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Life‐transforming congregations
Author(s) -
Ellsworth Robert B.,
Ellsworth Janet B.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
international journal of applied psychoanalytic studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.314
H-Index - 15
eISSN - 1556-9187
pISSN - 1742-3341
DOI - 10.1002/aps.189
Subject(s) - faith , christian ministry , sociology , environmental ethics , psychology , gerontology , political science , theology , medicine , law , philosophy
Hundreds of studies have shown that people who are actively involved in faith communities have less cardiovascular disease, live significantly longer and enjoy higher levels of wellbeing. But which aspects impact lives in healthy ways? This paper identifies six ministry essentials with very strong links to emotional and spiritual wellbeing, based on surveying over 26,000 worshippers in 174 church congregations. We also list seven of the most important things that church communities can do to impact more lives. In addition, we discovered a very strong link between emotional aliveness in church communities and their life‐changing impact. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.