8 Ways Qualitative Research Enhances Christian Mission

Every May and December, I typically get an itch to peruse new doctoral dissertations from North American Seminaries. I use ProQuest and my alumni access to explore the latest research. For one, it’s a great way to keep up with current research through "bibliography hopping." However, it also helps me keep tabs on the breadth and depth that Qualitative Research is being used in seminaries.

I remember attending my brother’s graduation from Seminary when I was 20. A vivid memory still haunts me now as a theological educator. I recall a group of people reading the titles of the doctoral dissertations and wondering (sometimes rather loudly through laughter), “What on Earth is that research good for?” Yes, I do believe sometimes we have an application problem within Qualitative Research.

In an effort to make Theological Education Research more accessible to a popular audience, here are 8 ways I see Qualitative Research benefitting Christian ministry and missions.

1. Culture Acquisition: Research and methodology both benefit the cultural acquisition of a missionary. Previous research allows the new missionary a depth of prior experience. Publishing research is an excellent way to improve the quality of thoughtful missionary service over the generations. Think of how much wisdom we have lost due to a lack of vision for publishing cultural knowledge and ethnology? Qualitative research allows missionaries to dive deeply into local cultures, traditions, and belief systems; facilitating a better understanding of the communities they serve. Even if a particular missionary doesn’t agree with the research they read (exercising their right to think) or the research is a bit outdated, it still provides a base from which to start asking new key informants for their perspective.

2. Contextual Relevance: Qualitative Research, by nature, is a comparative study between at least two groups. The researcher, who is always a part of the interpretation process, and the host culture are at least one instance where the outsider/insider dynamic must communicate and participate. Usually, in research designs, there are other comparisons made. However, at the heart of qualitative research is an inductive approach to understanding. Therefore, qualitative design is the best tool to arrive at inductive, or in other words, contextual, understandings of the world. Yes, Qualitative research is a way to uncover perspectives, but it is also a process to construct contextualization.

3. Social Mapping: Modern cities are complex structures of geography, social status, networks, neighborhoods, language, and economic identities. Never before have there been so many variables to group people. Therefore, there are many more lines to draw to ensure a viable church planting strategy meets every need for a particular city. Qualitative methods provide insight into community structures, relationships, and dynamics, enabling missionaries to engage more effectively.

4. Identification of Challenges: The ministry of a missionary often involves meeting, understanding, and overcoming obstacles one after another. Through methods such as in-depth interviews, observations, and focus groups; missionaries can identify and understand the challenges and obstacles faced by the community. Identifying the problems from an inductive methodology allows for participatory action solutions, more likely creating sustainable solutions.

5. Strategic Entry Points: The gospel and the Bible provide life-giving hope. Often, the way to belief journeys through moments of difficulty or despair. We see Jesus do this through situations like a crisis of belief, sickness, death, ignorance, and confrontation. Simply put, bad situations place us in positions to receive the good news. Qualitative methodology helps identify the bridges to gospel hope the community is ready to hear. Similar to Cornelius in Acts 10, we see God preparing the hearts of groups of people in the field, and qualitative research is an active listening process to apply the hope of the gospel.

6. Discovering Local Solutions: By listening to community voices, qualitative research can reveal local solutions and resources that can be leveraged for sustainable development and growth. This process can be called participatory action research or asset-based community development. In-depth interviews and saturation to a research question are key to excelling in participatory action research.

7. Evaluating Impact: Missionaries exist to promote the growth of the church in breadth and depth. Both are important. We want more churches, more disciples, and more changed lives. But the quality of the “more” matter as well. Qualitative research allows us to measure the quality of our efforts as we evaluate inductive research data against the quality control of theological values.

8. Empowering Local Voices: Typically, in 2024, a missionary rarely serves in a place without a single Christian, or at least without a near culture Christian presence. I believe the best way to compound Christian witness in missions is to raise near culture voices to the masses. Qualitative research methods empower local individuals to share their stories, perspectives, and aspirations, giving them a voice in decision-making processes. In this process, researchers become familiar with stories that could change the context. Also, key informants are often people that the missionary should champion the solutions represented in the research. The process should produce national, contextual partners in the ministry.

Qualitative Research in Theological Education is not an exercise of vanity. The data could and should be used towards applicable formation in the Christian mission field. To do this, we must always remember the ways that methodology builds practical bridges to our local contexts. We also must champion the love of understanding across cultural gaps, whether near or far. There is no better academic methodology than Qualitative Research to promote cultural understanding for effective Christian ministry and missions.