Research

CYM's Research Centre

The CYM Research Centre launched in March 2024, with the aim of drawing together people who are interested and active in research amongst children, family and youth ministries. We are keen to ensure that the work we do strengthens the church, specifically these ministry areas, so that ministry practice is research informed. 

We have a number of ongoing projects before we end operations in August 2026.

• Research-informed Ministry Training: This collaborative project with Trinity College and Cliff College, funded by Durham University Common Awards Seedcorn grant. is exploring whether theoretical and theological models of children’s and young people’s faith formation in ministry training are fit for the contemporary context. The academic papers are now in the process of peer review and will hopefully be published soon.
• Grandparenting For Faith: In collaboration with Parenting for Faith, we developed and are researching the impact of courses for Christian grandparents and churches to enhance support and equipping for grandparenting for faith. We launched the resources in May 2025, and are currently researching how this is used. Contributions to funding were from the Benefact Trust and the Bishop Radford Trust. Access the courses here.

• Chaplaincy in Further Education: A collaborative project with St Peter's Saltley Trust designed to improve understanding the field of Chaplaincy in Further Education and to support the development of good practice in the West Midlands region. An interim report on the research was published online in July 2025 and we are now working on production of a resource, ready for launch in Summer 2026.
• Researching Racial Diversity in Youth and Children’s Ministry: We are exploring how to enhance racial diversity amongst leadership of youth and children’s ministry, funded in partnership with Westhill Endowment Trust and Liverpool Hope University. We hope that some resources and tools will be ready to use from mid-January 2026.
• Exploring the Ethics of Religious Conversations in Primary Schools: Funded by Culham St Gabriel’s Trust, this three-year project commenced in January 2025 to explore the context and create resources to improve clarity about the ethics of religious conversations in primary schools. We have now carried out our initial data collection in schools and are analysing the results, to inform the next stage of pulling together some tools to use in primary schools. If you are interested in RE and willing to be part of an advisory group for this, please email Sarah Holmes, as we will be meeting online in January 2026 and would really appreciate experienced people to join us.
• Investing Together: This project is in collaboration with Youthscape, Churches Together in England and the Free Churches Network. We are seeking to build upon existing research and form a coalition of ministry specialists and organizations to form a research-informed charter for the UK church. Look out for developments in early 2026. We would love you to be involved, as we seek to work as a wider group to equip the UK church to invest more fully in ministry amongst children and young people!

If you have any queries, please email Dr Sarah Holmes, sarah.holmes@cym.ac.uk, our Director of Research.