The effect of socially supportive church ministry on children’s prosocial behavior: An experimental study of Latin American Protestant Congregations

Abstract

The church is commonly assumed to scaffold individuals’ socially supportive relationships and prosocial behavior. If true, that would make the church an important support for individual development and community change, facilitating and fostering healthy relationships and positive interactions with others. In this study, we analyzed experimental data collected from 30 churches in three Latin American countries to assess the impact of an intervention targeting relational ministry practices on 6- to 14-year-old children’s perceived support and prosocial behavior. Data were collected from children before (n = 710) and after (n = 612) the intervention in treatment (n = 25 churches) and control (n = 5 churches) conditions. Results indicated that the introduction of socially supportive practices in church children’s ministries increased children’s prosocial behavior, an effect mediated by changes in perceived support. Implications for children’s development and the church as a means of community change are discussed.

Keywords:

• Church
• development
• intervention
• prosocial behavior
• social support

Disclosure statement

In accordance with Taylor & Francis policy and our ethical obligation as researchers, we are reporting that the second author served as a paid consultant for Every Generation Ministries (EGM) during the collection of the data reported in this paper, data collected for internal use by EGM. These interests have been fully disclosed Taylor & Francis, and the data were provided by EGM for analysis and publication without contingency or intervention by EGM.

Data availability statement

Due to the nature of this research, participants of this study did not agree for their data to be shared publicly, so supporting data are not available.

Notes

1 EGM’s previous observations were supported by evidence gathered after the LDP in the present study, which are described in the fidelity of implementation section below. Importantly, these data do not address why these churches tended to utilize a purely didactic approach to religious instruction instead of interactive teaching strategies and relationally oriented practices. Although there are several plausible explanations for the dearth of relational practices within the children’s ministries of these churches (e.g., ministry praxis, access to resources, cultural influences), the present data do not address these explanations. Future research should investigate these explanations as potential antecedents of social support within church contexts.