Prior research suggests that church-goers are more civically engaged than their non-church-
going counterparts. Little is known, however, about how the popular phenomenon of small …

Small support groups are a relatively new form of voluntary association appearing in the
American landscape. Examining the larger implications of the “small group movement” for …

Large congregations are commonly criticized as eliciting less involvement from adherents
than smaller congregations. Small groups have been heralded as a remedy to drawbacks of …

This article identifies two important conditions under which participation in religious
congregations influences active involvement in civic organizations that provide charitable …

Past research indicates that levels of social embeddedness in a congregation differ between
small and large congregations. Since embeddedness in religious social networks is an …

This research note examines the proposition that participation in church—particularly the
social interaction that accompanies church participation—is an important source of social …

A growing body of research has been devoted to examining the community service activities
of congregations. Yet there is much we still do not know about factors that affect variation in …

According to available research, congregations with strict rules and dense social networks
are better able to screen out free‐riders (“selection”) and encourage greater levels of …

Scholars have recently examined the role of black churches in initiating civil rights and
social justice activities, community development and rehabilitation projects, and family …

Building upon previous research and incorporating a newly constructed measure of
religious participation assessing both attendance at religious meetings and involvement in …