Welcome back to my blog and thank you for visiting. We have been discussing the church in the past several blogs.
At salvation the Holy Spirit places each of us into the church of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). This is a great promise and results from our belief in salvation by faith alone in Christ. God manages His people in this current time through the church. Today let us discuss what the church is and what it does.
Last time we defined the church and explored what the church does to help believers in the service of Christ. In this blog let's look at the benefits of being involved in the church.
The church and wellbeing: A survey of young Christians
The church is important to the Christian walk as well as to society. Teleios performed a survey evaluating wellbeing. There were 1186 responses. The majority of responses were: female (68%), <30 years (76%), and primarily from the United States (40%) and Europe (16%). The respondents identified themselves as: evangelical Christians (33%), social Christians (29%), Christian seekers (5%) and non-Christians (33%).
Interestingly, personal wellbeing was better among evangelical Christians (4.6, on a scale of 0-6 with 6 being highest) compared to social Christians (4.1), Christian seekers (4.0) or non-Christians (4.3, P=0.001). The findings for wellbeing were also supported by further results that evangelicals were more content (P=0.001), at peace (P>0.001), and joyful (P=0.002) than the other groups. No differences between groups were observed in feelings of guilt (P=0.43). The table ranks wellbeing by ranked response.
Table 1: Response to ‘I have good wellbeing?’ by group:
Group | Disagree | Indifferent | Agree |
Evangelical Christian | 5% | 30% | 65% |
Social Christian | 6% | 45% | 49% |
Christian Seeker | 7% | 48% | 44% |
Non-Christian | 5% | 41% | 53% |
This is the first survey, to our knowledge, evaluating wellbeing in young Christians versus non-Christians.
In summary, Christianity may help wellbeing by giving confidence in both day-to-day living and hope for eternity.
Further, a number of studies from the medical literature have shown the church attendance by itself improves personal wellbeing. In addition, the greater frequency of church attendance the better the wellbeing up to once a week. The reasons for the better of wellbeing with church attendance are not well studied but may have been related in these articles to Bible study and greater socialization.(1-4)
Church leadership and congregant wellbeing
Teleios also has evaluated links between a believer’s wellbeing and their perception of their church and its leadership on the Instagram account, Instapray. We had 884 mostly all evangelical and adolescent or millennial participants. Of the total, 43% were ex-US. Table 2 illustrates what best benefited wellbeing among different aspects of the church leadership.
Table 2: Church leadership best helped participants’ wellbeing by:
Response | Percentage |
Bible-based teaching and preaching | 75% |
Encouraging Bible based speech | 51% |
Powerful biblical vision for the church | 44% |
Supporting church programs | 31% |
Effective pastoral care | 30% |
Importantly it was Bible-based preaching and teaching that most influenced wellbeing among the churchgoers. This shows the importance of choosing carefully a local church that teaches directly from the scriptures.
Interestingly, the effect of church leadership on measures that might assist wellbeing did not differ among the international regions represented in our survey: the USA, Canada, Asia and commonwealth countries (P>0.05).
Summary – The church is God’s chosen administrative tool to manage people during this age to carry out His will, specifically as related to nurturing believers The church can have a profound impact on believers not only in spiritual growth but in wellbeing as well. In a subsequent blog we will cover the sacraments of the church.
Thank you for joining me today and please visit next time as we continue to discuss the Christian life.
Join us again next time and share this important blog with your friends and family!
William C. Stewart, MD
1. MacIlvaine WR, et al. Association of strength of religious adherence to quality of life measures. Complement Ther Clin Pract 2013;19:251-5.
2. van Olphen J, et al. Religious involvement, social support, and health among African-American women on the east side of Detroit. J Gen Intern Med 2003;18:549-57.
3. Ryrie CC. Basic theology. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 1999.
4. MacIlvaine WR, et al. Association of strength of community service to personal wellbeing. Community Ment Health J 2014;50:577-82.
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Disclaimer - This blog and its content are provided only as information and are intended for visitors 18 and older. No content on the website should be taken as advice or recommendation to any personal or institutional situation. The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily either shared or endorsed by Teleios. Both the blog and the contents are subject to change at any time without notice. Although I endeavor to ensure that the blog and the content are current and accurate, it may contain errors. I do not represent that the blog or the content is current, accurate or complete, or appropriate for your specific requirements. I do not accept any liability from any person for the blog, the content or any other information (or the use of such information) I provide. I do not have a seminary degree, but I have trained myself in the scriptures to teach and provide this information. For any specific question, I suggest you contact experts in that field and or do your own research into the scriptures.
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