Beyond the Ordinary

Key to a spiritually alive church: Support your fellow church members

By David Briggs

My wife and I had just moved to Fairfield County in Connecticut, and were searching for a church. We were impressed when as visitors to an Episcopal congregation, the priest invited my wife to work with other volunteers at a craft fair.

She looked forward to the opportunity to meet people in a new town. Until it was time for lunch, and all of the women from the church working with her went to eat together, leaving only my wife behind to staff the table.

We never went back.

In a religious world that can often seem hierarchical, from clergy leading services to regional and national offices making decisions that impact local churches, the significance of the role played by each person in the pews can often be overlooked.

Yet a growing body of research is showing how worshipers treat one another can have a significant impact on the congregation and the spiritual life and physical health of its members.

In a new study using data from the U.S. Congregational Life Survey, researchers found informal support from church members was more associated with spiritual growth than worship service attendance or belonging to formal church groups.

Conversations before services or at church suppers may be even more effective than Bible study groups or Sunday School classes in that they provide give-and-take opportunities with trusted companions that can directly address the spiritual needs of individuals, say researchers Neal Krause of  the University of Michigan and Cynthia Woolever of the US CLS.

Several other studies also uphold the benefits of this type of positive social support within the congregation.

For example, a study of older adults over time found that greater spiritual support appeared to be associated with having fewer doubts about religion. In contrast, older people who encountered more negative interaction with other church members reported having more doubts.

 Those people who have negative experiences with others also are more likely to suppress those doubts, an action associated with less favorable health, researchers Neal Krause and Christopher Ellison of the University of Texas at San Antonio reported in an article on “the doubting process” in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.

 In a separate study on self-forgiveness reported in the Review of Religious Research, Krause found results suggesting older adults who were more satisfied with the emotional support they received from church members were more likely to forgive themselves than those who were not satisfied with the support they received.

 At their best, what worshippers say to one another at coffee hour or in the grocery store reflects the prayers they recite during services.

When other church members model messages of love and forgiveness that are at the foundation of a faith’s teachings, it reinforces belief and the value of being part of a congregation, Krause says. If the messages are contradictory, with church members gossiping about or criticizing one another, it can place those beliefs in question.

Amid other pressing concerns such as church finances and programming, congregations need to evaluate how members are expressing their faith in their relationships with one another, Krause advises.

“Are the people in our congregation getting along? Are they supporting one another” are among the questions that need to be asked, he said.

The choices members make when they are together matter, whether it is to offer spiritual support in an environment of trust and mutual caring or even for a group of church friends to decide to go to lunch in two groups so a newcomer will not be left alone at a church fair.

It is in those settings, Krause says, "where the real business of religion takes place.”

 

Egging It On

by Ida Smith-Williams

Regardless of denomination, this coming  Sunday will mark one of the highest attended Sunday worship services nationwide.  According to Jim Davidson, a sociology professor at Purdue, church attendance increases about 25% on Easter.

Keep in mind that there will be lots of new people visiting in your congregation who may not attend any other time of the year. Recognizing and greeting these new people and following up with them after their visit is important. 

Worshipers in a sample of Presbyterian congregations were asked  about what most impressed them  when they first visited their current  congregation and what made them want to come back again.  Their top five answers were:  friendliness of the people; overall worship experience; quality of the sermon; music during worship; and the sense of God’s presence.  For growing churches, worshipers citing a “sense of God’s presence” was not as common  as the personality or style of the minister for their return to the church.

Churches that grew were most likely to recognize their visitors. First-time worshipers were more likely to say they were greeted by people seated near them, by the pastor, and by an usher or other greeter.  

Worshipers attending growing churches for the first time were almost twice as likely to say that they were contacted after their church visit.

Visitors in growing churches were also most likely to be greeted by numerous people.

Easter is an opportunity to grow your church.  Grab those new people and “egg” them on to visit again. 

The role of congregations in reconciling faith and doubt

“Doubt isn't the opposite of faith; it is an element of faith.” - Theologian Paul Tillich

“Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” - Gospel of Mark 9:24.

The wounds of the Oklahoma City bombing were still fresh, and the rescue worker quietly, almost apologetically, admitted to a group of churchgoers that he wondered where God was as he stood amid the rubble where so many innocent lives were buried.

Almost immediately, others gathered around the table jumped in to tell the man not to question the sovereignty of God. One minister said he thought the people died for a city and a nation that needed to experience love overcoming evil. A laywoman said that "Satan's worst" was more bombs and more people killed, but that God intervened with quick action by law enforcement.

Not long after, the rescue worker slipped away from the group without a word.

Expressing doubt may be a staple of Scripture, from the Book of Job to the plea of Jesus as he faced his death "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" But it still unsettles many religious people, who fear that it demonstrates a lack of faith.

And that fear, when expressed in judgmental attitudes to others struggling in their own spiritual journey, can alienate churchgoers dealing with doubt, and contribute to problems from loss of social support to depression, research indicates.

In contrast, listening to and supporting others in their moments of doubt can foster a healthy relationship with the divine that enables human beings to talk honestly with God. Many end up with a stronger faith by working through rather than suppressing mysteries such as the deaths of innocents, some scholars say.

What is clear is that those who doubt are not alone.

In a survey of 834 respondents to the U.S. Congregational Life Survey, more than three-quarters of worshipers said they often or sometimes had doubts about the teachings of their faith. The uncertainty was spread across every faith group, with two-thirds of conservative Protestants and more than four-fifths of mainline Protestants expressing at least some doubts.

In the wake of the recent mass murder of children in a Connecticut elementary school, it may come as the no surprise that the problem of evil in a world overseen by a just and loving God is a leading cause of doubt. More than half the respondents to the congregational life survey said the presence of evil caused them to have doubts about their religious faith.

So how does doubt make a difference in the lives of individuals?

The research picture is mixed, with some studies over the past few decades reporting seemingly contradictory results.

On the positive side, studies have associated aspects of religious doubt with principled moral reasoning, reduced prejudice and spiritual well-being, researchers at Indiana Wesleyan University reported in an article on adolescent religious doubt in the Journal of Psychology and Theology. They also noted some studies have linked religious doubt to higher levels of anxiety and depression, low commitment to religion, less social support and greater distrust and intolerance.

When faced with doubt, much of the research does reveal, however, the value of having positive  relationships with others at church.

In one study of older adults conducted in three waves from 2001 to 2007, researchers found that over time, people who receive greater support and attend Bible study groups are more likely to seek spiritual growth when faced with doubt.

 But people who have negative experiences with others are more likely to have doubts about religion. They also are more likely to suppress those doubts, an action associated with less favorable health, researchers Neal Krause and Christopher Ellison of the University of Michigan reported in an article on “the doubting process” in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.

Churchgoers who encounter conflict and derision when they express doubt may find this “especially painful because it may involve feelings of shame and guilt. Shame and guilt may arise because people may feel as though it is wrong to question fundamental aspects of their faith,” Krause and Ellison note.

In their study on adolescent religious doubt, Indiana Wesleyan researchers said that a process of exploring different ideas and asking basic questions can be seen as a healthy part of psychological development.

Instead of condemning all doubt as unbelief, the researchers suggest parents and adult caregivers in the church affirm young people who doubt, and give them some “elbow room” for exploration.

“Practically speaking, … some adult caregivers in the church will need a more balanced perspective  on religious doubt enabling them to respond to the doctrinal uncertainty, questions, and hesitations of religious youth as opportunities for discussion, exploration, and growth, not only as threats needing to be silenced,” the researchers said.

In other words, doubt not only happens, for many people asking questions of God is an integral part of their spiritual journey.

What churchgoers may want to consider is not how to deliver people from doubt, but how not to be led into the temptation to judge, rather than embrace, their sister or brother on their journey to understanding.

 

Challenge for next pope: Reaching out to Catholic women

By David Briggs

There are two gender gaps in many U.S. congregations.

One gap is the stained-glass ceiling in many churches. While social and cultural changes have allowed women to reach the top in numerous secular arenas, the 2006-2007 National Congregations Study found women lead less than 10 percent of congregations.

The second gap is that women greatly outnumber men in the pews. The 2008-2009 wave of the U.S. Congregational Life Survey found that 61 percent of worshipers were women, the same ratio as in the 2001 survey. Just 2 percent of congregations do not have more women than men.

As researcher Cynthia Woolever has pointed out, the imbalance is not due to the fact that women live longer than men. It shows up in every age group, with women making up 61 percent of worshipers ages 45 to 64, 60 percent of those ages 25 to 44 and 57 percent of people ages 15 to 24.  

And women in many other ways are more active in their faith lives. Women are more likely than men to pray daily and say religion is very important in their lives, according to the Pew Forum’s U.S. Religious Landscape Survey.

But there are signs the second gap may be fraying.

As U.S. Catholics await the election of a new pope, one area of concern is new evidence that non-Hispanic women are no longer so different from men in their spiritual practices.

In 1987, more than half of Catholic women reported attending Catholic Mass weekly, compared to 38 percent of men. By 2011, the gender gap was gone, University of New Hampshire sociologist Michele Dillon reported at the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. She used data from the American Catholic Laity Project, a national survey taken every six years since 1987.

And, for the first time in the 2011 survey, women were less likely than men to say the Catholic Church was among the most important parts of their lives. They also were less likely to declare, “I would never leave the Catholic church.”

If tension over women’s exclusion from leadership roles is in part driving the diminishing gender gap, it is unlikely that issue will be resolved soon. None of the candidates mentioned as possibilities for the papacy would be expected to allow women priests.

What do Catholic worshipers think about that topic?

In the U.S. Congregational Life Survey, 43 percent of Catholics said they support the ordination of women, and 22 percent said they were unsure of where they stood. Just one-third opposed women priests.

At the same time, most Catholics in the pews indicated they would be OK if their next minister was a woman. Fifty-six percent said they would be accepting or very accepting of a woman leader, while just 14 percent said they would be “not at all accepting.”

Something for the next pope to think about?