There is not a person on this globe who has not been affected in some way by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a society we are still only scratching the surface of its impact. Future decades will show its far reaching ripple effects, but even a few years removed we have begun processing the impact it has made on pastors and their churches. As a pastor who cares deeply about learning from and with our mission partners around the globe I am particularly excited about the possibility of engaging with these partners about the impacts they have experienced.

My primary research will be with the global mission partners of our local congregation. It will focus on subjective data from local pastors and lay leaders through interviews and a survey. Objective data will be collected from the churches (as available) based on the metrics that the congregation chooses to track but will seek to include attendance, participation, and finances. It is my hope that we can begin to make meaning of the incredible experience we have gone through and, more importantly, learn from each other about the possible new avenues of ministry that have since been opened.