| The Benefits of Religious Atendance: Positive outcomes Associated with Weekly Worship |
| People were made to worship God. Religion is one of the five major institutions of society, and its rewards flow over to all other major institutions: to the family, to education, to the market place, and to government. The more frequently people worship, the more they profit. If the social sciences say anything clearly about God, it is that living according to God's design is good for our lives in many ways, God commands us in His Word (as the body of Christ) to encourage one another and to meet together consistently: |
| "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching," (Hebrews 10:24-25, NIV) |
| ".....you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it, (1 Corinthians 12: 27, NIV) Worship holds personal benefits across all sorts of outcomes, including increased family strength, participation in charitable activities, grade point average, sexual chastity, and psychological well-being. Furthermore, adolescents who worship regularly are (understandably) more likely to do so as adults and this faithfulness to their beliefs will have major impact later on. We hope that the findings shown here encourage you, the church, to worship weekly and to reap the advantages that consistent worship offers to families, individuals, their communities, and the nation. |
| What does weekly worship strengthen or improve? |
| Improves Educational Outcomes - |
| Adolescents who attend church weekly have an average combined math and English GPA of 2.9 compared to 2.8 among those who attend more than monthly, 2.7 among those who attend monthly, and 2.6 among those who never attend. |
| 26% of students who attend church weekly earn mostly "A's" at school, compared to 21% among students who attend more than monthly, 18% among students who attend less than monthly, and 16% among students who never attend church. |
| Increases Sexual Chastity - |
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12.4% of weekly church attendees have committed adultery, compared to 17.1 of more than monthly attendees, 20.6% of less than monthly a ttendees, and 24.8% of those who never attend. Women who attend church have an average of 4.33 lifetime sexual partners, compared to 6.25 among women who attend less than monthly, and 8.84 among women who never attend. |
| Reduces Social Problems - |
| 16% of girls who attend church weekly have become pregnant out of wedlock, compared to 25% of those who attend more than monthly or less than monthly and 27% among those who never attend church. |
| Strengthens the Family - |
| Weekly church attendees have an average parent-cild relationship quality score of 50.7 compared to 49.5 among more than monthly attendees, 49.8 among less than monthly attendees, and 48.4 among those who never attend. 60.5% of weekly church attendees say being married is very important, compared to only 48.2% of those who attend more than monthly, 47.4% of those who attend less than monthly and 40.8% of those who never attend. 71.5% of weekly church attendees report believing that having children is very important, compared to 67.5% of those who attend more than monthly, 57.9% of those who attend less than monthly, and 46.7% of those who never attend. |
| The full report the Benefits of Religious Attendance: Positive Outcomes Associated with Weekly Worship, is available at this link |