Weekly Attendance

NEWS ALERT...mental health in the US is down in 2020! I know, shocking…even scandalous. Except not. Pretty obvious, right? After all that’s happened this year we shouldn’t be surprise by that stat. But it’s not just down, Gallup.com writes that it is the worst it has been over the past two decades and it is down 9% since 2019. That’s a huge dip in percentage if you ask me!
Another interesting point this Gallup poll made was, “Previous research from Gallup's ongoing COVID-19 tracking survey in April found that although majorities of Americans said they could continue following social distancing guidelines as long as necessary before their physical health and financial situation suffered, less than half said the same of their mental health.” It’s interesting to me how Americans have made the conclusion that social distancing and other guidelines wouldn’t be a burden on their physical or financial health, but that it would negatively impact their mental health.
And I guess I point that out because we’ve been here for a while now, in a place with social limits and less human contact. We’ve gone through the holidays with smaller (or cancelled) celebrations, further limiting our human contact, especially physical contact in those relationships (hugs, handshakes, etc). And though we might actually be having some health benefits (I’ve heard the common cold and flu are less prevalent this year because of mask wearing/social distancing) these continued restrictions have had relational, social and mental health consequences.
And I say all of that to bring up one final point from the Gallup Poll. Every single category and demographic that the Gallup Poll monitored went down from 2019 to 2020. Categories like male/female, Republican/Democratic/Independent, White/Non-white, Married/Unmarried, etc all went down, except 1. One. Anyone want to guess which group that was? It was those who attend religious services weekly. Not Nearly Weekly/Monthly…that one went down. Not Seldom/Never, that one went down further than the previous. No, the only people in the US who said their mental health went up in 2020 were those who attended religious services weekly.
Huh. I don’t want to assume too much, and honestly I don’t put too much stock into numbers, but that’s interesting, isn’t it? For some of us, we don’t necessarily have a positive view of church attendance or have been burned or hurt in the church. I get that completely, trust me. But there are also some wonderfully positive reasons to be in church every week, mental health being one of them. And, honestly, I miss my church when I don’t get to attend when I’m on vacation and visiting a different church just isn’t the same.
And so, my prayer for 2021 is that our mental health goes up exponentially. But even more than that, we find ways to grow closer to God and engage with him continually. God bless.