which congregations are growing and what they share, but not what will make a given congregation grow. The Church of England's researchers found factors associated with growth without necessarily establishing cause, and their model explained only a quarter of reported growth44. In southern Ontario, Haskell, Flatt and Burgoyne found that growing mainline Protestant churches and their clergy held more conservative beliefs, in a small, regional sample that compares churches at one time8182. Critics of Natural Church Development write that Christian Schwarz does not give enough detail for others to replicate his study83.

It is the method's most debated question. Osmer's normative task is where they speak, but practical theologians differ on the sources of justification they admit50. Burger's confessional approach takes Scripture as its only source18, the four voices place normative theology beside operant and espoused theology without settling which governs51, and evangelical reviews of Graham, Walton and Ward object that some of their methods treat biblical tradition as a problem to be fixed84.

A 2017 survey by Hennie Pieterse found that his colleagues at Stellenbosch, the Free State, Pretoria, UNISA and North-West all work with practical theological hermeneutics85. The Society for Practical Theology in South Africa, one of the country's oldest academic societies, meets each January86. At the University of KwaZulu-Natal, the Ujamaa Centre grew from the late 1980s, when biblical scholars and communities in conflict read the Bible together; its Contextual Bible Study starts from the lived realities of poor and marginalized communities7776.

Contribute to practical theology method and congregations

Register to contribute

  1. 1Dominus Iesus (The Holy See)https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000806_dominus-iesus_en.html (opens in a new tab)
  2. 2Mater et Magistra (The Holy See)https://www.vatican.va/content/john-xxiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_j-xxiii_enc_15051961_mater.html (opens in a new tab)
  3. 3Practical Theology session on Osmer (CTSA Proceedings 64)https://ejournals.bc.edu/index.php/ctsa/article/download/4953/4425/9292 (opens in a new tab)
  4. 4Doctrinal Review FAQ (Concordia Publishing House)https://about.cph.org/faq.html (opens in a new tab)
  5. 5Opinion on CPH and doctrinal review (LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters)https://files.lcms.org/api/file/preview/FE83081E-13C7-47AC-82B5-393A975651D5 (opens in a new tab)
  6. 6On the LCMS catechism explanation paused and resumed, 7 February 2023 (Christianity Today)https://www.christianitytoday.com/2023/02/lutheran-catechism-concordia-publishing-critics-matthew-har/ (opens in a new tab)
  7. 7Book review of Schwarz, Natural Church Development (9Marks)https://www.9marks.org/?p=342 (opens in a new tab)
  8. 8The Five Marks of Mission (Anglican Communion Office)https://www.anglicancommunion.org/mission/marks-of-mission.aspx (opens in a new tab)
  9. 9Statistics for Mission 2024 (Church of England Data Services)https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2025-10/statisticsformission2024.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  10. 10Researching the grassroots experience of faith learning (Church Mission Society)https://churchmissionsociety.org/?p=19545 (opens in a new tab)
  11. 11The Baptist Faith and Message 2000, Article VI The Church (Southern Baptist Convention)https://bfm.sbc.net/bfm2000/ (opens in a new tab)
  12. 12The Nine Marks (9Marks)https://www.9marks.org/about/the-nine-marks/ (opens in a new tab)
  13. 13Our Structure (Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa)https://afm-ags.org/our-structure/ (opens in a new tab)
  14. 14Asamoah-Gyadu, Megachurches and Their Implications for Christian Mission (Lausanne Movement)https://lausanne.org/global-analysis/megachurches-and-their-implications-for-christian-mission (opens in a new tab)
  15. 15Wenger, review of Miller and Yamamori, Global Pentecostalism (Catholic Books Review)https://catholicbooksreview.org/2008/miller.htm (opens in a new tab)
  16. 16Anderson, Zion and Pentecost (University of Birmingham research portal)https://research.birmingham.ac.uk/en/publications/zion-and-pentecost-the-spirituality-and-experience-of-pentecostal (opens in a new tab)
  17. 17Zion Christian Church (ZCC) (South African History Online)https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/zion-christian-church-zcc (opens in a new tab)
  18. 18Louw, Ta splanchna: A theopaschitic approach to a hermeneutics of God's praxis (HTS Teologiese Studies)https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/1087/2000 (opens in a new tab)
  19. 19Review of Browning, A Fundamental Practical Theology (Zygon)https://zygonjournal.org/article/12545/galley/25467/download (opens in a new tab)
  20. 20The Homogeneous Unit Principle: A Revaluation (Evangelical Review of Theology, gospelstudies.org.uk)https://gospelstudies.org.uk/biblicalstudies/pdf/evangelical-review-of-theology/ert_07-2_homogeneous.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  21. 21Lausanne Occasional Paper 1, The Pasadena Consultation: Homogeneous Unit Principle (Lausanne Movement)https://lausanne.org/occasional-paper/lop-1 (opens in a new tab)
  22. 22Social Analysis: Linking Faith and Justice, revised edition (CiNii)https://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BA30504153 (opens in a new tab)
  23. 23Pastoral Circle: See, Judge, Act (Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns)https://archive.maryknollogc.org/files/pastoral_circle_see_judge_act_2pager.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  24. 24Hopewell, Congregation: Stories and Structures, publisher's description (Christianbook)https://www.christianbook.com/congregation-stories-james-hopewell/9780800619565/pd/19560 (opens in a new tab)
  25. 25Hopewell, Congregation: Stories and Structures (Religion Online)https://www.religion-online.org/?p=8951 (opens in a new tab)
  26. 26Hopewell, Congregation, Editor's Foreword (Religion Online)https://www.religion-online.org/?p=9346 (opens in a new tab)
  27. 27Hopewell, Congregation: Stories and Structures (Fortress Press)https://www.fortresspress.com/store/productgroup/1732/Congregation (opens in a new tab)
  28. 28History (International Academy of Practical Theology)https://www.ia-practicaltheology.org/history/ (opens in a new tab)
  29. 29Grounding Theology in Practice, review of Browning (Religion Online)https://www.religion-online.org/?p=6011 (opens in a new tab)
  30. 30Lyall and Ballard, Soil, roots and shoots: the emergence of BIAPT (Perlego)https://perlego.com/book/2607013/celebrating-the-past-present-and-future-of-british-and-irish-practical-theology-roots-shoots-and-fruits-pdf (opens in a new tab)
  31. 31Review of Wuthnow, Sharing the Journey (Spirituality and Practice)https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/book-reviews/view/8025/sharing-the-journey (opens in a new tab)
  32. 32Americans Find Solace in Small Groups (Gallup)https://news.gallup.com/poll/5713/americans-find-solace-small-groups.aspx (opens in a new tab)
  33. 33International Journal of Practical Theology (De Gruyter Brill)https://www.degruyterbrill.com/journal/key/ijpt/html?lang=en (opens in a new tab)
  34. 34Schweitzer, Mapping practical theology (Bohrium)https://www.bohrium.com/scholar/61432088/Solange_Lefebvre (opens in a new tab)
  35. 35Studying Congregations: A New Handbook (Hartford Institute for Religion Research)https://hirr.hartsem.edu/bookshelf/bookshelf_studyng_cong.html (opens in a new tab)
  36. 36Reber, review of Studying Congregations (Christian Century)https://christiancentury.org/node/30175 (opens in a new tab)
  37. 37Congregations in 21st Century America (National Congregations Study, Duke University)https://sites.duke.edu/ncsweb/files/2022/02/NCSIV_Report_Web_FINAL2.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  38. 38Tracking the professional and economic outlook of congregations (NORC at the University of Chicago)https://www.norc.org/research/library/tracking-the-professional-and-economic-outlook-of-congregations.html (opens in a new tab)
  39. 39Willow Creek Repents? (Christianity Today, Leadership Journal)https://www.christianitytoday.com/?p=185716 (opens in a new tab)
  40. 40Hendriks, Networking theological education in Africa: the NetACT story (NGTT)https://ngtt.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/255/367 (opens in a new tab)
  41. 41Kevin Gary Smith, review of Osmer, Practical Theology: An Introduction (Conspectus, SATS)https://www.sats.edu.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Smith_ReviewOsmer.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  42. 42Contact: Practical Theology and Pastoral Care, journal overview (Taylor & Francis)https://www.tandfonline.com/yprt19 (opens in a new tab)
  43. 43From Anecdote to Evidence, findings and reports (Church of England)https://www.churchofengland.org/resources/church-growth-research-programme/findings-and-reports (opens in a new tab)
  44. 44Anglican Church Growth and Other News (British Religion in Numbers)https://www.brin.ac.uk/anglican-church-growth-and-other-news/ (opens in a new tab)
  45. 45Dr Peter Phillips, staff profile (Durham University)https://durham.ac.uk/staff/p-m-phillips (opens in a new tab)
  46. 46President's Newsletter, January 2015 (International Academy of Practical Theology)https://www.ia-practicaltheology.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/IAPT_President_s_Newsletter_Jan2015.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  47. 47SPTSA conference on digital technologies, January 2025 (North-West University news)https://news.nwu.ac.za/nwu-plays-host-conference-impact-digital-technologies-practical-theology (opens in a new tab)
  48. 48Call for Papers: SPTSA 2026 Conference (International Academy of Practical Theology)https://www.ia-practicaltheology.org/call-for-papers-sptsa-2026-conference-closing-29-august/ (opens in a new tab)
  49. 49Osmer, Practical Theology: An Introduction (Barnes & Noble)https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/practical-theology-richard-r-osmer/1102879955 (opens in a new tab)
  50. 50Osmer's consensus of four tasks (Acta Theologica)https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/at/article/download/2724/2650/5203 (opens in a new tab)
  51. 51Watkins, Theology in four voices, in Disclosing Church (Taylor & Francis)https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/mono/10.4324/9781315142531-5/theology-four-voices-clare-watkins (opens in a new tab)
  52. 52Appreciative Inquiry: The Power of the Unconditional Positive Question (Calhoun, Naval Postgraduate School)https://calhoun.nps.edu/bitstream/handle/10945/40458/Barrett_Appreciative_Inquiry_2001.pdf?sequence=1 (opens in a new tab)
  53. 53Frames for Study (Studying Congregations, Center for Practical Theology, Boston University)https://studyingcongregations.org/frames-for-study/ (opens in a new tab)
  54. 54Practical Theology and Qualitative Research, second edition (SCM Press)https://scmpress.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9780334049883/practical-theology-and-qualitative-research---second-edition (opens in a new tab)
  55. 55Ethnography as a Pastoral Practice, second edition, contents (Perlego)https://www.perlego.com/book/3848155/ethnography-as-a-pastoral-practice-an-introduction-pdf (opens in a new tab)
  56. 56Review of Talking about God in Practice (ProQuest)https://www.proquest.com/docview/875883733 (opens in a new tab)
  57. 57Grohmann, From celebration to utilisation (Verbum et Ecclesia)https://verbumetecclesia.org.za/index.php/ve/article/view/2981 (opens in a new tab)
  58. 58National Congregations Study, Cumulative Codebook Waves I-IV (Duke University)https://sites.duke.edu/ncsweb/files/2020/09/NCS-I-IV-Cumulative-Codebook_FINAL_8Sept2020.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  59. 59On the 2025 National Survey of Religious Leaders (Christian Post)https://christianpost.com/news/most-pastors-lead-small-churches-but-more-attend-big-churches.html (opens in a new tab)
  60. 60Megachurch 2020: The Changing Reality in America's Largest Churches (Hartford Institute for Religion Research)https://hirr.hartfordinternational.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/2020_megachurch_report.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  61. 61Megachurch Resurgence: How Big-Attendance Churches Rebounded After the Pandemic (Hartford Institute for Religion Research)https://hirr.hartfordinternational.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Megachurch-Resurgence.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  62. 62Complexity revealed in congregational giving (Lilly Family School of Philanthropy blog)https://blog.philanthropy.indianapolis.iu.edu/2019/09/20/complexity-revealed-in-congregational-giving-landscape-study-on-congregations-economic-practices-released/ (opens in a new tab)
  63. 63Study analyzes role of religious congregations in disaster relief (Lake Institute on Faith & Giving)https://lakeinstitute.org/study-analyzes-role-of-religious-congregations-in-disaster-relief/ (opens in a new tab)
  64. 64Congregation and Community, with Choice review (Akademibokhandeln)https://www.akademibokhandeln.se/bok/congregation-and-community/9780813523354 (opens in a new tab)
  65. 65Browning, A Fundamental Practical Theology, contents (Fulcrum)https://fulcrum.org/concern/monographs/3n203z61n?locale=en (opens in a new tab)
  66. 66Hendriks, Multiplying Resources and Research in Africa: The NetACT Story (NGTT)https://ojs.reformedjournals.co.za/index.php/ngtt/article/view/1212 (opens in a new tab)
  67. 67Hopewell, Congregation, chapter 5, Parish Setting (Religion Online)https://www.religion-online.org/?p=9351 (opens in a new tab)
  68. 68The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Practical Theology (Wiley-VCH)https://www.wiley-vch.de/en/areas-interest/humanities-social-sciences/the-wiley-blackwell-companion-to-practical-theology-978-1-4443-3082-3 (opens in a new tab)
  69. 69The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Practical Theology, table of contents (University of Patras library)https://find.library.upatras.gr/Record/ocn768243930/TOC?lng=en (opens in a new tab)
  70. 70Review of Graham, Walton and Ward, Theological Reflection: Methods (Practical Matters)https://practicalmattersjournal.org/2010/03/01/theological-reflection-methods-review/ (opens in a new tab)
  71. 71Review of Theological Reflection: Methods, second edition (Theological Librarianship)https://serials.atla.com/theolib/article/view/3045/4019 (opens in a new tab)
  72. 72Ward, Introducing Practical Theology (Durham Research Online)https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/OutputFile/1122658 (opens in a new tab)
  73. 73Ethnography as a Pastoral Practice, second edition (The Pilgrim Press)https://thepilgrimpress.com/products/ethnography-as-a-pastoral-practice-2nd-ed-moschella (opens in a new tab)
  74. 74Talvacchia, on Killen and de Beer, The Art of Theological Reflection (New Theology Review)https://newtheologyreview.org/index_php/ntr/article/view/618/802.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  75. 75Review of The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Practical Theology (Practical Matters)https://practicalmattersjournal.org/2013/03/13/companion-to-practical-theology/ (opens in a new tab)
  76. 76West, Locating 'Contextual Bible Study' within biblical liberation hermeneutics and intercultural biblical hermeneutics (HTS Teologiese Studies)https://hts.org.za/index.php/HTS/article/view/2641/4873 (opens in a new tab)
  77. 77History (Ujamaa Centre, University of KwaZulu-Natal)https://ujamaa.ukzn.ac.za/history/ (opens in a new tab)
  78. 78Another major study confirms most American congregations are small but most churchgoers attend large congregations (Baptist News Global)https://baptistnews.com/article/another-major-study-confirms-most-american-congregations-are-small-but-most-churchgoers-attend-large-congregations/ (opens in a new tab)
  79. 79Bradley Wright on the REVEAL study (Christianity Today blog)https://christianitytoday.com/?p=185956 (opens in a new tab)
  80. 80Review of Reveal and Follow Me (Modern Reformation)https://www.modernreformation.org/resources/articles/reveal-where-are-you-and-follow-me-whats-next-for-you-by-greg-hawkins-and-cally-parkinson (opens in a new tab)
  81. 81Haskell, Flatt and Burgoyne, Theology Matters (Redeemer University)https://www.redeemer.ca/research-publications/theology-matters-comparing-the-traits-of-growing-and-declining-mainline-protestant-church-attendees-and-clergy/ (opens in a new tab)
  82. 82Growing churches vs. declining churches: Canadian study says 'Theology Matters' (GetReligion)https://getreligion.org/getreligion/2016/12/7/growing-churches-vs-declining-churches-canadian-study-says-theology-matters (opens in a new tab)
  83. 83Review of Schwarz, Natural Church Development (Journal of the American Society for Church Growth, CORE)https://core.ac.uk/download/483382502.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  84. 84Theological Reflection: Methods, review (Stephen Barkley)https://stephenbarkley.com/2026/08/26/theological-reflection-methods-elaine-graham-heather-walton-and-frances-ward/ (opens in a new tab)
  85. 85Pieterse, Scientific-theoretical research approach to practical theology in South Africa (HTS Teologiese Studies)https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/4483/9927 (opens in a new tab)
  86. 86Humanities Academic New Chair of Society of Practical Theology (UKZN Ndaba)https://ndabaonline.ukzn.ac.za/UkzndabaStory/Vol9-Issue11/Humanities%20Academic%20New%20Chair%20of%20Society%20of%20Practical%20Theology (opens in a new tab)

Page record

Reviewed and approved by Duane Herholdt, BA (Theology), Chief Executive Officer, Numa Verse

Study version: v1.1, 9 November 2026 (theology map v1.27)

Last reviewed: 9 November 2026

How these pages are made

  • 9 November 2026: First draft from the approved study v1.1.