When ‘#xmasangels’ Tweet: a Reception Study of Craftivism as Christian Witness

Abstract

Craftivism combines craft and activism. This paper contributes to the field of contemporary culture, mission, and creative making by examining the Christmas Angels project, in which local churches yarn-bomb hand-knitted angels, as an ecclesial expression of craftivism. Recipient responses to this fresh expression of Christian witness are analysed by examination of over 1,100 ‘#xmasangel’ tweets. Analysis reveals a found theology, in which angels are received with joy and surprise, understood in the context of love, experienced as a place-based gift and embody a participative making. A missiology of making is developed, reading the yarn-bombed Christmas angels as an ecclesial practice of witness in continuity with a theology of making in the Wisdom literature and ‘craft-egesis’ of mission in Acts. The research has relevance in exploring the potential of digital data in empirical ecclesial research and challenging missiology to be practical in ‘making’ a domestic turn.