The Lectorate Theology of the CHE focusses on the interpretation and communication of ‘salvation’ within new faith communities. The goal of the Lectorate is to find new ways for contextualizing the Gospel in our secular society, through investigating theologies and processes of sense-making in emerging faith communities. One of the current research projects is ‘Heeft meedoen zin?’ (‘Does it make sense to participate?’), a practical-theological research in six faith communities in the Netherlands. In each community six carefully selected participants were interviewed. In this project we try to find an answer to the following questions: What do participants of pioneering faith communities experience of (the) good life when they get involved? In what ways is participation meaningful to them? What lessons can we learn from their experiences for mission in the West?
To map the answers of participants, we developed a holistic research model with eight dimensions of meaning. This ‘Compass of Meaning’ is based on a holistic interpretation of salvation, as well as on modern perspectives in social sciences and healthcare. In this short paper we introduce this model and its backgrounds. In our presentation at the Conference, we will share the first results of our research. We invite you to reflect critically on the validity of our model and to help us interpret the first results.