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There is a very real sense in which church-based or Christian research is no different from the research conducted in any other field, especially in terms of methodology. Even the fact that church researchers have a particular viewpoint grounded in religious concerns and motivation does not distinguish them from other, so-called "secular" researchers. Perspective, ideological orientation, and bias are elements found in research of every stripe and kind. Research, in any event, is the primary way by which contemporary institutions and agencies expand their knowledge, power, and capabilities-be they governmental, political, medical, academic, military, business, entertainment, or social service agencies. While the church has generally lagged behind in the use of research for its life and ministry, it is no different from any other social institution in its need for research and in the value research can have for its life.

Research, at its best, is a process of listening to learn. Researchers, at their best, put themselves aside for the time being and focus on persons, problems, or concerns outside of themselves. However pecuniary or self-serving their ultimate goals for research might be, during the research process itself researchers necessarily have to suspend self-concerns long enough to listen to what others have to teach them. This is no less true for church-based researchers; whatever their long-term agenda for research, they must be able to put themselves aside and listen to what others have to teach them. The fundamental methodology and value of research, then, is that is listening to the other and learning from the other in a disciplined, intentional, and structured manner. A marketing researcher puts aside her personal tastes and focuses on the tastes of the market. A biochemist concentrates with selfless intensity on the contents of the testtube or the meaning of the printouts. Pollsters, if they're doing their job properly, forget their own political orientation long enough to discover what Nai Daeng and Nang Noi think about the economy or the latest government scandal.

Looked at in this way, there is something quite religious about research. Religious faith, like research, directs one's attention to that which is Beyond self and encourages (or, at least, tries to encourage) humility and self-forgetfulness as being the avenue to discovering meaning, peace, and joy. Research should thus come

"naturally" to religious researchers, who should have an advantage over the so-called secular researcher. By the same token, churches should have an "instinct" for research that grows out of their concern to "hear" and understand God, the divine Other-and to serve the human others who are its neighbors. Using the techniques of contemporary search, in fact, could prove useful to the church in its tasks of listening & serving the Other and others.

As Christians, we are called to worship and service (Luke 10.25-28; Romans 13.8-10)-that is, to listening in a responsive, self-suspending way to God and to our neighbors. The Christian is called to live a listening life, and one of the ways to live such a life in the contemporary world is by engaging in research. There is an elder in a church in Uttaradit Province, as one example, who became the lay moderator of his congregation in 2001. One of the problems facing his church was that worship attendance was low. So, he made a worship attendance chart on which he listed the names of every member, and each week he put an "x" (for being present) or an "o" (for being absent) in the row by that name. At the end of several months, he took the results of this chart to the church council, and the council decided that it should send out visitation teams to all those people who had more "o's" than "x's" to discover what was keeping them from worship. At the end of six months, there was a marked increase in both attendance and giving. This very simple research exercise, in other words, inspired a listening process, which in turn strengthened the life of the church.

The life of faith is exercised through disciplines: of prayer, of meditation, of worship, of study, and of service. To that list should be added the modern discipline of research. It is a discipline that leads away from self, if only for a moment, and to the other. It teaches one to listen to others and learn from them. Used wisely and as a part of the family of faith-disciplines, it can even help us to listen worshipfully to God.