Measuring Communities of Faith: A Preliminary Investigation

Abstract

Numerous references are made in the literature to communities of faith, yet there have been relatively few efforts to measure them empirically. The purpose of this study is to address this gap in the literature by estimating a higher-order confirmatory factor model that consists of two tiers. Seven dimensions of church-based social support make up the first tier: emotional support received from rank-and-file church members, emotional support given to fellow church members, tangible support received from rank-and-file church members, tangible support given to fellow congregants, spiritual support received from fellow church members, emotional support received from a pastor, and tangible support received from a pastor. It is hypothesized that these first-order constructs are driven by a higher-order latent variable that denotes a community of faith. Data from a nationwide survey reveal that, for the sample taken as a whole, emotional support represents the way in which a community of faith is most likely to be manifest while tangible support is a less critical component. Moreover, the results indicate that a community of faith is more likely to reside in support exchanged among rank-and-file church members than support received from a pastor.