How Church Could (Literally) Save Your Life (The Gospel Coalition)

by Rebecca McLaughlin

Publisher:

Crossway

, 2025

Overview

Bestselling Author Rebecca McLaughlin Presents Evidence That Church Could Be the Greatest Life Hack for Your Mental and Physical Well-Being

People are hungry for the latest wellness secret to improve their physical and mental health and extend their life expectancy. But one of the most evidence-based practices to boost your health and happiness is hidden in plain sight. It’s not a new-age trend, a superfood, or an expensive, recently released pill. It’s the age-old practice of attending church each week.

Harvard School of Public Health and other institutions have discovered that weekly religious service attendance helps guard against depression, increase happiness, improve physical health, and extend life expectancy. InHow Church Could (Literally) Save Your Life, Rebecca McLaughlin explores this compelling data from a Christian perspective. Avoiding prosperity-gospel guarantees of health in this life, she shares the significant and science-backed benefits of worshiping God in community and the good news of Jesus, the Great Physician. Written both for skeptics and believers who may have stopped going to church, this brief, accessible guide invites readers to discover the true source of abundant life.

• Brief and Informative:Explains key data about the positive effects of church attendance on a person’s physical and mental well-being
• Accessible Invitation to Church:Written for anyone who is not currently attending, including atheists, skeptics, and believers who don’t have a church community
• Timely:Addresses the negative effects that secularism and declining church attendance have had on modern culture and offers hope
• Practical Next Steps:A QR code leads readers to a webpage where they can find a local, Bible-teaching church
• A Great Outreach Opportunity:This short book is a convenient resource that pastors and ministries can distribute widely (accompanying tract available separately)

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Key Features

• Discovers that weekly religious service attendance helps guard against depression.
• Explores this compelling data from a Christian perspective.
• Explains key data about the positive effects of church attendance on a person’s mental well-being

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Mental Health Benefits
Chapter 2: Physical Health Benefits
Chapter 3: Moral Health Benefits
Chapter 4: Spiritual Health Benefits

Endnotes

Product Details

• Title: How Church Could (Literally) Save Your Life (The Gospel Coalition)
• Author: Rebecca McLaughlin
• Series: The Gospel Coalition
• Publisher: Crossway
• Print Publication Date: 2025
• Pages: 88
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• ISBNs: 9781433599699, 1433599694
• Resource ID: LLS:HWCHRCHGSPLCLTN
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2025-03-21T18:17:16Z

About Rebecca McLaughlin

Rebecca McLaughlin, (PhD, Cambridge University) is the author of Confronting Christianity, named Christianity Today’s 2020 Beautiful Orthodoxy Book of the Year. Her subsequent works include 10 Questions Every Teen Should Ask (and Answer) about Christianity; The Secular Creed; and Jesus through the Eyes of Women. Rebecca is the host of the Confronting Christianity podcast.