Teleios
recently completed a survey of visitors to the Instagram account, Instapray,
mostly all comprised of youth (<18 years) and millennials (18-34 years) and
77% self-identified evangelicals. We had 884 participants and asked them questions
about their Christian lifestyle, and how church affected their wellbeing.
Amazingly,
the church’s influence on wellbeing did not differ between youth and millennials
(P=0.09).
What
helped wellbeing the most? Participants could select up to 3 choices from a
list of 12 items. Please find more complete results on our website, http://stage.teleiosresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/DTS3-data.pdf.
Well
this is encouraging!
1.
Prayer (59%) – Prayer is a cornerstone of our Christian walk
allowing us to come directly before God, unafraid and give our petitions to him
for ourselves and others. By prayer also we praise God and thank Him (Hebrews10:20-22, Philippians 4:6). The assembled church might assist prayer by acting
as a guide to our supplications to God, a more expansive prayer experience and promoting
prayer in our lives.
2.
Spiritual growth (56%) – Participants generally recognized the
church helps them in their Christian lives and helps them become mature
believers.
3.
Praise and worship (54%) – Praise of our gracious God for His
righteous character and actions is essential for a healthy Christian Life.
Praise allows us to remind ourselves that God’s thoughts and goals are greater
than ours. God deserves our praise (Hebrews 13:15, Psalms 147-150)
But there
is still room for growth …
4.
Emotional support (38%) – This finding is heartening in that
young believers look to the church, perhaps specifically to the church
leadership or their trusted Christian friends and colleagues, to help them
through life with sympathy and advice. Access for young Christians, desiring
support from believing peers, is an important function of the church.
5.
Comfortable and pleasing worship surroundings (35%) – I suspect
that this finding is important not just in young people but for many older
congregants as well. Indeed, a beautiful church, often combined with stirring music
and liturgy combine to create an awe inspiring and encouraging ambiance.
Nonetheless, as Christians, we are commanded to
take our Christian lifestyle beyond the mountaintop experience of a church
service, or a faith-based conference, and practice our faith on a daily basis. Over
time, scripture tells us that we should become confident in our relationship
with God through knowledge and understanding; emotionally stable, making correct
decisions between right and wrong, as well as teaching others (Hebrews 5:11-14,
Colossians 1:27-2:3, 3:16-17, Ephesians 5:15-19).
Our Christian walk comprises
generally of: prayer, praise, bible-based fellowship, learning scripture and
teaching others scripture and the gospel (Acts 2:42,47). These practices promote
our growth by the power of the Spirit to the maturity God desires for us (Galatians5:22, Ephesians 5:18).
The
above list from our survey is encouraging in the emphasis of spiritual growth,
prayer and praise in young church attendees. However, the amazing finding is
that Christian youth have the same desires for their church experience as the
millennial generation. It appears the Holy Spirit has used parents as well as
church members, leaders and teachers to help form the next generation of
believers to carry forth God's great work. Thanks be to God!
Please
join me next week as we continue to explore the church and wellbeing. Thank you
for reading my blog. Today I pray for each one of you blog readers.
WC
Stewart
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