A growing battery of evidence suggests the idea that going to church is good for you. Not just good socially, or psychologically (we all know that living in community is beneficial there) – but actually medically good for you! This is Rebecca McLaughlin’s starting point for her short book, “How Church Could (Literally) Save Your Life”, published at the end of last year. A medical student I know at the University of Dundee recently mentioned to me that this had come up in her lectures too, as a positive health indicator – but only in passing. The facts and stats had been dropped and noted; but not explored further. Helpfully, Rebecca McLaughlin has stepped forward to do exactly that.
Marshalling a wealth of evidence, and referencing countless more scientific and medical papers, McLaughlin looks at four areas where active participation in the life of a church has demonstrable benefits. These are in “Mental Health”, “Physical Health”, “Moral Health”, and ”Spiritual Health” respectively. Along with the evidence, she also tells some interesting stories of sceptical scientists who have been persuaded by this evidence to at the very least, consider Christianity seriously for the first time.
Although these four chapters might work as stand-alone essays, there is also an arc to the shape of the book – as it begins with matters of concerns to everyone (longevity, health outcomes etc), but by the end leans heavily into what McLaughin calls the ‘spiritual health benefits’ of participation in the Christian faith. Here she gets to the heart of the gospel of Jesus itself. As she takes the reader on that journey, she also takes time to fend off some objections to her argument along the way too.
The reason that this book is timely is that the cultural conversation in recent years has shifted significantly. At Solas, we see in practice, what many large surveys have suggested is happening in our culture. Namely that the conversations we have with people who do not believe in Jesus increasingly begin with their enquiry about ‘whether it works’ or not. If persuaded that the Christian faith ‘works’ at a personal and existential level, they will then start to ask whether it is actually true. (They may also accept the fact ‘that it works’ as evidence of its truth.) A decade ago, the order was usually the opposite way around.
The key objection from sceptics a decade ago was that Christianity was at odds with science, and wasn’t objectively true. Vital work was done by many Christians in the sciences such as Prof John Lennox at Oxford to respond to and refute that objection. Come forward a decade and a key objection we now face is that ‘Christianity is harmful’. It is portrayed by its opponents as repressive and its ethics injurious to human flourishing. McLaughin’s little book steps right into this debate – and makes bold (evidence backed) claims that Christianity, far from being harmful is exactly what we all need in order to live well, and live long!
McLaughlin is a punchy, sometimes almost combative(!) writer. She’s like that in-person too, I interviewed her once online during lockdown and was impressed. She’s something of a force of nature, and goes into debates well-armed and is highly persuasive.
Some people might object to the premise that we should commend the gospel on the basis of what might be considered to be selfish terms. (Come to Jesus for the good stuff he can offer you) but McLaughlin is very careful to avoid packaging this in a ‘prosperity gospel’ sort of way in which we make God a means to an end. Rather she frames her argument as being that Christianity works because it aligns with the design for life embedded within us by our creator. This then becomes further evidence of the credibility of the claims of Christ.
Weighing in at less than 70 small pages, this is not a monster tome – it can be easily got through in an evening. It’s good book to give-away to sceptics and seekers, and to further that end there are some very good deals on it for bulk buys if churches (etc) want to distribute it. (We’re not getting any commission on that by the way, it’s just a helpful hint!).
It’s a short, punchy and well argued read – and very much ripe for our times.
