Religious Service Attendance: An Important Predictor of Student, Faculty, and Human Flourishing

Throughout our scholarly careers, we have consistently been struck by an empirical finding we often encounter. The most important religious variable predictor in studies is usually not how people identify (e.g., Christian) or what they believe (e.g., certain views of the Bible). Instead, it is simply a weekly action. How often do they go to church (or religious worship services)? Your students need to know that. It also needs to be part of your job interviews at Christian universities.

Academic Honesty

I (Perry) first took notice of this finding when studying academic honesty. A group of us looked at the relationship between cheating and religion using national survey data. In reviewing the literature we noticed, “Within the social and behavioral sciences, an increasing number of publications have found that participation in religious services not only tends to be the best predictor of various outcomes related to academic dishonesty,¹ it also tends to be inversely related to a host of various social, physical, and mental health outcomes”²

Thus, it was not a surprise that after we completed our study of 2503 college students, we discovered that students who reported more frequent religious service attendance were more likely to self-report being academically honest than those who reported infrequent religious service attendance.

College Student Purpose

Around the same time, I (Perry) noticed the same result concerning students and purpose in life. Again, our literature review revealed that religious service attendees were much more likely to have a purpose.³ Our findings also reinforced the claim that students who attended religious services more frequently were also much more likely to be able to identify a purpose in life. I noticed that a recent study by the Cato Institute found that 68% of weekly religious service attendees were likely to agree with the statement, “I feel like I have purpose in my life; my life has meaning.”⁴ In contrast, the percentage agreeing for those who never attended religious services was 36%.

Mental Health

If we turn to the domain of mental health, we find the same thing. Those who attend religious services more frequently also have better mental health.⁵  In light of this finding, Tyler VanderWeele of Harvard set forth this suggestion in a recent journal article on the topic:

given that religious service attendance appears to be at least a moderately important predictor of mental health, and that there are many who have religious beliefs and identities, but do not participate in public religious events or communities, for this group, the suggestion of considering joining a community that shares their beliefs may in fact be a helpful public health recommendation.⁶

The fact that religious service attendance is associated with better mental health should not be surprising for Christians. After all, we are designed to engage for both the celebration of redemption and to have that celebration and associated gratitude motivate us.

Baylor University

So how might this play out on a college campus? Here is what we found from the Baylor Faith and Character Study. We found religious service attendance associated with about every good outcome in higher education. As the table below reveals, it predicts GPA, sense of belonging, positive relationships with faculty, positive relationships with peers, vertical faith maturity, horizontal faith maturity, and civic engagement. All of the correlations are statistically significant. Correlation coefficients for belonging, civic engagement, and faith maturity suggest a moderate to strong relationship with religious service attendance. Even if we control for a student’s gender, race, and religious affiliation, more frequent attendance at a place of worship is significantly related to the outcomes listed below.

Positive Effects of Religious Service Attendance

Note: All correlations are significant at p < .01. Sample of seniors in 2021 (N=884).

As a result of these findings, Baylor has made extra effort to connect students to church as soon as possible. We have also tried to address the 10% less regular church attendance that we see among our minority students (a finding we have also discovered with other Christian institutions), since we realize it is so important for the well-being of our students.

I Don’t Get Much Out of It

All of these findings should put to bed the lie that one hears young people say, “I don’t get much out of church.” The reality is they likely do. That being said, any student making that comment should be gently reminded of an important truth. Church is not simply about you. It’s for God and others.

I (Perry) am grateful my mother and father taught me this lesson. They made it clear during my teenage years that you do not necessarily go to Sunday School or youth group to see what you can get out of it (and you certainly do not come home evaluating church based on what you got out of it). Instead, you need to go to Sunday School or youth group thinking about how you can contribute. How can you welcome others, ask them questions about themselves, get to know them, pray for them, and care for them? You give of yourself and your time not only for God but also for others. Here’s how I opened the chapter to one of my books where I talk about this life-long lesson from my parents:

When I was a young kid, I watched my dad do other things besides parent and work. We moved to Littleton, Colorado when I was almost four. My dad had a new job and two young kids. For some people, this season of transition with children would have been a good reason to step away from lots of church activities and focus on the family. Our pastor, however, had a special talent for identifying the unique gifts of people in our congregation. Knowing my dad was an ex-high school basketball and baseball coach, he asked my dad to help coach various high school, junior high, and women’s sports teams that were part of the church’s ministry. My dad agreed to serve the family of God in this way. As a result, I spent many of my childhood evenings playing underneath bleachers during a basketball or softball game. I enjoyed numerous Saturday mornings accompanying my dad to basketball practice for the church’s junior high basketball team.

Little did I realize that my dad was doing something profoundly life-changing by serving the body of Christ in this way. In fact, years later, when my dad moved back to Colorado after a fifteen-year absence, he had members of the old basketball team come up to him and tell him, “I’m a Christian because of you and the youth basketball program at church.” Another previous basketball player who had converted to Christ through the basketball program told him, “I’m a pastor today because of you.” My dad’s involvement in this form of church ministry also changed my life. I realized I learned something important through all those activities: life did not and should not center on my activities and my world.⁷

My dad modeled what it meant to sacrifice for someone else’s flourishing within the context of the body of Christ. I (Kevin) also saw my parents love and serve others in the local church, investing 44 years in full-time pastoral ministry. We need to do the same for our college students.

Faculty Job Interviews

This reality is also why we have noticed that asking about church attendance is one of the most helpful inquiries when talking to faculty candidates. A visiting candidate may be able to provide some vague response to questions such as “Tell me about how Christianity influences your teaching philosophy,” or “How will you contribute to the Christian mission of the university?”  Candidates can say all kinds of things they really do not mean.

However, we find people are not willing to lie about their church involvement. They’ll honestly admit, “I kind of took a break from church during graduate school.” Or “I have visited a variety of churches but really have not had time to get involved during graduate school.” That tells you much more about this person than their answers to abstract questions about their Christian philosophy of education. They likely do not know the social science evidence around religious service attendance. They also may be a bit too self-absorbed to think about church as the context for both worshipping God and helping others.

1. James M. Bloodgood, William H. Turnley, and Peter Mudrack. “The Influence of Ethics Instruction, Religiosity, and Intelligence on Cheating Behavior,” Journal of Business Ethics 82 (2008): 557-571, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-007-9576-0; James Burton, Salil Talpade, and Joel Haynes. “Religiosity and Test-Taking Ethics among Business School Students,” Journal of Academic and Business Ethics, 4 (2011): 1–8, 07, 2015. http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/11759.pdf; David A. Rettinger and Augustus E. Jordan. “The Relations Among Religion, Motivation, and College Cheating: A Natural Experiment.” Ethics & Behavior 15, no. 2 (2005): 107-129, doi:10.1207/s15327019eb1502_2.
2. Harold George Koenig, Dana King, and Verna B. Carson, Handbook of Religion and Health. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012); Kenneth Pargament, Julie J. Exline, and James Jones, eds., APA Handbook of Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality (Vol. 1): Context, Theory, and Research. (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2013).
3. Perry L. Glanzer, Jonathan P. Hill, and Byron R. Johnson, The Quest for Purpose: The Collegiate Search for a Meaningful Life (State University of New York Press, 2017).
4. Asking the question this way is problematic because purpose and meaning are two different things. See Glanzer et al., The Quest for Purpose.
5. Arjan W. Braam, and Harold G. Koenig, “Religion, Spirituality, and Depression in Prospective Studies: A Systematic Review,” Journal of Affective Disorders 257, 1 (October 2019): 428–438, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2019.06.063.
6. Tyler J. VanderWeele, “Effects of Religious Service Attendance and Religious Importance on Depression: Examining the Meta-analytic Evidence,” The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 31, no. 1 (2021): 23, https://doi.org/10.1080/10508619.2020.1748932.
7. Perry L. Glanzer, Identity in Action: Christian Excellence in All of Life (Abilene Christian University Press, 2021), 47-48.