Blake Everson

Sociology 127
Professor Krogh
February 6, 2018
Response Paper 1
Protestant Faith: Option 1

My European descendants and relatives are diverse in terms of focus of Christianity

from Catholic beliefs and Protestant beliefs. Like many American’s, my present and past

relatives have practiced some sort of Christianity. Growing up with a mixture of religious

influences, you learn both about Catholicism and Protestantism: practices, beliefs, rituals.

However, I was brought up Protestant and attend a non-denominational Christian church. The

focus of this paper will be on the Protestant religion background and service through the

church. The two articles that I read and analyzed for this paper are: Protestant Christian

Volunteers in Community Social Service Programs: What Motivates, Challenges, and Sustains

Their Service, and Protestant Religion and Social Status: American Journal of Sociology. I also

talked to my cousin, and my grandmother about what religion means to them and how they do

service through that.

In the first article I read, Protestant Christian Volunteers in Community Social Service

Programs: What Motivates, Challenges, and Sustains Their Service, it tells about the correlation

between religion and people who volunteer. The article’s main focus is what motivates people

to volunteer/doing community service, and to figure out how to get more people involved. The

authors, Diane Garland, Dennis Myers, and Terry Wolfer- researched from different areas of the

US with the view of social work. They interviewed people who were in long term volunteering

and congregational leaders- all specifically done within the Protestant churches. When

conducting interviews, they kept track of the demographics- which can go to the different ways
people volunteer and their motivations to do so. They found that many did service in poor

areas and many people did not only one type of service but many different things to help other

members of society. The research that was conducted stated that there were four different

categories for motivation of volunteering: response to God, beneficial relationships, response

to human needs, and other personal benefits. I thought this article help me understand why

people who volunteer are a part of a church whether it is Christianity or any religion. It brought

research to answer of why people feel compelled by religion (protestant) to serve others.

After reading the article discussed above I wanted to learn more about the diversity and

what influence Protestantism had in society. Therefore, I read, Protestant Religion and Social

Status. American Journal of Sociology. This article done in 1965 looked at the church

attendance versus social status and to see if there was a correlation. The research that was

talked about was the fact that non-church members had lower social status than church

members. In a simple equation, the author tries to show correlation with the protestant church

and social status: positively- social status is related to protestant denomination. This article

showed variables such as sex, marriage status, age, affiliation, and others. From reading this

article and the one mentioned above, there are many different correlations between faith and

who and why they are a part of something. Like Eboo Patel’s book it is on an individual level of

why people serve or where they are at in a societal status.

After leaning the information from the two academic articles, I then decided to ask two

people who have influenced my understanding of service and how it correlates to faith. First, I

talked to my older cousin, Taylor: she is twenty-six, has degree in counseling and speech
pathology. Then I talked to my grandmother, Diane: she is 67 and has a huge heart for every

soul. They both are a part of the protestant faith and church.

Taylor was the first one I spoke to and has been a role model to me and how I view

service with a faith understanding. She has taken mission trips to Philadelphia and Saint Louis-

she has discussed with me how much a calling from God, she felt the need to help the kids in

the areas she volunteered in. Taylor has also done children ministries at the church she attends

and says she feels like she does a service through that. After that I asked her why she thinks

people with a Christian faith background feel a need to help others and give up the time to do

so. Taylor told me that she feels that God calls to help others- Scripture tells us that Jesus was

sent here to help the oppressed and she feels that Christians want to live that out to bring the

world to more peace. Lastly, I asked her where she learned how service is important to

spirituality, she replied with that our grandma showed her that.

I then spoke to my grandma Diane, who is on the board at the church she attends. My

grandma donates much of her time to serve at the church and take care of others welling being.

She has helped at numerous free dinners that the church offers to the community. The dinners

are a different way of volunteering, she donates her time and helps cook others food- most of

the people she helps serve cannot afford meals on a weekly basis. My grandma knows the

importance of serving others and making sure that everyone remembers that everyone is

human and we must all come together to serve others. I then asked her how her faith

correlated to her service and she told me the same thing Taylor had told me. She said that God

showed her the right path and opportunities to help one another, also that Jesus helped the

people who were downgraded by society and set them free.

 Bibliography

 Garland, D. R., Myers, D. R., & Wolfer, T. A. (2009). Protestant Christian Volunteers in
Community Social Service Programs: What Motivates, Challenges, and Sustains Their
Service. Administration in Social Work,33(1), 23-39. doi:10.1080/03643100802508627

 Dillingham, H. (1965). Protestant Religion and Social Status. American Journal of

Sociology, 70(4), 416-422. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2775344