On one level this work can be seen as a fairly classic example of action research in getting insiders to compare what they said they did (their “espoused theology”) with what they actually did (their “operant theology”). This critical bringing together of the espoused theology and operant theology was an important trigger for reflection, and led to discussions about whether what the group espoused needed to be moved closer to what it did, or whether what it did needed to be moved closer to what it espoused.2
