A strong correlation exists between religiosity and personal happiness, according to a new study by the Austin Institute for the Study of Family and Culture.

The study found that people who attend religious services on a weekly basis are nearly twice as likely to describe themselves as “very happy” (45%) than people who never attend (28%). Conversely, those who never worship are twice as likely to say they are “very unhappy” (4%) as those who attend services weekly (2%).

Building on prior research, this broad survey of American adults comprised a representative sample of 15,738 Americans between the ages of 18 and 60.

The study indicated that not only religious service attendance, but self-reported “religiosity” and religious “affiliation” are also linked with happiness levels. Yet of the three indicators, service attendance has the highest correlation to increased happiness. The study showed that higher levels of church attendance “predict higher life satisfaction,” even after accounting for how important religious faith is in people’s lives.

The correlation between religiosity and happiness is clear, but explanations of the connection and possible causal relationship are less clear. One theory suggests that the social support that religious communities can provide may be a key factor contributing to increased happiness, since “religious Americans are more apt to be involved in their communities.” Yet even here, the study found “that those who attend religious services often are happier than their peers with similar levels of involvement in the community.”

In response to the great commission the disciples did not just evanglise, they congregationalised. Now as we go from the end of the earth to the ends of the earth, what systems will aid a movement of churches planting churches?

The brazen murders of two New York City police officers, Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, on December 20, stunned the nation and cast a pall over the Christmas season. Since the shooting details have emerged about the lives of the two slain officers, including Ramos’s plans to become a chaplain. To get a better feel for who Ramos was and why he was drawn to ministry, we talked to Marcos Miranda, president of the New York State Chaplain Task Force, who oversaw Ramos’s chaplain-training program.

How did you meet Rafael Ramos and what was he like?

Officer Rafael Ramos came to our intensive community crisis chaplain-training program. He was very excited because he didn’t realize he could be a chaplain. He thought chaplains were only members of the clergy. He was glad to know that we had a division of lay chaplains, which is what he would have been.

Officer Ramos took the course for 10 weeks and turned in all of his homework assignments and received an “A” on each of them. He really excelled and I was able to have a lot of conversations with him throughout the course’s 10-week period. He was due to graduate on December 20 with 144 other chaplain candidates. We had two graduations: at 12 p.m. and a 4 p.m. and Rafael was due to graduate at the 4 p.m. slot. Of course, he was working that day and was assassinated before he could graduate.