What Actually Drives Spiritual Growth?
What Actually Drives Spiritual Growth?
…a look at the research
What Actually drives spiritual growth?
“Increased church attendance and activity do not correlate with spiritual growth.”
In my previous post I considered how a person can skip church even if they love Jesus (Loving Jesus, Leaving Church).
Today’s post is meant to document the reality that significant spiritual growth doesn’t take place in a Sunday worship service.
Shocker, right?
Most Christians have been told that the Sunday service is central to their faith and to skip it will end in spiritual ruin.
Well, not so much.
This isn’t meant to denigrate Sunday worship. It has its value and its place in a believer's life. A church service is a good place to connect with other believers, hear biblical teaching and join others in serving. All good stuff!
But the Sunday service shouldn’t be relied upon as your main spiritual diet to provide the challenge necessary to live a transformed life. Many people end up quitting church for this reason. They thought a church service alone had some magical power to change them. But they are often left disappointed and walk away disillusioned.
So, let’s take a look at why this might be.
What Promotes Spiritual Growth?
Research over the past few years has pinpointed some startling facts. The numbers are clear: Sunday church attendance does not predict long-term spiritual growth.
The REVEAL Study
When I was still pastoring a church back in the early 2000s, one of the first studies came out (the REVEAL study) assessing spiritual growth factors. Researchers surveyed over 250,000 congregants across hundreds of diverse churches to track what actually causes a person to grow closer to God.
The study uncovered a surprising truth: Increased church attendance and activity do not correlate with spiritual growth.
This opened the eyes of many church leaders and got them asking the right questions, like: if church attendance isn’t doing what we thought it did, what is the answer? What should we be doing?
The Power of Bible Reading
Another study was sponsored by The Center for Bible Engagement. They tracked the habits of over 40,000 people to see how various spiritual behaviors impacted daily life. They confirmed the REVEAL study discovering that attending a church service once a week had a negligible statistical impact on a person’s daily moral choices, habits, and resilience. Ouch!
BUT…what DID impact people was regular Bible reading. Not once, twice or even three times a week. What they found was engaging with the Bible four or more times a week triggered a massive lifestyle transformation.
Somehow the fourth day provided a tipping point in transformation. The study revealed that at the four-day point, the odds of giving into destructive or addictive behaviors dropped by 30% to 60%, while the propensity to share one's faith, volunteer, and mentor others spiked by over 200%.
That’s wild…and good to know!
Passivity is a Problem
A third study was done by Barna Research. They found that approximately 80% of Christians list spiritual development as a top personal priority. Yet, only 20% are involved in any intentional spiritual practice outside of attending church services.
The cause of this disconnect pointed to the passivity that occurs from sitting in a single church service once a week. People aren’t taught to take responsibility for their spiritual growth but rather to rely on the “experts” to feed them.
In contrast to this passivity, Barna found that believers who actually grew spiritually were people who were actively engaged in small groups, one-on-one mentorship, and personal prayer, rather than just acting as spectators in a large room.
Final Thoughts
All of these studies tell me two things:
You can grow spiritually apart from a Sunday church service if you take the initiative.
Churches need to encourage people to move beyond the Sunday service to truly grow their faith.
I started this series of posts to encourage people who have been hurt and/or disillusioned by church and wonder if it’s okay to not attend a Sunday service. They are often made to feel guilty at even the thought of skipping church.
You see, the reality is that many churches aren’t helpful. They can be boring at best and abusive at worst. They can be closed minded echo chambers that fail to reflect the true nature and heart of God. Jesus spoke against this kind of religion all the time. We need to reject it as much as he did.
Plus, the research shows that even the good churches fall short of helping people to be truly transformed by God.
If you have been hurt or bored by church I’ve tried to offer you some alternative ways to still grow your faith in God.
My ultimate hope for you is that you will give church a second chance. There are many good churches out there where you will meet amazing people who love God and love people. Being a part of this kind of positive community is life-changing. But you need to seek God for what’s best for you and understand that attending church on Sunday alone isn’t sufficient to grow your faith. A Sunday service can be a great rally point for a church community but it’s only one spiritual discipline out of many.
What’s been your experience inside or outside of church? I’d love to hear from you.
