Food for Thought
Church Of Christ, Brookfield, IL
| Too Good to be True (but it is)--The Life Benefits of Regular Church Attendance An article by Neil MacQueen |
This page is Part I in a series on the future of Children's Ministry
Part II -- Are Our Kids Too Busy on Sunday Morning?
Part III -- Characteristics of a New Ministry to Children
What if I told you there was a well-researched and statistically proven program that on
average can:
- increase the average life expectancy of your children by 8 years
- significantly reduce your child's use and risk from Alcohol, Tobacco and Drugs
- dramatically lower their risk of suicide
- help them rebound from depression 70% faster
- dramatically reduce their risk for committing a crime
- improve their attitude at school and increase their school participation
- reduce their risk for rebelliousness
- reduce the likelihood that they would binge drink in college
- improve their odds for a "very happy" life
- provide them with a life-long moral compass
- provide children with a caring extended family
- get them to wear their seatbelts more often
and will also statistically improve the odds they will lead an active church life in their
adults years.
Is there such a program?
Yes, there is.
And it is supported by research from Duke University, Indiana University, The
University of Michigan, The Center for Disease Control, Barna Research Group, Gallup,
Pew, and the National Institute for Healthcare Research.
How much would a program like this be worth to you? What if I told you it was
free, and only took about 2 hours a week? Would you be interested? Take a
look at the above list again. It's not a dream.
The program is called "active church participation."
In study, after study, after study, children who actively engage in a faith community on
a regular basis are rewarded with SIGNIFICANTLY reduced likelihood of life problems
and risky behaviors, and stand to significantly improved their odds of a happier,
healthier, and longer life. These studies show the same results for adults as well.
In addition, numerous surveys, including the latest 2009 Survey by the Barna Research
Group, continue to show a strong statistical connection between being active in the
church as a child and staying active as an adult. Furthermore, Barna's recent research
indicates that even "being involved at least a few times a month is correlated with nearly
the same sticking power as weekly involvement – especially among teenagers." (Read
Barna's 2009 survey on the long term effects of active participation).
But here's the thing... To increase the odds of your children receiving these
results, you can't wait. According to a Barna Research Group study, if a child is not
regularly active by the age of 12, the odds of them getting active DROPS
DRAMATICALLY in their teen years and beyond. Indeed, Barna's research indicates
that adults who attended church regularly as children -are nearly three times as likely to
be attending a church today as their peers who avoided church during childhood (61%
to 22%, respectively). In other words, parents who truly want the best for their
children should get their children involved at church now and regularly. The old
proverb was right on: "Raise up a child in the way they should go," and the odds are
they won't depart from it.
But it's not just about supervision and keeping kids busy. Our culture has been
preaching "parents (as) the anti-drug," promoting D.A.R.E. programs, school uniforms,
afterschool programs, and athletics as solutions to our various ills. And arguably, many
parents are MORE in touch with their children today than were parents of previous
generations. And yet, a whole host of problems plaguing young people have only
gotten worse over the last 30 years. Perhaps not so coincidentally, Sunday School and
church attendance has fallen over this same period. What we've learned is that many
supervised activities, such as baseball teams and dance classes, are helpful, they are also
poor substitutes for parents and family. And as "extended families," teams and clubs
often lack many of the long-term nurturing qualities that extended families provide to
children.
Active parenting is vitally important, but it also takes a caring village to raise a
child. Extended families stimulate the intellectual, social and spiritual
development of children through long-term caring relationships. And good
churches can provide this important ingredient.
- Extended faith families teach children and youth how to develop their internal
life, which is a proven stress-reliever and problem solving skill.
- The Extended faith family offers supervised egalitarian peer groups, and inter-
action with positive role models (who aren't yelling at them to kick the ball).
- The church offers a family atmosphere to children from broken homes or who's
relatives are far-flung or distant.
- Church life allows children to see their parents demonstrating their values and
engaging the world outside of the home.
- Church life challenges children and youth to manage their priorities and
challenges them to lead less self-centered lives.
- The Extended faith family offers peer support and guidance to parents.
- Lessons, sermons, Bible passages and programs such as Confirmation -open up
young people to a world of ideas and history.
- The practicing of traditions and rituals helps develop a sense of one's place in
"the story."
All of these things (and more we could mention) highlight the impact of the "village" in
raising a child, ...not to mention the life benefits from knowing a forgiving and loving
God!
Parents want to know what works, and if we provide them with the evidence, and a
quality experience for their children, most will respond just as Jesus predicted they
would when he said,
"What parent, knowing their children need bread, would give them a stone?"
Simply put, in the search for "what works," researchers keep turning up "active
participation" in a "faith community" as the one consistent potent factor in
raising up children to be successful, happy, healthy and engaged adults both in
the church and in the world. It's time for the Christian Church to once again speak
loudly about this, especially to the parents. Karate classes, travel soccer and getting
good grades, while wonderful in their own right, are poor substitutes for their children's
need for extended family.
Part II -- Are Our Kids Too Busy on Sunday Morning?
Part III -- Characteristics of a New Ministry to Children
What if I told you there was a well-researched and statistically proven program that on
average can:
- increase the average life expectancy of your children by 8 years
- significantly reduce your child's use and risk from Alcohol, Tobacco and Drugs
- dramatically lower their risk of suicide
- help them rebound from depression 70% faster
- dramatically reduce their risk for committing a crime
- improve their attitude at school and increase their school participation
- reduce their risk for rebelliousness
- reduce the likelihood that they would binge drink in college
- improve their odds for a "very happy" life
- provide them with a life-long moral compass
- provide children with a caring extended family
- get them to wear their seatbelts more often
and will also statistically improve the odds they will lead an active church life in their
adults years.
Is there such a program?
Yes, there is.
And it is supported by research from Duke University, Indiana University, The
University of Michigan, The Center for Disease Control, Barna Research Group, Gallup,
Pew, and the National Institute for Healthcare Research.
How much would a program like this be worth to you? What if I told you it was
free, and only took about 2 hours a week? Would you be interested? Take a
look at the above list again. It's not a dream.
The program is called "active church participation."
In study, after study, after study, children who actively engage in a faith community on
a regular basis are rewarded with SIGNIFICANTLY reduced likelihood of life problems
and risky behaviors, and stand to significantly improved their odds of a happier,
healthier, and longer life. These studies show the same results for adults as well.
In addition, numerous surveys, including the latest 2009 Survey by the Barna Research
Group, continue to show a strong statistical connection between being active in the
church as a child and staying active as an adult. Furthermore, Barna's recent research
indicates that even "being involved at least a few times a month is correlated with nearly
the same sticking power as weekly involvement – especially among teenagers." (Read
Barna's 2009 survey on the long term effects of active participation).
But here's the thing... To increase the odds of your children receiving these
results, you can't wait. According to a Barna Research Group study, if a child is not
regularly active by the age of 12, the odds of them getting active DROPS
DRAMATICALLY in their teen years and beyond. Indeed, Barna's research indicates
that adults who attended church regularly as children -are nearly three times as likely to
be attending a church today as their peers who avoided church during childhood (61%
to 22%, respectively). In other words, parents who truly want the best for their
children should get their children involved at church now and regularly. The old
proverb was right on: "Raise up a child in the way they should go," and the odds are
they won't depart from it.
But it's not just about supervision and keeping kids busy. Our culture has been
preaching "parents (as) the anti-drug," promoting D.A.R.E. programs, school uniforms,
afterschool programs, and athletics as solutions to our various ills. And arguably, many
parents are MORE in touch with their children today than were parents of previous
generations. And yet, a whole host of problems plaguing young people have only
gotten worse over the last 30 years. Perhaps not so coincidentally, Sunday School and
church attendance has fallen over this same period. What we've learned is that many
supervised activities, such as baseball teams and dance classes, are helpful, they are also
poor substitutes for parents and family. And as "extended families," teams and clubs
often lack many of the long-term nurturing qualities that extended families provide to
children.
Active parenting is vitally important, but it also takes a caring village to raise a
child. Extended families stimulate the intellectual, social and spiritual
development of children through long-term caring relationships. And good
churches can provide this important ingredient.
- Extended faith families teach children and youth how to develop their internal
life, which is a proven stress-reliever and problem solving skill.
- The Extended faith family offers supervised egalitarian peer groups, and inter-
action with positive role models (who aren't yelling at them to kick the ball).
- The church offers a family atmosphere to children from broken homes or who's
relatives are far-flung or distant.
- Church life allows children to see their parents demonstrating their values and
engaging the world outside of the home.
- Church life challenges children and youth to manage their priorities and
challenges them to lead less self-centered lives.
- The Extended faith family offers peer support and guidance to parents.
- Lessons, sermons, Bible passages and programs such as Confirmation -open up
young people to a world of ideas and history.
- The practicing of traditions and rituals helps develop a sense of one's place in
"the story."
All of these things (and more we could mention) highlight the impact of the "village" in
raising a child, ...not to mention the life benefits from knowing a forgiving and loving
God!
Parents want to know what works, and if we provide them with the evidence, and a
quality experience for their children, most will respond just as Jesus predicted they
would when he said,
"What parent, knowing their children need bread, would give them a stone?"
Simply put, in the search for "what works," researchers keep turning up "active
participation" in a "faith community" as the one consistent potent factor in
raising up children to be successful, happy, healthy and engaged adults both in
the church and in the world. It's time for the Christian Church to once again speak
loudly about this, especially to the parents. Karate classes, travel soccer and getting
good grades, while wonderful in their own right, are poor substitutes for their children's
need for extended family.
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