This is how our work makes a difference
Finding out about diaspora churches across Scotland, we've been in touch with over 200 congregations to hear the stories of their mission in Scotland. While traditional churches may have seen numbers fall, diaspora congregations are springing up in many towns and cities.
From European Orthodox congregations to African Pentecostal churches, from Ayr to Thurso, our report paints a new picture of God at work in Scotland today.
Listening to the voices of many people can be difficult. How do you ensure that everyone is heard, that loud voices don't drown out quieter ones?
Brendan Research provided technical expertise in quantitative and qualitative listening as well as reporting and infographics to allow BUGB and the Church of England in LLF to hear the voices of their people.
Using a strongly qualitative approach, this research explores chaplaincy in primary, secondary and FE contexts to gather wisdom and offer advice for CofE dioceses as they bid for national money to develop chaplaincy as part of their strategic mission planning.
At the heart of this research lies the question to what extent can chaplaincy help with the CofE’s national priorities for mission, especially to see a church that is growing younger and more diverse, but also in growing a church of missionary disciples where mixed ecology is the norm.
The Your Local Pantry network has expanded hugely in the last couple of years. Brendan Research set up the survey and is analysing responses from hundreds of Pantry members, learning what is important to them, and enabling the voices of Pantry members to be heard by funders and leaders at local and national levels.
As the Dioceses of the Church in Wales formed new Ministry Area structures, Brendan Research provided dashboards to help congregations, priests and diocesan staff understand their new areas.
In both Welsh and English, the dashboards contain the latest information on deprivation and population as well as Census data. Church in Wales area statistics are also included.
This work included modelling ministry-area-level statistics and generating maps, charts and tables to display data in helpful ways for each ministry area.
Brendan Research worked with the Church of England to listen to its parishioners who have engaged with the "Living in Love and Faith" course - a five week course discussing questions about identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage, and asking what it means to live in love and faith together as a church. We assisted with the design of a questionnaire to gather quantitative and qualitative responses, and analysed the thousands of submissions, presenting the results in graphs, infographics, maps and thematic analyses.
Our reports were published in September 2022 are available here.
