Participation In Church Activities Research Articles

The effects of participation in Christian religious activities on the satisfaction with life of older adults: the mediating effects of depressive symptoms

ABSTRACT This study aimed to clarify the effects of Christian religious activities on depressive symptoms and life satisfaction among older adults by analysing longitudinal data. Causal relationships between the variables were assessed using autoregressive cross-lagged model analysis. First, autoregressive coefficients were examined for church participation, depressive symptoms, and life satisfaction. Second, the cross-lagged coefficients revealed that participation in church activities later had a significant effect on depressive symptoms. In addition, depressive symptoms had a significant effect on life satisfaction. Depressive symptoms had a significant effect on life satisfaction. Third, the results indicated that participation in church activities during the fifth period significantly affected life satisfaction during the seventh period through depressive symptoms during the sixth period. This pathway suggests that depressive symptoms mediates the relationship between older adults’ church participation and life satisfaction longitudinally (i.e., older adults’ church participation reduces their depressive symptoms, and reduced depressive symptoms increases their life satisfaction).

Community Found: Young Adult Catholic Identity and Commitment

AbstractThis article attempts to fill the gap in the sociological literature at the intersection of religion and community by examining how local, urban Catholic churches shape and nurture community commitment. My empirical research shows that the collective identity of young adult Catholics emerges from patterns of religious identity that are activated in church settings and defined through meaningful role identities established by the organizational framing and resonance of clergy leadership. As previous research has shown, participation in church activities and strong social connections within congregations contribute to greater voluntarism and commitment to the larger community. Further, collective efforts achieve greater success if the stated goals relate back to shared collective identities and an aspirational source of shared moral obligation that gives weight to the voluntarist commitment. The example of local Catholic churches highlights the importance of multidimensional social networks that can align collective identities with bespoke calls to action amid the evolving needs and aspirations of multiple groups and constituencies.

Religious Attendance in a Secular Country Protects Adolescents from Health-Risk Behavior Only in Combination with Participation in Church Activities.

Religiosity and spirituality have been considered to be protective factors of adolescent health-risk behavior (HRB). The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between adolescents’ HRB and their religiosity, taking into account their parents’ faith and their own participation in church activities. A nationally representative sample (n = 13377, 13.5 ± 1.7 years, 49.1% boys) of Czech adolescents participated in the 2018 Health Behavior in School-aged Children cross-sectional study. We measured religious attendance (RA), faith importance (FI) (both of respondents and their parents), participation in church activities and adolescent HRB (tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis use and early sexual intercourse). We found that neither RA nor FI of participants or their parents had a significant effect on adolescents’ HRB. Compared to attending respondents who participate in church activities (AP), non-attending respondents who participate in church activities were more likely to report smoking and early sexual intercourse, with odds ratios (ORs) ranging from 3.14 (1.54–6.39) to 3.82 (1.99–7.35). Compared to AP, non-attending respondents who did not participate in church activities were more likely to report early sexual intercourse, with OR = 1.90 (1.14–3.17). Thus, our findings show that RA does not protect adolescents from HRB; they suggest that RA protects adolescents from HRB only in combination with participation in church activities.

Latinos and American Catholicism: Examining Service Provision Amidst Demographic Change

AbstractThe Catholic Church currently sits at the forefront of U.S. demographic change as a prominent institution that is working on how to positively respond to a growing Latino population. Understanding the factors that either complicate or facilitate that endeavor may help other institutions in their future efforts to likewise integrate and serve Latino communities. Further, there may be broader implications for the success of Catholic churches to serve as research has found that participation in church activities is positively related to increased rates of civic and political engagement. However, these positive effects cannot be felt if churches fail to present the opportunity to participate in the first place. To that end, this study examines the relationship between Latino population density, the presence of a Latino minister, and the likelihood a church would offer Spanish mass or any other service relevant to the Latino community. I find these factors are useful in predicting service provision to a limited degree, and that individual leaders’ initiative and decision making also play a role in determining institutional responsiveness.

How to Improve Congregational Retention in the USA

The churches today are more of a refugee camp or transit centers were congregants gather and wait for their next exit location. Churches are being opened and closed every day and no one has the concern or courage to ask why such a bad practice. This article is birth from the quest to improve congregational retention. The goal was to show that to successfully retain congregants, the issues of poor church attendance or attrition needed to be resolved. Attrition is a plague that has affected churches in America, and consequently led to the closing of many churches. The quest for congregational retention compelled me to put the credibility and integrity of the American Christians under surveillance while sampling opinions of stakeholders to draw inferences that could lead to a successful outcome. Information was gathered from survey questionnaires and interviews of some respectable church leaders to constructively and professionally inquire about the issues of attrition as an epidemic that had affected the American churches. I found out that attrition could be controlled through fellowshipping and participation in church activities to form a unified body of believers who would take, train, and educate the younger generations for future leadership challenges. Churches could succeed by developing improved processes for attracting, developing, retaining, and utilizing people with required skills and aptitude that could meet the needs of the community as builders. The findings may be useful in building a MEGA church or a successful business with superb customer service.

Het meten van kerkelijke betrokkenheid

In September 2014, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) presented a religious map of the Netherlands. This map received criticism for the way in which different groups of Protestants were classified and for the absence of non-organized religion. This article focuses on a different aspect of the religious map: the way Statistics Netherlands questions church membership and its usability for a classification of church involvement in the Netherlands. In such a classification it makes sense to distinguish involvement through an initiation ritual (baptized/made confession in a church), involvement because one considers himself of herself as a member (the question about church membership) and involvement through participation in church activities (such as church attendance). Statistics Netherlands reports a group of people of which it is not clear whether they are or whether they are not church members. They regard themselves as members of a church without having a personal bond with that church. It seems to be more a bond with a church because of an initiation ritual in their youth or because of the important social role they assign to churches. Renewed research on this assumption is necessary. After that Statistics Netherlands can decide whether they will adjust the way they question church membership.

The abstinence campaign and the construction of the Balokole identity in the Ugandan Pentecostal movement

Based on fieldwork data collected since 2005 in Uganda, the paper explores the connections between young Pentecostals' involvement in HIV prevention programs, with a particular attention to the “abstinence campaign”, and the process of identity construction within the movement itself. I show how the rise of the AIDS epidemic contributed in a decisive way to shaping the construction of meaning, and thus the action, of the Balokole (“the Savedees”) movement in Uganda. Theoretically, the article aims at contributing to fill the gap in the analysis of social movements in Africa, especially addressing the specificity of believers' participation in church activities and in evangelical faith-based organizations (FBOs) by exemplifying how the collective identity of the born-again and their mobilization to fight AIDS are reciprocally related. The identity/participation connection clarifies how the feeling of belonging to a strongly connected and partially closed group, that of the “saved” Christians, is pivotal in pushing the Balokole to become active.

CHRISTIAN RELIGION AND WELL-BEING

Some researchers have defined well-being as being content, happy, healthy and prosperous. It consists of experiencing enjoyment, completeness, and meaning, rather than merely avoiding pain and conflict. To experience personal well-being it is necessary that all aspects of being function in a healthy manner. Research on the relationship between the Christian religion and well-being has concluded that nurturing, non-punitive religion is associated with mental and physical health, and that active participation in church activities that enhances the member’s social support system can be beneficial. doi: 10.7833/111-1-32

CHRISTIAN RELIGION AND WELL-BEING

Some researchers have defined well-being as being content, happy, healthy and prosperous. It consists of experiencing enjoyment, completeness, and meaning, rather than merely avoiding pain and conflict. To experience personal well-being it is necessary that all aspects of being function in a healthy manner. Research on the relationship between the Christian religion and well-being has concluded that nurturing, non-punitive religion is associated with mental and physical health, and that active participation in church activities that enhances the member’s social support system can be beneficial. doi: 10.7833/111-1-32

Blessing La Política: The Latino Religious Experience and Political Engagement in the United States (review)

Reviewed by: Blessing La Política: The Latino Religious Experience and Political Engagement in the United States Timothy Matovina Blessing La Política: The Latino Religious Experience and Political Engagement in the United States. Edited by Carlos Vargas-Ramos and Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2012. 224 pp. $48.00. This book’s unifying thread is its response to the influential 1995 work of Sidney Verba, Kay Lehman Scholzman, and Henry E. Brady, Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics. Contributors to the current volume endorse the “civic voluntarism” model that Verba and his colleagues proposed. But they offer counterevidence to Verba et. al.’s explanations vis-à-vis why Latinos are less likely than African Americans to hone their civic skills through participation in church activities, especially the contention that, among Latinos and other groups, Catholicism tends to foster less participation in democratic political systems than Protestantism. Anthony Stevens-Arroyo introduces Blessing La Política with a critical assessment of the thesis that Protestant religious practice predisposes its adherents to modernity more ably than Catholicism, tracing the etymology of this thesis from the famous work of Max Weber down to present debates about the political participation of U.S. Latinos. In another chapter, Stevens-Arroyo presents the findings of a 2001 study on Latino congregations and leadership of the Program for the Analysis of Religion among Latinos (PARAL). On a number of indicators the PARAL study showed that the political involvement of Latino Catholics and Protestants is much more comparable than the Verba et. al. research would lead one to surmise, though unfortunately the PARAL data does not encompass analysis of the growing numbers of Latino Pentecostals and evangelicals. Carlos Vargas-Ramos expounds similar conclusions in a chapter on Latinos, religion, and political participation in New York City. While offering little comparative analysis with Latino Protestants, two other case studies explore the public face of Latino Catholic communities, one the Puerto Rican festival for Santiago Apóstol (St James the Apostle) in New Haven, Connecticut, and the other the civic engagement of [End Page 72] Mexican immigrants of the Catholic Charismatic group Sangre de Cristo en el Barrio (Blood of Christ in the Neighborhood) in Los Angeles. Investigations of Latino voting in the 2004 presidential race and subsequent national elections conclude the volume. Finally, an essay of Michael Jones-Correa and David Leal contests the findings of Verba et. al. with data from national surveys and is prominently cited and summarized in the volume, but “for technical reasons” (ix) could not be included. Readers are advised to consult these scholars’ “seminal article” (ix) in the Political Research Quarterly (December 2001). One key distinction presented in the book that this reviewer would like to see developed further is the tendency for Latino Protestants to engage more directly in partisan political activities than Latino Catholics. A Catholic Charismatic Renewal informant from Los Angeles captured this distinction well in her statement that church leaders should not seek to influence partisan elections, but rather be advocates for community issues and marginal peoples. In her view, “this is not called politics, this is called defending one’s pueblo” (131). While distinctions such as these merit further exploration in future research, Blessing La Política presents important insights that ably address its intention to demonstrate “Latino Catholics and Protestants move through diverse paths on the way to political activism” (xi). Timothy Matovina University of Notre Dame Copyright © 2012 American Catholic Historical Society

Intrinsic Religious Orientation: The Conservative Christian Connection

This study investigated the claim that intrinsic religious orientation (IRO), as developed by Gordon Allport, has an inherent conservative Christian bias that may be denominationally identified. We tested this claim in two ways by using a sample of 546 churchgoers drawn from five congregations representing four denominations (two Unitarian Universalist, two Mainline Protestant, and one Evangelical). First, we correlated IRO scores with a measure of conservative Christian beliefs (CCBs). A high, significant correlation was obtained suggesting that, in general, high IRO scores go with CCBs. Second, we divided the sample into two groups: those who scored high and those who scored low on four measures of religious commitment: participation in church activities, and frequency of attendance, prayers, and meditation. This comparison also confirmed the IRO and conservative Christian connection: the IRO scores of the Evangelical congregation were significantly higher than those of other congregations in both the high and low religious commitment groups. But judgment needs to be reserved about the low commitment group as the number of Evangelicals that fell in this category was very small for two of the four commitment measures: church attendance and prayers.

A Spiritual Healing Mission Remembered: James Moore Hickson's Christian Healing Mission at Palmerston North, New Zealand, 1923

The 1923 world tour by the Anglican spiritual healer James Moore Hickson finished in New Zealand. Coming at a time of heightened interest in the phenomenon of spiritual healing, Hickson attracted large crowds and intense media attention. Because so many of those who came for healing came from outside the city, the mission at All Saints' Anglican Church in the provincial city of Palmerston North involved a disproportionate effort on the part of parishioners compared with other centres. So, although the number of permanent cures was not as high as was first hoped, and the mission did not lead to increased participation in church activities, the event became a significant part of the history of All Saints'. As elsewhere, some individuals were deeply affected, many claiming to experience a new depth in their spiritual lives. These individuals, and stories of the Hickson mission, encouraged openness to spiritual healing and charismatic renewal that continues to influence this particular church to the present day.

Spiritual Formation and the Work of Older Persons in the Church

Older persons who are involved in the worship and ministry of their churches derive significant spiritual benefits from their participation. A brief look at the ways older persons find meaning and purpose through their active participation in church activities is examined and guidelines for enabling the spiritual development of older persons in the church are provided.

Faith and Politics: The Influence of Religious Beliefs on Political Participation*

Objective. The relationship between religion and political participation has not been rigorously investigated, typically employing only basic measures of church attendance or denomination. In this study, we utilize precise measures of various religious behaviors, traditions, and beliefs to examine their influence on political participation.Methods. Using data from the Baylor Religion Survey 2005, we demonstrate that merely including measures of church attendance or denomination camouflages much of religion's influence on political participation.Results. We find that religious beliefs are significantly related to national political participation. For religious activities, identifying with a religious tradition reduces participation, but participation in church activities increases political participation.Conclusion. Different types of religious beliefs influence political participation differently. Although some macro religious beliefs significantly increase macro political behavior, believers in an involved God are less likely to participate politically. Individualistic, micro beliefs have no affect on national politics. Thus, the scope of the religious belief fits with the scope of the political activity, in that more macro concerns translate to national political participation.

Europe: Arena of Pluralization and Diversification of Religions

AbstractIf participation in church activities is critical for the strength or weakness of religion, there is no denying that Europe comes off poorly. According to American sociologists of religion the rise of religious pluralism in the USA was due to the strict separation between state and church; it compelled congregations and denominations to compete for believers. The European case is different. Here the diversity of religions existed long before the modern period. Since its ancient beginning European culture sought its authorities outside its geographical confines. Greeks and Jews, Hellenism and Hebraism, Athens and Jerusalem, later Mecca and Islam became cultural points of orientation for people living in Europe. The article addresses the cultural and social processes that transformed these and other foreign religious traditions into typical European manifestations: the Roman legal system turned foreign religions into legal categories; it was modernization that led to the articulation of distinctly religious meanings of history and of nature; and it was the detachment from the church that provided the impetus for new societal forms of religion. Those processes are at the center of the European plurality and diversity of religions.

Mark Twain and the spiritual crisis of his age

Mark Twain and the Spiritual Crisis of His Age recounts Twain's fascination with, and participation in, America's spiritual and religious evolution in the 19th century and demonstrates how his writing is better understood within it. Twain is often pictured as a severe critic of religious piety, shaking his fist at God and mocking the devout. Such a view, however, is only partly correct. It ignores the social realities of Twain's major period as a writer and his own spiritual interests: his participation in church activities, his socially progressive agenda, his reliance on religious themes in his major works, and his friendships with clergymen, especially his pastor and best friend, Joe Twichell. It also betrays a conception of religion that is more contemporary than that of the period in which he lived.Harold K. Bush Jr. highlights Twain's attractions to and engagements with the wide variety of religious phenomena of America in his lifetime, and how these matters affected his writings. Though Twain lived in an era of tremendous religious vigor, it was also a time of upheaval and crisis within the church. The rise of biological and psychological sciences, the criticism of biblical texts as literary documents, the influx of world religions and immigrant communities, and the trauma of the Civil War all had dramatic effects on America's religious life.At the same time mass urban revivalism, the ecumenical movement, Social Christianity, and occultic phenomena like spiritualism and mind sciences, all rushed in to fill the voids. The rapid growth of agnosticism in the 1870s and 1880s is also clearly reflected in Twain's life and writings. Thus Twain's career reflects in an unusually resonant way the vast changes in American belief during his lifetime. Bush's study offers a new and more complicated understanding of Twain and his literary output, and serves as the cultural biography of an era.

Investigating Patterns of Social Support Use by Widowers During Bereavement

This study examined the patterns of social support available to widowers during early and late bereavement. It used a social integration framework to assess the levels of social support, social interactions, and sources of support available during bereavement. The analysis included 100 early bereaved widowers and 100 late bereaved widowers from a cross-sectional study on widowerhood among older men. Results indicated widowers from late bereavement received more instrumental and emotional support from family, friends, and neighbors than early bereaved widowers. Similarly, perceived support from friends during an emergency was greater for late bereaved widowers. While social participation in church activities was greater during early bereavement, a high percentage of these widowers indicated not having support when depressed (77%). These findings underscore the importance of emphasizing early intervention during widowerhood to prevent isolation and other negative effects of widowerhood.

Patterns of Informal Support from Family and Church Members among African Americans

This article investigates sociodemographic and family and church factors as correlates of support from family and church members among a representative sample of African Americans. Overall patterns of family and church support indicate that slightly more than half of respondents receive assistance from both family and church networks, one quarter receive assistance from family only, and roughly equal percentages (9%) receive help from either church members only or do not receive help from either group. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to examine sociodemo graphic (i.e., age, marital status, gender, region, education, income, and urbanicity) and family and church factors (i.e., family closeness, family contact, parental status, and church participation) as predictors of specific patterns and sources of support. The findings indicated significant age, gender, and marital and parental status differences in patterns of support from family and church. Perceptions of family closeness, degree of interaction with family, and overall levels of participation in church activities were associated with distinctive patterns of assistance.

Testing the Promise of the Churches: Income Inequality in the Opportunity to Learn Civic Skills in Christian Congregations

Political researchers point to church activities as a major avenue for lower–class individuals to learn the civic skills necessary for many forms of political participation, the skills that higher–status individuals learn through education and occupation. This article tests this theory through multilevel analyses of the effects of both individual income and average congregational income on three measures of participation in church activities and organizations that offer participants the opportunity to learn and exercise civic skills. The results show that churches are only slightly stratified when it comes to members’ participation in charity, public policy, or social justice organizations within the church, suggesting that they offer some promise to teach civic skills to the lower–income members. Nevertheless, churches are moderately stratified in terms of members’ participation in administration, finance, or buildings organizations within the church, and strongly stratified in organizations in general within the church, suggesting that higher–income members receive the majority of civic–skill practice and training in Christian congregations in the United States.

Shaping Schooling Success: Religious Socialization and Educational Outcomes in Metropolitan Public Schools

This paper analyzes religious socialization as it relates to schooling success. I propose and test a multilevel model of involvement in church activities as providing integration and motivation toward schooling success among metropolitan U.S. public high school sophomores. Results indicate that respondents' participation in church activities is related to heightened educational expectations, and that these more intensely religious students score higher on standardized math/reading tests, even while controlling for variables that often show religious effects to be spurious. The hypothesis that church involvement's effect varies by ecological context–it being a better predictor for students in poorer neighborhoods than average or wealthy neighborhoods–was not supported.