Mental health and the dechurched
Published: Mon, 03/04/24
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In phase 3 of our study, we looked at the mental health of dechurched evangelicals, and it became clear that anxiety, depression, loneliness, and suicidal thoughts were major factors in their lives. When asked to rate themselves on a scale of 0–100 in these areas, with 0 being very negative and unhealthy and 100 being very positive and healthy, they scored 39 on anxiety, 34 on depression, 35 on loneliness, and 25 on suicidal thoughts. There is strong scientific evidence that supports the correlation between church attendance and improved physical and mental health. Tyler VanderWeele, a professor of epidemiology in the Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Harvard University, has conducted some of the largest studies ever on the role of religious attendance along with colleagues at the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard. Tyler and his team concluded that “compared with those who never attended religious services, individuals who attended services at least once per week had a lower risk of all-cause mortality by 26%, heavy drinking by 34%, and current smoking by 29%.” Their writing continues to note that “service attendance was also inversely associated with a number of psychological-distress outcomes (i.e. depression, anxiety, hopelessness, loneliness) and was positively associated with psychosocial well-being outcomes (i.e. positive affect, life satisfaction, social integration, purpose in life), but was generally not associated with subsequent disease, such as hypertension, stroke, and heart disease.” Another 2016 study from the same Human Flourishing Program at Harvard of 74,534 women concluded that “frequent attendance at religious services was associated with significantly lower risk of all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality among women. Religion and spirituality may be an underappreciated resource that physicians could explore with their patients.” The mental health picture we saw in our study was sad for the dechurched, showing such low self-reported figures on anxiety, depression, loneliness, and suicidal thoughts. There is no doubt that the underlying reasons for these numbers are varied and complex, but there does seem to be strong scientific evidence that regular, especially weekly, church attendance is good for your mental and physical health. Davis, Jim, Michael Graham, Ryan P. Burge, and Collin Hansen. 2023. The Great Dechurching: Who’s Leaving, Why Are They Going, and What Will It Take to Bring Them Back?. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. What will it take to bring them back?I suggest a long-term perspective. We didn’t get here in a day and it will take more than a day to get out. I’d suggest a three-year approach. It took roughly three years for Jesus to make his followers into fishers of men. It may take us at least that.
The planSimple as this is, I think it will take a while to get there. Here is what I suggest. Every year, starting in January or August, do a church-wide study of evangelism. (You might consider a sermon series to go along with the study.)
Each of these studies is about six weeks and are available on Amazon or as part of Good Questions Have Groups Talking subscription system. www.MyBibleStudyLessons.com During the rest of the year, I recommend you spend five or ten minutes each week in each group talking about such questions as:
In addition, I'd encourage each group to host a fellowship every month and invite every member and every prospect. For more on this, see https://www.YouCanDouble.com/ I close with a quote from the last book above:
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