Swiss Research Shows the Remarkable Impact a Father's Church Attendance has on the Children

Aimee Herd : Oct 9, 2007
Dean Smith-OpentheWord.org

"When the child begins to move into that differentiation from home and engagement with the world out there, he (and she) looks increasingly to the father for that role model."

(Switzerland)?It may not be "politically correct," but a study that was done in Switzerland reveals how important the role of a father is, regarding church attendance, and whether or not his children will follow suit.

Writing for Open Word, Dean Smith shares some of the statistics from the research, including how striking the impact seems to be on the children, when a father attends church?even if the mother does not. Interestingly enough, the numbers are considerably lower for children attending church when the mother does, but the father does not.

Dean writes: "...one of the most stunning statistics showed up in when the father was more faithful in church attendance than the mother. In homes where the father was a regular church attendee and the mother irregular, 38% of the children went on to regularly attend church, 44% attended irregularly and 18% did not attend at all.

"Even when the father attended church irregularly and the mother didn't at all, 25% of the children went on to attend church regularly, 23% irregularly and 52% not at all. This compared to families where mothers attended regularly and the father not at all where the numbers were 2%, 37% and 61% respectively."

This is not to discourage single moms by any means, as Dean notes the important fact that, in the Bible, Timothy's mother and grandmother are mentioned as his primary spiritual role models, and he went on to become a great minister of the Gospel.

To read this fascinating article in its entirety, follow the link provided.