The key: build a sense of belonging through social networks
Dr Bruce Manners
Senior minister
Avondale College Seventh-day Adventist Church
Attending church helps you be a better neighbour than those who don’t go to church, if . . . . And the “if” is fascinating. Here’s the list: If you have close friends at church; if you discuss religion frequently with your family and friends; and if you take part in small groups at church.
In sociology-speak, these are “extremely powerful predictors of the entire range of generosity, good neighbourliness, and civic engagement . . . not just of religious good works.” This is the finding of Robert Putman (he wrote Bowling Alone) and David Campbell from their Faith Matters survey in the US.
In their book American Grace, they note devout people who go to church and sit alone aren’t much more neighbourly than those who don’t go to church at all. It comes from “chatting with friends after the service or joining a Bible study group, not from listening to a sermon or fervently believing in God.”
They suspect an atheist who becomes involved in the social life of a congregation is more likely to volunteer to serve at a soup kitchen than the fervent believer who prays alone.
In brief: “It is religious belonging that matters for neighbourliness, not religious believing.”
Their findings intrigued them, so they checked other national surveys. The surveys confirmed their findings—with a “kind of robust correlation . . . uncommon in the social sciences.”
The key is involvement in a religious social network. This is significant. In a follow-up survey, they discovered those who had loosened their ties to their church network had also reduced their civic involvement.
We’re commanded to love our neighbours (see Romans 13:9). These findings suggest that might well start with building a sense of belonging at church through developing social networks.
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