The main interest of this research is to gain an understanding of the dynamics and changing nature of the Church’s industrial mission. It combines an extensive assessment of a broad range of written sources – including the papers of the Home Mission Board from 1940-79; Reports to the General Assembly; Reports of the Home Board (Church and Industry); Church and Nation Committee; Youth Committee and the Commission on Communism – with the interviewing of Industrial Chaplains, together with employers and workers who had experience of the industrial mission. The respondents provide commentary on the changing nature of Scottish industrial society, as secularisation and deindustrialisation in this period dramatically altered long-term norms and values. Interviews touch upon the depth of sectarianism in the Scottish workplace, the volatility of industrial relations, alcoholism, and the problem of industrial closures and the issue of redundancies. To gain an understanding of the dynamics and changing nature of the Church’s industrial mission, this research combines an extensive assessment of a broad range of written sources – including the papers of the Home Mission Board from 1940-79; Reports to the General Assembly; Reports of the Home Board (Church and Industry); Church and Nation Committee; Youth Committee and the Commission on Communism – with the interviewing of several Industrial Chaplains, together with employers and workers who had experience of the industrial mission.

Data contains recorded face-to-face interviews(one -time cross-sectional study) with former Church of Scotland industrial chaplains and individuals - managers and trade union officials who had direct experience of the Church's industrial mission initiative. The interviews are semi-structured and provide a valuable insight into the organisation and orientation of the Church of Scotland's industrial outreach initiative. The study sample consists of (1) 10 retired industrial chaplains who had participated in the Church of Scotland industrial chaplains’ scheme(age range late 50s to 80s); (2) 2 retired company mangers with experience of the industrial chaplain scheme( age range 60s and 70s) and (3) retired trade union officials with experience of industrial chaplain scheme(age range 60s to 70s).