DAWN Fridayfax 1996 #25

DAWN News from Germany plus Health issues from USA

German Lutherans plant churches: "Different churches for different people at different times"

Around 200 people, 25% of which were leading state church staff, met in Spielberg near Karlsruhe in Germany on 15th June 1996 for the "First German church-planting seminar".

"The missionary task forbids that we work independently or even against one another" said Karlruhe's senior church councillor Klaus Baschang. Berlin's Ernst Adomeit, General Secretary of the AMD, called for a new thinking and a new spiritual process which will reach young families, blue-collar workers and intellectuals through various services.

According to pastor Wolfgang Riewe, director of the Evangelical Press Association in Bielefeld, an important reason for the state church to plant new churches is the need to change from a system of pastoral accompaniment to being a missionary church; in addition, a broader choice of services should be offered, particularly in cities and multi-religion communities; newly-planted churches are able to take account of cultural change in a country more easily than those with traditional forms of music and preaching.

According to Riewe, there are around 10 church-planting initiatives in Germany; Dr. Jorg Knoblauch, head of the church-growth movement AGGA and one of the founders of Giengen's 'Oasis', Germany's largest church-planting project now with 400 regular visitors, stated that there are another 20 if inter-church or inter-denominational projects are included.

Source: Paulus-Institute, Fax (+49) 9183-4273

Scientists show why attending church is healthy

"An increasing number of people want to investigate the link between healing and spirituality," according to Dr. Jeffrey Levin, Gerontoligist and Epidemiologist at the Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, USA.

TIME magazine's 24th June 1996 issue reports about the increasing dissatisfaction with modern high-tech medicine and its increasingly evident limits.

"Between 60% and 90% of all doctors' appointments deal with stress-related symptoms in body and mind," according to Boston's Dr. Herbert Benson. Sigmund Freud dismissed religious mysticism as "infantile helplessness" and "a return to primitive narcissism", but scientists now have a completely different tone.

"A true scientist," according to Levin, "cannot and dare not exclude the probability that God answers prayer." According to TIME, a whole list of scientists are becoming seriously interested in the connection between healing and spirituality. "Previously, simply investigating the topic could kill your career," says Levin.

In the mountains of medical research, Dr. Levin and Dr. David Larson, Investigative Psychiatrist at the private 'National Institute for Healthcare Research" uncovered over 200 studies of the topic, most underlining the fact that religion is good for the health. Some of the results:

Churchgoers have lower blood pressure: "A 30-year study of blood pressure demonstrated that churchgoers have lower blood pressure than non-churchgoers. The difference is up to 5mm, even including smoking and other risk factors in the statistical analysis," according to Dr. Larson.
Halved risk of dying of heart disease: Men and women who regularly attend church are only half as likely to die of illnesses affecting the coronary artery as persons who rarely attend church (also taking smoking and other socio-economic factors into account).
Fit and happy in old age: A 1996 study of 4,000 elderly people living in North Carolina conducted by the "National Institue of Aging" showed that those who visit religious meetings are less depressive and in better physical condition than those who do not visit church services or hold their own services at home.
Believers with hip injuries walk again: A study of 30 female patients who suffered a fractured hip showed that those who saw God as the source of their strength and encouragement were able to walk further following their release from hospital and suffered less from depression than those with little or no faith.
Significantly less risk of suicide: Non-churchgoers are four times more likely to commit suicide than churchgoers, according to a series of studies. Regular churchgoers are distinctly less likely to suffer from depression- or fear-related illnesses.
Believing smokers have better blood pressure: It has even been shown that smokers who consider religion important are seven times less likely to have an abnormal blood pressure.
Religious heart patients are 3 times more likely to survive: A study performed at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Centre in 1995 showed that one of the best indicators of how likely a patient was to survive heart surgery was their trust in a religious belief. Non-religious people in the 232 studied were three times more likely to die.
Healthy social integration: Church attendance also offers social integration, which has been shown by many studies to have a healthy and healing influence. The Dartmouth study of heart patients also shows that those who were both religious and socially involved had a 14 times better chance of survival than those who were isolated or without faith.

Source: Claudia Wallis, TIME, June 24,1996

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