International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies

Int. J. Appl. Psychoanal. Studies 7(2): 131–142 (2010)

Published online 29 March 2010 in Wiley InterScience
(www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/aps.236

Churches that Enhance Spirituality

and Wellbeing

ROBERT B. ELLSWORTH AND JANET B. ELLSWORTH

ABSTRACT

From examining thousands of surveys from 174 congregations, we earlier identified

29 aspects of ministry with strong links to spiritual and emotional wellbeing and
increased the number of people coming (Ellsworth & Ellsworth, International Journal
of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, 6(1), 46–60, 2009). This paper explores what
happened when church leaders strengthened these aspects. In examining over 12,000
surveys from 37 congregations that surveyed twice, we discovered that 20 of the 29
aspects had a major impact on changing more lives and attracting more people.
This paper identifies and discusses the 20 ministry essentials that actually helped
congregations experience higher levels of emotional wellbeing, spiritual growth, and/
or attracted more people. We also explore the question; can congregant’s emotional
wellbeing impact people in the larger community? Copyright © 2010 John Wiley &
Sons, Ltd.

Key words: churches, spirituality, wellbeing

INCREASED LONGING FOR SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES

For centuries, churches and other faith communities played the major role in
caring for the soul and helping people learn and practice spiritual teachings. In
1970, however, Abraham Maslow pointed out that spiritual values were not the
exclusive possession of organized churches. Increasingly unhappy with churches,
many people began looking elsewhere. A Gallup pole taken in 1978 confirmed
that 10 million Americans had already turned to Eastern religions and another
nine million were involved in some form of spiritual healing. David Elkins (1998)
pointed out that the new age movement, a smorgasbord of spirituality imported
from many lands and traditions, had intrigued millions of people.

To obtain a complimentary copy of the survey tool discussed in this paper, please email us or
visit our website: www.thrivingchurches.org.

Int. J. Appl. Psychoanal. Studies 7: 131–142 (2010)

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd DOI: 10.1002/aps
132 Ellsworth and Ellsworth

Robert’s encounter with spirituality. As an adult, I avoided religion and spirituality for many
years. As a psychologist, I felt that psychology offered the best approach to successful
living. Divorced for a second time in 1970, I realized I needed something more. I turned
to Transcendental Meditation, which resulted in greater inner peace and also opened me
to the wisdom found in spiritual teachings. Earlier, I had regarded such teachings as
nonsense.
Seeking a religious community that honored meditation and valued the world’s reli-
gions, someone suggested a New Thought church that met these criteria. As I became
involved, my life changed so much that I felt a strong calling to enter seminary. After
pastoring a church for six years, it became obvious that I still needed to address some
unresolved issues. I turned to psychotherapy, which continued for five years. For me, both
psychology and spirituality enhanced my mental health and emotional wellbeing.
(Ellsworth, 1970, personal experience)

THE RISE AND FALL OF RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS

Although interest in spirituality grew rapidly, only some churches and a few
denominations focused strongly on meeting spiritual needs. In 1984, for example,
Rev. Robert Schuller commissioned George Gallup to conduct a pole of American
adults (Gallup & Jones, 1989, p. 61). One survey item asked, “What would you
say should be the top priority of Christians?” Spiritual growth of one’s family
and self emerged as first choice. By offering practical ways to help people grow
spiritually and personally, Schuller’s television program, “Hour of Power,” eventu-
ally reached between two and three million people each week.
When around 40 percent of churches in a denomination attract more people,
the denomination itself typically grows. Hathaway (2006) found, however, that
only 21 percent of mainline Protestant churches had been growing. As a result,
mainline denominations lost over half their congregants between 1955 and
2000. This downward trend continues. Kosmin and Keysar (2009) recently
reported that between 2001 and 2008, another 6.4 million fewer adults identified
themselves as mainline Christians.
Based on large-scale survey study of 180 mainline and 129 conservative
churches, Woolever and Bruce confirmed that worshippers attending mainline
Protestant congregations experienced comparatively low levels of spirituality,
worship and leadership. Conservative Protestant and evangelical churches,
scoring higher in these three areas, often grew. Mainline churches scored higher
in one area, namely helping others outside the church. Unfortunately, as
Woolever and Bruce point out, churches that focused on meeting outer needs
tended not to grow.
Mainline denominations and most of their churches resisted meeting people’s
spiritual needs. In the early 1990s, neighbor (E. S.) a member of the mainline
church we attend, served on a national Church Growth Strategy team. In their
final report given to their denomination’s national assembly, the team concluded,
“Our world is in the midst of the greatest spiritual awakening since the
Reformation . . . For the first time the church is not leading it.”

Int. J. Appl. Psychoanal. Studies 7: 131–142 (2010)

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd DOI: 10.1002/aps
 Churches that enhance spirituality and wellbeing 133

E. S. also told us about her team meeting with a group of seminary leaders.
She noticed a high level of defensiveness when the topic of spiritual growth came
up. Seminary leaders told them that their curriculum was already crowded with
classes designed to meet academic accreditation standards, which included learn-
ing Hebrew and Greek. They claimed that there was no room in the curriculum
to address spiritual needs. One retired seminary president, however, told us a
different story. He pointed out that the denominations own accreditation boards
actually had more power to determine curriculum and continue to be “very
academically oriented.”
It is hard to believe that mainline seminaries and denominations continued
to focus on academics and avoided spirituality. Partly, it comes from how difficult
it is for bureaucracies to change. Fear of spirituality also played a role, as John
Sloat pointed out in A Handbook For Heretics (2002, pp. 3–7). Several men, in
Robert’s book study group, who have attended mainline churches for years,
shared stories that confirm Sloat’s experiences and conclusions.
In 1998, we began surveying congregations, hoping to identify what people
experience in growing and non-growing congregations. In 2008, we identified
and discussed survey 29 items that had very strong links to wellbeing, spiritual
growth and attracting more people (Ellsworth & Ellsworth, 2009, pp. 46–60).
We knew, however, that strong correlations neither prove nor disprove
causality.
To verify which of these 29 survey items, if strengthened, would help churches
thrive, we examined over 12,000 surveys from 37 congregations that surveyed
twice. We found that strengthening 20 of the original items played a key role
in helping churches improve their impact on wellbeing, spiritual growth and/or
attendance. Thirteen of the 20 items measure the aspects of worship, leadership
or transforming teachings that are strongly impact these three outcomes. We
now explore the aspects of worship, transforming teachings and leadership that
really make a difference.

ASPECTS OF WORSHIP THAT REALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE

We first list the seven worship items that, when strengthened, improved one or
more of the outcome measures (Table 1).
As seen in Table 1, strengthening three aspects of worship had an especially
strong impact on helping more congregants experience higher levels of emo-
tional wellbeing. The top three includes hearing more about the mystery and
wonder of God, people feeling more uplifted than when they came, and hearing
inspiring sermons. More congregants report growing spiritually when worship
emphasizes the wonder and mystery of God and more people experience emo-
tional releases. And finally, more worshippers experiencing emotional releases
also played a major role in attracting more people.
For several years, we did not understand why certain worship experiences
impacted people in positive ways. In David Elkins’ book, Beyond Religion (1998),

Int. J. Appl. Psychoanal. Studies 7: 131–142 (2010)

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd DOI: 10.1002/aps
134 Ellsworth and Ellsworth

Table 1: Aspects of soul nurturing worship

Strength of impact on:

Wellbeing Spiritual growth Attendance

(1) Worship here focuses on the mystery **** *** *

and wonder of god.
(2) I almost always leave worship feeling **** ** *
more uplifted than when I came.
(3) Sermons are almost always inspiring **** ** *
and interesting.
(4) I frequently feel an emotional release *** *** ***
during worship (tearful, choked up,
laughter, goose bumps, etc.).
(5) We are continually reminded here of *** *** ***
God’s love for us.
(6) Congregational songs are very *** ** **
uplifting, inspiring and easy to sing.
(7) The special music is excellent and soul ** – **
satisfying (solos, choir, etc.).

**** Very strong: Correlations: 0.60 to 0.69. (Occur by chance? Much less than 1 in 1000.)
*** Strong: Correlations: 0.50 to 0.59. (Occur by chance? Less than 1 in 1000.)
** Moderately Strong: Correlations: 0.40 to 0.49. (Occur by chance? Less than 1 in 100.)
* Weak but statistically significant: Correlations: 0.30 to 0.39. (Occur by chance? Less than 2 in
100.)

we found some answers. After 20 years of working with professional colleagues

and others, Elkins concluded that, “Spirituality is the process and result of nur-
turing one’s soul and developing one’s spiritual life.” In addition to faith com-
munities, he listed several other ways people grow spiritually, such as honoring
the feminine, counseling and psychotherapy, mythology, contact with nature,
relationships, and dark nights of the soul. Elkins (1998) wrote:

We meet the soul when we are stirred by music, moved by a poem, absorbed in a painting,
or touched by a ceremony or symbol. . . . the catch of the breath, the lump in the throat,
the tears in the eyes. (pp. 12–14, 41)

When soul is nurtured in these ways, people often experience what Paul, in his
letter to the Corinthians 2000 years ago, called “fruits of the spirit.” The “fruits”
he listed included becoming more peaceful, loving, and joyful. Today, we would
refer to these “fruits” as indicators of mental health and emotional wellbeing
(Paul, Letter to the Galatians, 1998).
In understanding the dynamics of healthy church life, it is essential to rec-
ognize that aspects of worship, leadership and teachings are inputs, reflecting
what people experience. Wellbeing, spiritual growth and numerical growth are

Int. J. Appl. Psychoanal. Studies 7: 131–142 (2010)

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd DOI: 10.1002/aps
 Churches that enhance spirituality and wellbeing 135

outcomes. It is not easy to measure the first two outcomes, but it is essential
to try.

Measuring Emotional Wellbeing

The four indicators we used include:

(1) Coming to this church makes a positive difference in my life.

(2) I am becoming a happier more joyful person
(3) I feel enthusiastic when I talk to people about this church.
(4) There is something happening here that really matters.

It is no accident that happiness shows up on the list. Twenty-five years ago,

Norman Cousins pointed out, in Anatomy of an Illness (1979, pp. 14–24), that
laughter played a key role in his recovery from a degenerative disease. Given
only a few months to live, he checked himself out of the hospital, moved into
a hotel room and began watching movies that he knew would make him laugh.
He not only survived, but also later became a researcher in mind–body relation-
ships at the UCLA Medical School. He later received the only MD degree ever
awarded to a layman from Yale University. Today, the Internet lists thousands
of references to the healing power of joy and laughter.

Spiritual Growth Indicators

(1) This church plays a vital role in my spiritual growth and wellbeing.
(2) This church helps me identify and use my natural (spiritual) gifts.
(3) Spiritual teachings help me greatly to handle difficult times better.

Note that spiritual growth requires that people actively participate in learning
about and using their spiritual gifts and applying spiritual teachings in their daily
lives. Some people enjoy worship and fellowship but remain passive in doing the
kind of work that helps them grow spiritually.

TRANSFORMING TEACHINGS THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE

When ministries strengthened three aspects of transforming teachings, signifi-

cantly more people reported growing spiritually. Two aspects of transforming
teachings helped more congregants experience higher levels of wellbeing and
two aspects had a moderately strong impact on increasing attendance (Table 2).
The fact that transforming teachings had only some impact on attendance
fascinated us. Spiritual teachings touch the intellect. Growing spiritually requires
effort. Perhaps many newcomers are not ready to engage. Many ministers and
seminary faculty believe that biblical and theological teachings are more impor-

Int. J. Appl. Psychoanal. Studies 7: 131–142 (2010)

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd DOI: 10.1002/aps
136 Ellsworth and Ellsworth

Table 2: Aspects of transforming teachings

Strength of impact on:

Wellbeing Spiritual growth Attendance

(1) From sermons, I learn practical ways to *** **** **

handle everyday life.
(2) This church really shows people how * **** **
to pray through sermons and classes.
(3) This ministry stresses the importance *** *** –
of using spiritual teachings.

**** Very strong.

*** Strong.
** Moderately strong.
* Weak.

Table 3: Aspects of positive accountable leadership

Strength of impact on:

Wellbeing Spiritual growth Attendance

(1) There is a lot of joy and laughter in *** * ****

this church.
(2) Church leaders (clergy, lay leaders, staff, *** * ****
etc.) support trying new things.
(3) Leaders are willing to evaluate and use *** *** ***
what works, and modify or put aside
what does not.

**** Very strong.

*** Strong.
** Moderately strong.
* Weak.

tant than anything else. Not so if a church wants to change more lives by
reaching more people. As seen later, strengthening aspects of leadership has the
greatest impact on attracting more people.

THREE ESSENTIALS OF POSITIVE ACCOUNTABLE LEADERSHIP

Ministries that strengthened three aspects of leadership attracted significantly

more people and enhanced emotional wellbeing. Numerical growth is more than
a numbers game. When congregations experience strong leadership and improved
wellbeing, more worshippers invite others who come. When more people come,
church communities not only grow but also many newcomers also experience
the positive effects of quality in ministry essentials (Table 3).

Int. J. Appl. Psychoanal. Studies 7: 131–142 (2010)

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd DOI: 10.1002/aps
 Churches that enhance spirituality and wellbeing 137

Leaders set the tone for joy and laughter, which very strongly impacts atten-
dance and, to a slightly lesser degree, affects wellbeing. As pointed out earlier,
joy and laughter have a healing impact. Openness to trying new things signals
a willingness to change. Accountable leaders also evaluates what works and
modifies or puts aside what does not. In many churches, almost everyone knows
of things not working but no one takes action.
In Hit The Bullseye, Paul Borden (2003) discovered the importance of account-
ability in working with a regional group of 38 American Baptist churches. To
him, accountability meant, “deciding what you want to change, working hard
toward that change, and finding a way to objectively measure whether that
change is occurring or not.” (Borden, 2003, pp. 35–53) Within five years, atten-
dance in these 38 churches increased an average of 77 percent, an amazing
example of the importance of accountable leadership.

HOW MANY CONGREGANTS’ LIVES REALLY CHANGE?

From surveying over 26,000 congregants from 174 churches, during the past 10
years, we found that 70 to 80 percent of congregants checked “yes” to the spiri-
tual growth and wellbeing survey items! Very few people would have predicted
that church communities impact so many lives in positive ways.

• Wellbeing. Eight out of 10 mainline and Unity congregants (79 percent) felt
that their church was making a positive difference in their lives and that
they were becoming happier, more joyful and enthusiastic. The wellness
scores ranged between a low of 52 percent to a high of 93 percent of con-
gregants checking yes to these items. Church communities with a very low
impact on people’s lives eventually close their doors or struggle on without
a minister.
• Spiritual growth. Almost eight in 10 congregants (76 percent) indicated that
they were growing spiritually. The range: between 60 and 100 percent.
• Attendance increased an average 22 percent per year in the ministries that
clearly strengthened the quality of their ministry essentials above normal
levels, and increased a comfortable seven percent per year in the nine min-
istries that made mild improvements.
• Attendance declined an average of 10 percent a year in the 16 churches
when quality fell below normal.

This clearly shows that churches making the greatest gains in the 20 survey
items had the biggest increases in attendance. When quality declined to below-
normal levels, churches lost people.
Without norms, church leaders can be misled. For example, many leaders
would rejoice if seven out of 10 congregants checked yes in responding to the
Worship items. Seventy percent, however, is 12 points below the national norm
and indicates a ministry in trouble. The national norm is based on over 17,000

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Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd DOI: 10.1002/aps
138 Ellsworth and Ellsworth

surveys from 102 congregations. This norm represents a kind of tipping point
between good and excellent. More lives are changing and more people come to
churches whose ministry essentials rise above the tipping point into
excellence.
About 10 percent of churches fall into the lowest quality of ministry essentials
and impact on wellbeing, spiritual growth and attracting new people. In these
declining churches, a high percentage of people reported hearing gossip and
complaining. Negative emotions drive people away. We know that some of these
failing churches have already closed their doors and more will follow.

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS SO FAR

The six pillars that characterize thriving churches include three ministry essen-
tials and three life-changing outcomes. As seen later, improving worship and
transforming teachings had a very strong impact on spiritual growth. Improving
leadership had a very strong impact on both wellbeing and church growth. It
makes a lot of difference when leaders work together to create a joyful atmosphere,
try new things, and evaluate what works and take effective action (Table 4).
Notice that soul-nurturing worship achieved a five-star rating with respect to
its impact on wellbeing. Many church leaders correctly point to the quality of
worship experiences as more important than anything else. Does other research
indicate that positive emotions impact aspects of wellbeing, such as joy and
laughter?

Attendance
In our small sample of 37 congregations, for example, we found that when
churches significantly improved their impact on emotional wellbeing and spiritual
growth attendance grows by 17 percent per year. Moderate improvement results

Table 4: Links between three ministry areas and three outcomes

Links between ministry areas and outcomes

Spiritual growth Wellbeing Growth in

(three items) (four items) attendance

Soul nurturing worship (six survey items) **** ***** ***

Transforming teachings (three items) **** ** *
Positive accountable leadership (three *** **** ****
items)

***** Extremely strong.

**** Very strong.
*** Strong.
** Moderately strong.
* Weak.

Int. J. Appl. Psychoanal. Studies 7: 131–142 (2010)

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd DOI: 10.1002/aps
 Churches that enhance spirituality and wellbeing 139

in churches growing eight percent per year. Attendance in churches whose

wellbeing and spiritual growth scores decreased, however, lost seven percent of
their congregation per year.

DOES EXPERIENCING POSITIVE EMOTIONS CHANGE LIVES?

To address the question earlier, we turn to the developing science of Positive

Psychology. Newly elected as president of the American Psychological Association
and feeling frustrated that mental health research had focused almost entirely
on what is wrong with people, Martin Seligman became a primary spokesperson
for Positive Psychology. It’s mission: “To understand and foster the factors that
allow individuals, communities and societies to flourish” (Seligman and
Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). In Authentic Happiness, Seligman shares numerous
examples and studies regarding the strong impact that positive emotions have
on people’s lives.
The empirical studies conducted and reviewed by of Barbara Fredrickson
(2001) have shown specifically how various kinds of emotions actually affect
personal behavior. After reviewing her research, Seligman reported, “When I
first read her papers, I ran up the stairs two at a time and said excitedly to Mandy
(his wife), ‘This is life changing, especially for a grouch like me’ ” (Seligman,
2002, p. 35).
In randomly assigning participants to various films and situations designed
to engender joy, contentment, pride and love, as well as fear, Fredrickson found
that:

• Joy creates the urge to play, push the limits, and be creative.
• Contentment creates the urge to savor current life circumstances and inte-
grates these circumstances into new views of self and the world.
• Pride creates the urge to share news of the achievements with others and
to envision even greater achievement in the future.
• Love creates recurring cycles of urges to play, explore and savor experiences
with loved ones and builds lasting social bonds.
• Negative emotions such as fear, however, are linked to anger and urges to
attack or escape.

Fredrickson (2001) also found that cultivating experiences of positive emotions

could help people cope with negative emotions and help them bounce back from
stressful experiences quickly and effectively. In other words, positive emotions
can affect future behavior and the capacity to adapt. “The take-home message
is that positive emotions are worth cultivating! Not just as end states in them-
selves but also as a means to achieving psychological growth and improved
wellbeing over time” (Fredrickson, 2001, pp. 56, 218–226).
Some pastors believe that creating “feel good” worship centers on “self” and
has little Christian value. We find many congregants in mainline churches who

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Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd DOI: 10.1002/aps
140 Ellsworth and Ellsworth

feel it is “wrong” or even “sinful” to focus on self. Certainly, extreme self-cen-

teredness reflects narcissism. Happiness and joy help in personal healing and
often has a positive impact on others in the community.

CAN CONGREGANT’S EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCES IN CHURCH

IMPACT PEOPLE IN THE WIDER COMMUNITY?

Recent research shows that some emotional states are contagious. Happiness and
loneliness, for example, are not just the property of an individual, but can be
transmitted from person to person (Christakis & Fowler, 2009). These authors
obtained their data from a segment of the 12,067 people who entered the
Framingham Heart Study in 1971. Every two to four years since, as many of
these people as possible were re-interviewed and tested. The authors selected
1020 cases with extensive information on physical health and emotional states
as well as information about the health and emotional wellbeing of family and
friends.
Their analyses of this network revealed connecting directly with a friend
(once removed from a worshipper) who is happy makes you 15 percent more
likely to be happy yourself. A happy friend of a friend (twice removed) increases
your odds of happiness by 10 percent. But, the transmission of happiness
does not stop there. Even connecting with a happy friend of a friend (three
times removed) can give you a six percent boost. Happiness is contagious to a
measurable degree. What this means is that happier congregants can infect
friends who, in turn, infect other friends with an increased probability of
happiness.
We live in Bend Oregon, a city of about 75,000 people. Bend has 67 churches.
Typically, churches across America average about 100 worshippers each Sunday.
This suggests that around 6700 people worship in Bend churches each week.
Using national norms based on our survey, we find that 72 percent of 6700
churchgoers, or 4824 of worshippers report becoming happier and more joyous.
But to what extent does their happiness affect people in the community? In
doing the math, Robert calculated that the happiness of 4824 worshippers would
spread to around 7885 additional people in the community. If we had not dis-
covered Christakis’ research, we would not have realized how much impact
happier congregants could have on others.

LIMITATIONS AND STRENGTHS OF CURRENT STUDY

Findings and conclusions based on a sample size of 37 congregations should be

regarded as suggestive. The fact that this sample included over 12,000 surveys
indicates that the findings are reliable and had almost no chance of occurring
by chance. A larger study, however, may identify other important aspects of
ministry that also have a significant positive impact on spiritual growth, wellbe-
ing and attracting more people.

Int. J. Appl. Psychoanal. Studies 7: 131–142 (2010)

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 Churches that enhance spirituality and wellbeing 141

A major strength includes the highly significant correlations between the three
ministry areas and three life changing outcomes (range 0.39–0.78). Correlations
this size indicate a high degree of success for churches that want to strengthen
their impact on the six indicators of thriving churches. We have rarely seen
correlations this high. In contrast, one study of 418 churches reported that con-
gregations with high scores in meaningful worship “were not more likely to be
growing in numbers of new people” (Woolever and Bruce, 2004, pp. 71, 136). In
contrast, we found that almost nine out of 10 churches (86 percent), whose
worship improved to above-normal levels, grow in number of people attending.
Why the difference? For one thing, our survey measured different aspects of
worship. We believe that our survey’s ability to help congregations thrive came
from several years spent in discovering which aspects of ministry are strongly
linked to numerical growth, wellbeing and spiritual growth.
Our present study took another step rarely taken. By using a test–retest
design, we went on to test the hypothesis that if churches strengthened impor-
tant aspects measured by our survey, their ministry would change more lives and
attract more people. The high rate of success achieved by churches that strength-
ened certain areas attests to the validity of the essentials measured by our instru-
ment. The results of this research are an excellent tool for ministries wanting
to help more people change in positive ways and attract more people.

OPPORTUNITIES

If church leaders had the opportunity and courage to evaluate and strengthen
the ministry essentials that engender emotional wellbeing and spiritual growth,
millions more people would come flooding back.
What if church leaders in a community came together to support one another
in seeking ways to assess their ministry strengths and working on the essentials
that need strengthening? Would mental health and emotional wellbeing of a
community improve? Would crime rates drop? Would more families enjoy a more
loving, accepting home life? Would more people in workplaces experience greater
harmony? We think the answer would be yes!

REFERENCES

Borden, P. D. (2003). Hit the Bullseye (pp. 35–53). Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.
Christakis, N. A., & Fowler, J. H. (2009). Connected: The Surprising Power of Social Networks and
How They Shape Our Lives (pp. 49–51). New York: Little Brown and Company.
Cousins, N. (1979). Anatomy of an Illness (pp. 14–24). New York: WW Norton.
Elkins, D. N. (1998). Beyond Religion (pp. 12–13, 41). Wheaton, IL: Quest Books.
Ellsworth, R. B., & Ellsworth, J. B. (2009). Life transforming congregations. International Journal
of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, 6(1): 46–60.
Fredrickson, B. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology. American Psychologist,
56, 218–226.

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Hathaway, C. K. (2006). Facts on Growth. Hartford, CT: Hartford Institute for Religious Research
Report.
Gallup, G., & Jones, S. (1989). 100 Questions and Answers: Religions in America (p. 61). Princeton,
NJ: Princeton Research Center Report.
Kosmin, B. A., & Keysar, A. (2009). American Religious Identification Survey: Summary Report.
Hartford, CT: Trinity College.
Maslow, A. (1970). Religions, Values and Peak Experiences (pp. 33–44). New York: Viking Press
Inc.
Paul, Letter to the Galatians. (1998). Holy Bible, New Revised Standard Version (p. 948). Nashville,
TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
Seligman, M. (2002). Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your
Potential for Lasting Fulfillment (p. 35). New York: The Free Press.
Seligman, M., Czikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction. American
Psychologist, 55(1): 5–14.
Sloat, J. W. (2002). A Handbook for Heretics: From Religion to the Kingdom of God (pp. 3–7).
Haverford, PA: Infinity Publishing.com.
Woolever, C., & Bruce, D. (2004). Beyond the Ordinary: Ten Strengths of US Congregations (pp.
71, 136). Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox.

Rev. Robert B. Ellsworth, PhD and Rev. Janet Ellsworth, MS

964 NE Wiest Way, Bend OR, 97701, USA
revsrobjan@bendtel.net

Int. J. Appl. Psychoanal. Studies 7: 131–142 (2010)

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd DOI: 10.1002/aps