Recent Gallup research* on healthy religious congregations finds
that 17% of members of American congregations are "fully
spiritually committed." Full spiritual commitment is indicated by a
"strongly agree" response to all nine items that measured spiritual
commitment in Gallup's fall 2001 Spiritual Engagement Index poll*.
Spiritual commitment focuses on the extent to which faith permeates
an individual's life. This commitment is reflected in such
attitudes as religious faith that gives a sense of inner peace, and
the degree to which faith pervades every aspect of a person's life.
It is also demonstrated in specific behaviors, such as praying
daily, encouraging others and finding the power to forgive.
When spiritual commitment data are filtered through demographic
lenses, significant differences emerge among population groups --
between men and women; among whites, African-Americans and
Hispanics, among age groups, and among education levels.
One of the most striking differences with regard to spiritual
commitment levels occurs between men and women. As indicated by the
graph below, 21% of female congregation members appear to be fully
spiritually committed, compared to just 13% of male members.
There are also significant differences by education level.
Spiritual commitment tends to be significantly less frequent among
those who have at least a college degree. In contrast, the group
with the highest level of full spiritual commitment -- those with
at least some technical/vocational school -- are only marginally
more likely to be fully committed than those who did not complete
high school.
The data also reveal the likelihood to be fully spiritually
committed varies by age -- it increases as congregation members get
older -- and racial category. Of the racial groups with a large
enough sample size to be considered, African-Americans have the
highest percentage who are fully spiritually committed, with 27%.
Hispanics have 11%, and whites have 16%.
Key Points
The upshot of all these variations for congregational leaders is
that programs aimed at increasing spiritual commitment should not
take a "one-size-fits-all" approach. Life situation and experience
play an important role in forming one's spiritual commitment. Know
your people, know their needs, and then find ways to meet those
needs person by person.
*Results are based on telephone interviews with 729 adult
members of a church, synagogue, or other religious faith community,
aged 18+, conducted October through November 2001. For results
based on this sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the
margin of sampling error is ±3.6%.
