Illustration generated by AI via DALL-E 2

By DAVID CRUMM
Editor of ReadTheSpirit magazine

“After more than two years of pandemic, how can we encourage people to join our congregation?”

That single question pops up in nearly every conversation I’ve had with religious leaders. Everyone who cares about their religious communities is trying to inspire and energize people to reconnect after so many Americans scattered during the height of the COVID pandemic. And that challenge of bringing back existing members is on top of the perennial challenge faced by leaders of every religious group: Finding new members.

After hearing these questions raised with fresh urgency this autumn—because that’s the season, each year, when religious leaders really crank up their programming—I realized that it’s time to share a powerful chapter from our book, Now What? A Guide to the Gifts and Challenges of Aging.

Based on objective journalistic reporting, this chapter summarizes the ever-growing research that shows there’s one terrific reason to join a congregation: It’s good for you! Becoming part of a congregation is a proven predictor of health and wellbeing across our communities around the world.

To date, I haven’t heard many religious leaders preach this message—but it’s both powerful and it’s true.

So, our publishing house decided to freely share this chapter with all of you.

Feel free to read it, to be inspired by it—and to freely share it with others, if you would like.

If you do share it in some other form, we only ask that you properly credit this book’s title and mention its Amazon link.

Click on this image of the book cover to read the chapter with this good news.

Care to read more?

You can order a copy of the entire book—Now What? A Guide to the Gifts and Challenges of Aging—from Amazon in hardcover, paperback or Kindle.

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