Of the 220 who completed lessons, 67% joined the General Church as adults.
Of those who received lessons, 78% said the lessons had a positive impact on
their choice to join the Church.
I looked for factors that might modify this result, for example family
worship habits, church attendance, lesson routines and attendance at Academy
schools. The only factor that produced a different result was attending Bryn
Athyn College, which yielded 74% membership. By comparison, main-line
churches in the United States feel they have achieved a positive result if 50%
of children raised in a church join as adults. Survey results revealed additional
program benefits, such as friendships among volunteers and increases in
parent-child reli gious conversations, which we will now discuss.
Impact of Lessons on Volunteers
The women who volunteered for the program developed peer friendships,
found meaningful roles within the General Church, and were connected with
the international church. Volunteers reported:
• I was new and wanted to help.
• I was asked by someone.
• I loved working with the other wonderful volunteers.
• I loved hearing from the kids.
• I established a real rapport with the mother of the boys I wrote to.
• It was our lifeline to the church. (They became valued contributors while
caring for children at home.)
• I wanted to help isolated children develop a love of the stories in the
Word as a foundation for loving the three-fold Word as adults.
• I loved serving the Church, feeling I was helping out, reaching the
isolated with valuable church material for children.
• I loved knowing I played a small part in a . . . worldwide, church
organization. I felt grounded and useful.
• I was helping with something important.
Religion Lessons knit together women and families around the globe.
Theta Alpha chapters took responsibility for specific tasks, giving women
meaningful reasons to work together. The universal nature of women’s
experiences allowed them to support each other despite differences of age,
culture and great distance. Older women nurtured young mothers.
Women said:
• We . . . supported one another. Several women I worked with were older
than I, and grew to be mentors for me.
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