Greater Than

Dear church family, 

This week we kicked off a new sermon series called Greater Than. The Greater Than series is part of our 2022 Giving Campaign. You will be receiving a letter in the next week inviting you to prayerfully consider your generosity through the Mission and Ministry at Aldersgate. 

In this series, we are looking at Biblical truths and how we can live a Greater Than life both in our personal lives and as a church. Last Sunday we looked at the truth:

WE > ME. 

We all want to live with greater satisfaction in life, greater friendships, and greater health. Did you know there is one thing that can have a profound impact on a greater life? Jesus is always the answer. However, there is another and Jesus taught and modeled it in his life.  

Generosity.  

Below are a few examples and a link to the study if you want to learn more about how generosity has been shown to have a significant impact on those who practice high or extravagant generosity. 

Greater Satisfaction with Life 

Seventy-four percent (74%) of high-generosity people said they were satisfied with their life over the past year compared to 60% of low-generosity folks. The difference is even more pronounced when looking at people who were "very satisfied" with their life. High-generosity people were more than twice as likely to be in that group.

Greater Happiness

High-generosity respondents were almost three times as likely to be "very happy" every day compared with low-generosity people. 

A Greater Likelihood of Believing People Are Inherently Good 

High-generosity respondents were also more likely to believe that other people were inherently good 60% versus just 39% of low-generosity respondents.

Greater Friendships and People You Can Count On 

On average, generous people reported having more close friends with 3.2 compared to 2.6 for less-generous people. They were also more likely to have a best friend. Low-generosity people were more than twice as likely to feel "not at all close" with anybody they knew. 

Highly generous people counted an average of 5.1 people who would visit them in the hospital compared to 3.4 among low-generosity people. Low-generosity respondents were more than twice as likely to have nobody to get them to or from the airport or help them move, and 53% couldn't name someone who would lend them $1,000.

Greater Health 

Seventy percent (70%) of high-generosity respondents said they felt healthy every day compared to just 54% in the low-generosity group.  High-generosity people were more likely to exercise than less-generous folks (65% versus 55%) and more likely to eat a healthy diet (62% versus 45%).

Your generosity impacts others and it impacts you, your family and leads to a Greater Than life. I look forward to seeing you in worship as we consider the truth that Investment > Quick Fixes! Join us live, in person or online at 9:00 a.m. or  in person at 10:15 a.m., or catch up on our youtube channel during the week. 

With gratitude,
Rodney Whitfield
Senior Pastor

For this study, The Ascent conducted an online survey of 1,010 people in the U.S. To ensure that respondents took the survey seriously, all respondents were required to identify and correctly answer an attention-check question. The margin of error is 3% with a 95% confidence interval.