Teleios
recently completed a survey of visitors to the Instagram site, Instapray. We
had 884 participants, mostly all comprised of youth (<18) as well as
millennials (18-34), 77% evangelicals and 43% ex-US. We asked them regarding
what in their daily life influenced their wellbeing.
Participants
had generally good wellbeing with a score of 4.8 (scale 0-6 with 6 being best).
What
influences wellbeing the most in these young Christians?
1.
Personal walk with God (score 5.2)
- What
a great top choice! The Christian walk is a biblical term which indicates the
manner, especially our moral, way of life in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16, 25).
1 Thessalonians 1:5-7 nicely describes the progression
of the Christian walk for those who:
· Are saved – We first believe we
are saved by grace through Christ’s death on the cross. This is the basis of
our walk, enabled by the Spirit, received at salvation (Ephesians 1:13-14).
· Security – We are confident in
our salvation. This gives the confidence in our walk.
· Confidence in belief - We accept the
wisdom and authority the word of God in our lives.
· Emulates the apostles - This is best
described in the first church, which was in Jerusalem (Acts 2:42 and 47), and
engaged in: prayer, praise, fellowship, outreach and studying the Bible.
Teleios research has shown that these activities, and the more in which they
are done, increase personal wellbeing (1,2).
2.
Worship service (score 5.0) – I would not have
thought this would have been number two, but the information is most important.
This finding should encourage pastors about the importance of their worship
service for young believers.
The reason the worship service is so important
we do not know precisely from research, but we could surmise the following:
· Corrects our thinking - Church sets our
thoughts straight by the combination of prayer, teaching and praise directing
us to the appropriate relationship with God.
· Challenges us to
growth
- Learning new information through the worship service helps us increase in faith
and knowledge.
· Encouraging atmosphere - Being in a positive
environment with the music, teaching, prayer and liturgy; all support our faith
and the knowledge that we are correct in our standing with God and are correct
in our stance versus secular society.
· Fellowship - At church we
have the opportunity to speak with our dear Christian friends and find
encouragement by their faith and actions.
3.
Family and friends (score 4.9 and 4.6 respectively) - This finding
was encouraging because it shows the generally positive influence of close
associates on adolescents and millennials. Healthy family and friend relationships
provide not only advice and teaching for life but also security in a place of
warm and loving acceptance.
4.
Church members (score 4.3) – Although not quite
as important as friends and family, church members can provide an outside
source of encouragement and example as well as source of Christian friendship.
5.
Church activities (score 4.3) - Again this finding should
encourage pastors of the importance of church and its impact in young people's
lives. Church activities provide a source of friends and acceptance for young
people, and depending on the activity, teaching, mentorship and encouragement.
We are
ecstatic in this survey to see that four of the top five sources of wellbeing
for adolescents and millennials were spiritually based. This finding is
consistent with Teleios research of the enhanced wellbeing provided by
scripture through the knowledge of our salvation, eternal security and
adherence to the Christian walk. These devoted participants appear generally to
recognize scriptural benefits and pursue it, to the fruit in their lives. Their
desires can be an example to us all.
Join us
again next week as we discuss further Teleios research in the amazing impact of
God's word in our lives.
WC
Stewart
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