From my paper:
Humor and Church Health
As discussed above, humor can aid in building relationships. A positive correlation exists between humor and vitality in a Christian faith community (Schwarz 36-7). Participants in participating churches were asked to respond "true" or "false" to the following statement: "There is a lot of laughter in our church." Sixty-eight percent of participants in "high-quality" growing churches responded "true." Only thirty-three percent of participants in "low-quality" declining churches responded "true" to the same phrase (36-7). In a study of how apostolic churches reach secular people, one of the principles of an outreach focused church was to speak the language of the people (G. Hunter Church for the Unchurched 161-2). A church or a preacher neglecting humor is not speaking an important genre of language. Healthy churches are led by healthy leaders. A sense of humor helps leaders understand, cope, and live through disappointments, failures, and surprises (Jones 33). Thriving teams enjoy each and laugh together (Groeschel 77-8). Sacred humor is one of God's gifts to the church.
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