Christian Research Journal Reads Episode 153 The Loneliness Crisis in America and How the Church Can Help

This is Episode 153 of Christian Research Journal Reads. This is an audio version of the CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL article, “The Loneliness Crisis in America and How the Church Can Help” by Lisa Cooper. This article was published exclusively online in the Christian Research Journal, Volume 46, number 03 (2023). https://www.equip.org/articles/the-loneliness-crisis-in-america-and-how-the-church-can-help/


It was accompanied by Postmodern Realities Episode 359 The Loneliness Crisis In America And How The Church Can Help.


This podcast presents audio versions of Christian Research Journal articles. As the flagship publication of the Christian Research Institute, the Journal seeks to equip followers of Christ to think and to live Christianly—to exercise truth and experience life. Truth, especially essential Christian doctrine, forms the basis for how we live our lives in Christ. As the apostle Paul instructed Timothy in 1 Tim. 4:16, “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”The Christian Research Journal enjoyed a print incarnation of almost 45 years. Now exclusively an online publication, the Journal consists of thousands of free articles. We hope that through these audio articles you are not only equipped to proclaim and defend your faith but that as a disciple you also draw closer to Christ in your walk with Him.  You can find the written version of each article that is an episode of Christian Research Journal Reads at the website of the Christian Research Institute, equip.org. All Christian Research Journal articles at equip.org are completely free and do not require a subscription and are not under a paywall.All episodes will be available at the following podcast platforms with more being added daily! You can help spread the word about this new podcast by giving us a rating and review from the other channels we are listed on and telling others!You can view off our Website at the at this link and off our Journal main page. 



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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
This is episode one hundred and fifty three of the
Christian Research Journal Reads Podcast. The Loneliness Crisis in America
and How the Church Can Help, by Lisa Cooper. This
article is published exclusively online in the Christian Research Journal,
Volume forty six, number three in twenty twenty three. The

(00:29):
Christian Research Journal Reads Podcast presents audio versions of Christian
Research Journal articles. To read the full text of this
article and its documentation, please go to equip dot org.
That's e qu ip dot RG.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
The Loneliness Crisis in America and How the Church Can Help.
This article is by Lisa Cooper and is read by
an automated voice. In the United States, there is much
talk of the new kind of crisis, a crisis of
epic proportions that has tragic health implications much more covert
than a war or a financial crisis. It has been

(01:10):
referred to as the loneliness epidemic. The loneliness epidemic began
years before the COVID nineteen pandemic, although the pandemic has
helped bring loneliness to the forefront of national dialogue. With
a growing awareness of loneliness and its effect on society,
studies have been conducted by scientific, sociological, governmental, and statistical groups.

(01:34):
Non Christian sources have proposed reasonable solutions to loneliness. These
solutions stumble upon the saying realities that the Christian Church
has advocated for since its inception. Loneliness is best treated
within the context of a community with shared values, a
community of people who are willing and able to give
their time and talents to support one another, sacrifice for

(01:55):
one another, and serve one another. The Body of Christ.
The Christian Church, offers a reasonable solution to this crisis,
providing important things that are needed to meet the needs
of the lonely Christian community. The unconditional love shown to
us by Jesus provides the basis for how we love others.

(02:15):
Jesus instructs us love one another as I have loved you,
John fifteen twelve. Further, his life, ministry, and death provide
the paratigmatic example of humility and willingness to put others
before oneself. Paul writes that Jesus, who though he was
in the form of God, did not count equality with

(02:36):
God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by
taking the form of a servant. Being born in the
likeness of men, and being found in human form, he
humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross Philammon two to six eight.
The beginnings of the Christian Church recorded in the Book

(02:57):
of Acts reveal a vision for how Christians are to
lived together in community, and this is key to addressing loneliness.
Having just witnessed Jesus their savior risen from the dead,
calling them into a relationship with others through discipleship, try
and baptism and teaching Matthew twenty eight, nineteen twenty. The
disciples established the church just following the gift of the

(03:20):
Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Luke records, and they devoted themselves
to the apostles, teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking
of bread and the prayers, and awe came upon every soul,
and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles,
And all who believed were together and had all things
in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings

(03:43):
and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need.
And day by day attending the temple together and breaking
bread in their homes. They received their food with glad
and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all
the people, and the Lord added to their number day
by dead those who were being saved Acts two for

(04:03):
two forty seven. Thus, through mutual care and concerned Christian
community grows. Susan Metz offers a vision for how the
church already does many of the things that address loneliness,
like group singing, community service, being a part of a
community that meets in person, providing confidence and confessors, and
having people you can call in an emergency. Christian community

(04:27):
is strengthened when we hold all things in common, not
just physical things, but emotional things. Paul emphasizes this in
Delations when he writes bear one another's burdens and so
fulfill the law of Christ six to two. The burdens
that we carry as humans affected by sin can make
it inconvenient to forge strong bonds with others. Loneliness is

(04:49):
one of the deep needs that must be addressed by Christians,
not something that should deter us from entering into the
struggles of others. Benjamin Wendell writes in Digital Church, in
a lonely way, we all carry brokenness personality quirks and
the ability to make choices that hurt others. However, the
potential pain of being in community is not simply an

(05:10):
unwanted by product. It is a key part of the
purpose of community. It is the very fact that community
costs us something that makes it valuable. It is within
our church community that we get to practice interpersonal gospel
actions like forgiveness, graciousness, and kindness. What we learn about
practicing the Way of Jesus in a local church community

(05:31):
is like training for our everyday lives. It is not
meant to be sterile, clinical and polished. It's real emphasis
in original What exactly is loneliness? A common misconception is
that loneliness implies social isolation. However, a very socially connected
individual may still experience loneliness, and a significantly socially isolated

(05:55):
individual may be completely content alone. Miriam Kerminor explained, in reality,
loneliness has less to do with being alone and much
more to do with the experience of feeling unseen. The
attributional approach to loneliness, which has been widely adopted by
social scientists since it was written about in the nineteen
eighties by Daniel Peruhlman and Letitia and Peplaw construes loneliness

(06:20):
as a discrepancy between one's desired and achieved levels of
social relations. This approach challenges the idea that low levels
of social contact are the only factor involved in discovering
or categorizing loneliness and allows for a definition that suits
a broader range of feelings of loneliness. In his article
entitled how Loneliness is Damaging Our Health, John Lelyn delves

(06:43):
into this idea. Loneliness is a gap between the level
of connectedness that you want and what you have. It
is not the same as social isolation, which is codified
in the Social sciences as a measure of a person's contacts.
Loneliness is a subject feeling. In other words, loneliness is personal,

(07:03):
subjective social pain. It can manifest as numbness, exhaustion, fear
and anxiety, and dread, among other things. Thus, loneliness looks
different for every person. From feeling a disconnect and personal relationships,
lack of social connection, feelings of being undervalued or devalued
by the broader community, and slash, or the existential feeling

(07:27):
that life lacks purpose. Loneliness can have different root causes.
Judith Graham advocates inspecting those root causes before proposing solutions.
In writing specifically about elders, she explains that limitations and
afflictions from hearing loss to extreme grief feutal loss of
loved ones show a range of causes of loneliness. Men

(07:49):
also have been highlighted as facing a loneliness crisis, resulting
in not only higher rates of suicide approximately three point
nine times higher than women, but also as significant friendship procession.
According to The New York Times, less than half of
men say that they are satisfied with how many friends
they have, while fifteen percent said they had no close

(08:11):
friends at all, and male relationships are often less emotionally
connected than those of women. Being aware that elders and
men have a higher risk of loneliness can help us
be proactive in mitigating the effects of loneliness, which can
be devastating both physically and mentally. The physical danger of
loneliness loneliness, though a mental and social feeling, has a

(08:33):
direct impact on physical health. A study cited by many,
a meta analysis co authored by Julian Holt Lunstad, makes
the alarming claim that lack of social connection can bring
about health risks such as premature death, as much as
smoking fifteen cigarettes a day. Similarly, the US Surgeon General's
Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community

(08:56):
states that loneliness and social isolation increase the risk for
premature death by twenty six percent and twenty nine percent, respectively. Likewise,
lack of social connection is associated with increased risk of disease,
including a twenty nine percent increased risk of heart disease
and the thirty two percent increased risk of stroke. A

(09:18):
study conducted in twenty seventeen also reveals that lonely people,
when exposed to a cold virus, were more likely to
develop symptoms than others who did not suffer from loneliness.
Loneliness therefore impacts not only the mental health of individuals
who struggle with it, it can greatly increase the risk
of physical ailments and even premature death. Widespread and increasing

(09:42):
long before the onset of the global pandemic in twenty twenty,
doctors and lawmakers in the United States have been sounding
an alarm for meaningful engagement on the topic of loneliness.
According to a sickness study, between twenty eighteen and twenty nineteen,
loneliness in the United States surge seven percentage points that
translated to sixty one percent of Americans, or three in

(10:04):
five adults who described themselves as lonely. A twenty eighteen
cross country survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation in
partnership with The Economist states more than a fifth of
adults in the United States say they often or always
feel lonely, feel that they lack companionship, feel left out,
or feel isolated from others, and many of them say

(10:26):
their loneliness has had a negative impact on various aspects
of their life. Along with this, there is a significant
correlation between loneliness and other mental health concerns, lower incomes
and problematic health conditions. The impact of CoV ID nineteen
with social isolation, travel bands in place, along with extensive

(10:48):
jove loss and shelter in place orders, loneliness became an
intense topic of discussion in recent years. An extensive study
entitled Loneliness Before and During the CoV I D nine pandemic,
a systematic review with meta analysis, explains that it remains
unclear whether loneliness has increased overall since the pandemic started.

(11:11):
Emphasis in original, but there have been reports of stable
increases and decreases in loneliness levels. In other words, longitudinal
studies of data reveal somewhat of an increase in loneliness. However,
observed effects were small and heterogeneous, suggesting that at this
point in time, concerns about a loneliness pandemic are likely overblown. Loneliness, therefore,

(11:35):
has plagued American since before the pandemic hit, and even
with all kinds of social of heavel in the pandemic's wake,
loneliness remains at similar levels as it was before. The
pandemic likely did not exacerbate loneliness levels, but rather exposed
loneliness as being a significant problem felt by individuals across
the country and around the world. It is important to

(11:58):
note that with the pandemic came a deeti sigmatization of
the topic of loneliness. There was an attempt to normalize
loneliness and associated mental health issues through messaging related to
how common loneliness is, how it affects relationships and individuals,
and how it can be managed and alleviated. This attempt
to normalize feelings of social pain are apparent with celebrities

(12:20):
speaking out candidly about their experiences. For example, People magazine
quoted a newsletter released by Lord, a well known singer
and songwriter, saying being away from home and a time
were the country struggling to contain the virus, feeling isolated
from friends and loved ones. There looking out at the
country I'm in and feeling a strange from so much

(12:42):
of what I see and knowing it feels as a
strange from me. I am questioning what I'm doing and
why all the time on an unprecedented level. This is
only one example among many a famous individuals coming forward
to disclose their feelings of loneliness, tension, pain, and so
social distress during the pandemic. The principal cause. What are

(13:04):
the root causes of American loneliness? There is much to
be said in response to this question, too much for
an article of this length. However, there is one main
underjerting cause of loneliness that is prevalent in our culture
worth noting, and that is that historic change in the
conception of the individual. If loneliness is rooted within the
self and is a subjective feeling determined by individuals, then

(13:28):
the concept of what it means to be an individual
is imperative in this discussion. Within the context of history,
many individuals would find their place in their family, their communities,
their churches, and other social groupings. To that end, social
success was achieved by living within the bounds of society
at large, being shaped by it, and growing closer to

(13:51):
others within those contexts. Today, there is an ever increasing
focus on the self. Being one's most authentic self is
a prime importance, and in that endeavor, the need and
desire for affirmation from others becomes the most important thing
in perceived social success. Self expression then dictates who we
are and why we matter, rather than any external factor.

(14:15):
In this shift in perception of the individual, American culture
has decidedly turned from friendships or other relationships that strengthen
and challenge iron sharpens iron, as per Proverbs twenty seven seventeen,
to placing emphasis on being affirmed and loved regardless. Alan
Noble writes to this effect in his book You Are

(14:35):
Not Your own identity is only meaningful when there are
other people who can witness your identity. We have a
need to be seen and affirmed. It is an inherent
part of what it means to have an identity. Understanding
and asserting individual identity therefore has placed our social relations
in peril, moving from friends who strengthen us and desire

(14:57):
our good to be mere cheerleaders who have no way
ability to critique or challenge. The concept of personal identity
itself has been collapsed into simple self expression. The perception
of being loved in affirm for your most authentic self
is one of the many factors at the root of
the loneliness crisis. By turning our gaze inward, we lose

(15:18):
the sense of being a part of a broader community,
and we lose the ability to be shaped in positive
ways by others. This can bring about the prevalent feelings
of social pain, disunity, feelings of being disconnected or inauthentic
in social interactions, and thus, compounding all these things together,
loneliness results. For it historical context, The Rise and Triumph

(15:42):
of the Modern Self by Karl R. Trumann, traces the
understanding of the individual and their relationship to community in
society at large through time. He contends that the conception
of identity turns inward in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
thanks to the Romantics, building on Russo's ideas. He writes,
of their view, the individual is at his most authentic

(16:04):
before he is shaped and corrupted by the need to
conform to social conventions. There is something, according to this view,
that is inherent in a person that should demand others
interest and affirmation, and so when simply acting as an
authentic self does not bring about desired love and connection
to others, it proves upsetting. Truman explains the question of

(16:28):
identity in the modern world is a question of dignity.
Self expression has therefore become a need. Loneliness. Social pain
can stem from the feeling of not being fully affirmed
or love for who an individual is at their most
authentic expression of themselves. Jordan Cooper underscores this same idea
in his book The True, the Good, and the Beautiful.

(16:52):
Through liberalism, human dignity is now explained with language of rights.
Humans are by nature autonomy us free creatures who have
a series of rights they have been granted by their creator,
and thus to stop someone from following their own personal
desires is to infringe upon another's rights, thus denying their
human value and dignity. Although many other factors play into

(17:15):
the loneliness crisis, This modern correlation between authentic self expression
and human value and dignity is certainly one of the
main issues to be considered, and with the increasing normalization
of the primacy of subjective feelings, in growing opportunities to
discuss loneliness openly have come many opinions for solutions proposed solutions. Loneliness,

(17:38):
being a subjective experience, will not and cannot be fixed
with a one size fits all solution. This being the case,
many writers have attempted to put forth some ideas that
could help alleviate loneliness and chart a safe and healthy
path forward for those who are struggling. However, it is
notable that many secular writers and researchers have arrived at

(17:59):
the same conclusions as Christians build lasting relationships both in
community and friendships, serve and reach out to others. Christina Karen,
a reporter from The New York Times who regularly covers
topics related to mental health and healthcare, sums up doctor
Vivic Murthy's advisory on loneliness in her article how to

(18:20):
Feel Less Lonely according to the Surgeon General. She summarizes
his points in the report with these categories. Reconnect with people,
minimize distractions when people call, pick up the phone, serve others,
and get help. Some of these solutions seem like common
sense if you are feeling lonely, connecting with others and

(18:40):
asking for help seem to be obvious places to start,
but these things are much more easily said than done.
Reaching out and asking for help cultivating lasting friendships is
one of the most prevalently cited solutions to answering how
one can reach out to others effectively. Friends are those
who help us bear it emotional burdens and come alongside

(19:02):
us when we feel broken and alone. Benefits from meaningful
friendships include extended life expectancy, logistical support, decreased stress levels,
and positive peer pressure. A New York Times article by
Katherine Pearson hits practical advice from Marisa Franco, a psychologist
who studies friendship, to making keep friends. Franco's advice is

(19:25):
to one assume people like you, two put yourself out there,
and three don't blame yourself when you feel like you
don't have enough friends. Beginning from a positive attitude and
self affirming place, according to Franco, allows friendship to shift
from being a potential source of stress to being something
that may offer important comfort in times of loneliness or crisis.

(19:49):
Also cited by Katherine Pearson is a study conducted by
doctor Peggy Liu from the University of Pittsburgh cat's Graduate
School of Business, in which thirteen experiments were conducted to
get a sense of how good people are at guessing
how much friends value being reached out to, and what
kinds of interactions are the most powerful. Across all thirteen experiments,

(20:11):
people who initiated contacts significantly underestimated how much it would
be appreciated. Doctor lew stresses how important even as simple
how are you texts can be when establishing and maintaining friendships.
Simple check ins can be powerful to establish trust and
feelings of mutual safety that are imperative to friendships Christian relationships.

(20:34):
These practical solutions can be aided by involvement in a
meaningful community. It is much easier to reach out for
help if you know that there are people in your
life that you can rely on. It is much easier
to pick up the phone when a friend calls when
you know that friend cares for you and won't judge
you for not feeling your best in that moment. The
Christian Church, when functioning according to scripture, provides meaningful relationships

(20:58):
such as these. Deeque connection to others is enhanced by
acknowledging and addressing the inherent worth of the other person.
In the creation account in the Bible, God creates mankind
in his own image, in the image of God. He
created him male and female He created them Genesis one
twenty seven. Having been created in God's image not only

(21:20):
gives us our own sense of worth. I am worthy
of being known and loved, but it also gives us
reason to show kindness and understanding, acknowledging the worth of others.
They are worthy of being known and loved. God's love
has been extended to us, not just in how we
have been created, but also how we have been redeemed.

(21:41):
God sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, into the
world to save sinners. For God so loved the world
that he gave his only son that whoever believes in
him should not perish but have eternal life. For God
did not send his son into the world to condemn
the world, but in order that the world might be
saved through him. John three, sixteen seventeen. This self sacrificial

(22:06):
love is not love in the abstract. Jesus Christ came
to reconcile people to the Father, and he knows and
loves each of us, Jesus says to his disciples, But
even the hairs of your head are all numbered Matthew
ten thirty. Further, God knows and loves us so much
that he chose us in him Jesus before the foundation

(22:26):
of the world, that we should be wholly and blameless
before him Ephesians one of four. Our understanding of human
worth should also be shaped by an understanding of who
we will be when Jesus returns. In his sermon entitled
The Weight of Glory see s. Lewis implores people to
remember that one day we and our fellow humans will

(22:47):
be glorified, and that next to the blessed sacrament itself,
our neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses,
and in our Christian neighbors, the glorifier and the glorified
glory himself is truly hidden. This understanding of what glory
we will receive as children of God shapes our ability

(23:07):
to reach out and care for others, serving others. It
may seem counterintuitive, that serving others while feeling lonely can
make a significant change in feelings of loneliness, but it
has been shown to be the case. In a review
of recent studies published by the Corporation for National and
Community Service, the claim is made that there is a

(23:28):
strong relationship between volunteering and health. Those who volunteer have
lower mortality rates, greater functional ability, and lower rates of
depression later in life than those who do not volunteer.
The health benefits of volunteering extend also to alleviation of loneliness.
Citing a study on loneliness in widower's ages fifty one

(23:49):
and older, Christina Karen explains that those who volunteered two
or more hours a week felt less lonely and were
no lonelier than the married volunteers. Volunteering brings about meaningful
social interactions with others and can help improve health outcomes
of those who suffer from loneliness. Lifting our eyes and
seeing others. Ultimately, service for the sake of self improvement

(24:13):
will not help in loneliness. A self sacrificial attitude must
support this endeavor. Allan Noble writes, inasmuch as it is
in our power to pursue committed friendships. We should just
be ready to die to yourself. Be willing to sacrifice
things you really want to do in things that will
make you more successful or wealthy or give you pleasure. Instead,

(24:35):
commit to a church and a place, help a friend
repair their home or car, and sit with someone who
is suffering. Friendship from a Christian vantage point is so
much more than simply calling or texting each other. It
involves lifting our eyes from our own needs and focusing
on others. Tim Keller explores this idea of a desire

(24:56):
to be fully known and loved within the context of
Christian marriage, but it relates to all human relationships. He writes,
to be loved but not known as comforting but superficial.
To be known and not loved is our greatest fear.
But to be fully known and truly loved is While
a lot like being loved by God, it is what

(25:17):
we need more than anything. It literates us from pretense,
humbles us out of our self righteousness, and fortifies us
for any difficulty life can throw at us. It may
not be easy, but vulnerability can help forge these relationships
in which we can be fully known and truly loved. Likewise,
we must be willing to let others be vulnerable with

(25:38):
us to forge these bonds. As relationships grow in our lives. Too,
we must be grateful to God, from whom all good
gifts come. It is only through His mercy and grace
that we have others to share life with, and Christian
community is certainly not something to be taken for granted.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes, it is true, of course, that what

(25:59):
is an other unspeakable gift of God for the lonely
individual is easily disregarded and trodden under foot by those
who have the gift every day. It is easily forgotten
that the fellowship of Christian brethren is a gift of grace,
a gift of the Kingdom of God, that any day
may be taken from us, that the time that still
separates us from utter loneliness may be brief. Indeed, Therefore,

(26:23):
let him who until now has had the privilege of
living a common Christian life with other Christians praise God's
grace from the bottom of his heart. Looking forward, drawing
together in community. Knowing who we are made to be
and why we matter, can help us begin to address
concerns about loneliness. Social connectedness does offer a path forward

(26:43):
to a way out of loneliness, but we must also
overcome the problematic understanding of individualism in our culture. So
by forging real, lasting bonds with others through Christian community,
acknowledging the worth of others, and through service, significant change
can take place and our experience of loneliness in America.
Turning our eyes from ourselves to others in the context

(27:05):
of community can change our conception of self and our
conception of others. Where loneliness is present, we can choose
to act. We can come alongside those who are suffering
and extend a loving hand of friendship, companionship, and help,
even when those people who need that help are outside
of the Christian Church. And when we personally experience the

(27:26):
depths of loneliness, we too can remember who we are
made to be, who we are in Christ, and who
we will become when Jesus returns.

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