The Congregational Character Questionnaire: An Initial Empirical Examination of the Significance of Collective Church Character Traits

Researchers in several academic disciplines have begun to take an interest in group character traits, including the character traits of religious congregations. This article reports the first empirical studies of congregational virtues. The Congregational Character Questionnaire was developed for me...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Authors: Byerly, T. Ryan (Author) ; Edwards, Keith J. (Author) ; Hill, Peter C. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Sage Publishing 2022
In: Journal of psychology and theology
Year: 2022, Volume: 50, Issue: 3, Pages: 340-354
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Church congregation / Character / Perception / Member
IxTheo Classification:NBN Ecclesiology
RB Church office; congregation
ZD Psychology
Further subjects:B Satisfaction with life
B Religious well-being
B Church
B collective character
B satisfaction with church
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
Description
Summary:Researchers in several academic disciplines have begun to take an interest in group character traits, including the character traits of religious congregations. This article reports the first empirical studies of congregational virtues. The Congregational Character Questionnaire was developed for measuring 12 different virtues of Christian churches: clinging to apostolic teaching, honoring teachers, prayerfulness, hopefulness, discipleship, emotional supportiveness, material supportiveness, spiritual equality, unity, submission, peace with the world, and spreading the faith. The instrument was then used with an online sample (N = 530) to study how congregants’ perceptions of their congregation’s virtuousness related to congregants’ evaluations of their congregation, participation in their congregation, as well as congregants’ satisfaction with life, presence of meaning in life, and religious well-being. Results indicated that congregants’ overall perceptions of congregational virtuousness were significantly positively related to all of these dependent variables. These results help to reveal the important role that congregational character may play in the experience of congregants. Directions for future research in this area are outlined.
ISSN:2328-1162
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of psychology and theology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/00916471211021923