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The Foster Letter —

Religious Market Update

The FOSTER Letter is a bi-weekly e-mail religious market intelligence report targeted to Christian market channel and ministry leaders.  Each issue reports on news, trends, events and research that will directly or indirectly impact your audiences and businesses in a convenient summary format  Better informed leaders make better choices!

Researched, Edited & Published by Gary D. Foster

Excerpts from the

March 25, 2008 edition of

The FOSTER Letter—Religious Market Update

Kids Mirror Parents An American Bible Society study conducted by Weekly Reader Research found children do mirror their parents’ behavior. Parents who attend church weekly tend to have teens that worship weekly, while 78% of parents who never attend worship services have teens who never attend, according to christiannewswire.com. The survey found almost 80% of America’s 30.2 million 12-18 year olds think the Bible is important and 87% of parents agree. Yet, only 11% of teens read the Bible daily. (Pastors Weekly Briefing 3/7/08) 

Looking to Reach Consumers hard-pressed to buy your products? Get online and send them newsletters and coupons. That’s the word from online customer service consultant Prospectiv. Of those polled, 84% have changed their shopping habits due to economic concerns. Rising fuel prices, fears about the real estate market and consumer debt topped consumers’ list of concerns. Today 66% are logging more hours online researching and comparing brands and prices; 74% would welcome more online offers, coupons and e-newsletters from their favorite brands and products; 79% already are or expect to dine out less frequently; 60% are more likely to join a website or online community that offers recipes, healthy meal ideas, cooking tips and savings they can use at home. 40% have increased their online bargain hunting. (Marketing Daily 2/20/08) 

Dads at Home In 07, when researcher Harrison Group asked men about the time they spent sharing household work with their wives, 56% of them said they split it right down the middle. When Monster.com recently asked dads if they’d be a stay-a-home parent if money were no object, 70% of them said they would. (Brandweek 3/5/08) 

Skillful Listening results in more effective communication and more enjoyable interactions. Listening poorly causes a host of mistakes and relationship ills. Follow these tips. •Make a conscious effort to resist distractions ‘Now’ is the only place true listening can take place! •Don’t tune out just because you disagree. Listening to another person to understand their point of view is not agreeing with everything they say. •Refrain from drawing conclusions before you’ve heard the whole message. •Refrain from interrupting before a speaker is finished with his thought. Don’t anticipate and finish the speaker's sentences. •Reframe an idea and ask clarifying questions to ensure that you have an accurate understanding of the speaker’s real message. •Avoid assumptions by asking clarifying questions to make sure you're understand. (Ivy SeaZine 3/19/08) 

Giving Americans donate $295 billion a year to charity, with just under a third of it  ($97 bn.) to religious organizations. On average, Christians are giving about 2.5% of their income to churches. (CBS News 3/5/08) 

Rising Healthcare Cost By 2017, Americans will spend more than $4 trillion on healthcare, or $1 in every $5 dollars spent in the U.S. Healthcare spending is increasing at nearly 3 times the rate of inflation. In ’06 people and the government spent an average of $7,026 a person. This is expected to increase to $13,101 by ’17. (AP 2/26/08) 

Disconnect Anxiety Solutions Research Group claims 27% of the population suffers increased levels of anxiety when separated from their cell phones or the Internet, and that a further 41% suffer occasional anxiety due to communications blackout. (ars tecnhica 3/12/08) 

Relationships 70% of American adults identify family or family members as their most significant connection. 33% gave their entire nuclear family this status while 22% conferred it up on their spouse and 17% their children. 29% of American adults say their church is their most significant group affiliation.18% say this about people they work with, 14% friends that regularly get together, 12% a hobby club or social group and 7% people in their neighborhood. People 25 or younger listed friends as their most critical network while church ranked 5th. In contrast, adults over 25 ranked church as their key social group, followed by their work relationships. 74% of evangelicals said their church was their main social network. (Barna Update 3/17/08) 

Sin as defined by a new Ellison Research study is something almost always considered wrong, particularly from a religious or moral perspective. Out the 30 behaviors studied, adultery was most often described as a sinful behavior by American respondents (81%). Next was racism (74%); using “hard” drugs such as cocaine, heroine, meth, LSD, etc. (65%); not saying anything if a cashier gives you too much change (63%); abortion (56%); and homosexual activity or sex (52%) rounded out the top 5 behaviors most often considered sinful by Americans. Other behaviors considered sin include reading or watching pornography (50%); swearing (46%); sex before marriage (45%); harming the environment as a consumer (41%); smoking marijuana (41%); getting drunk (41%); and not taking proper care of your body (35%). 94% of Americans who regularly attend religious worship services believe in the concept of sin compared with 80% among non-attenders. Interestingly 81% feel adultery is sinful, but only 43% say that having sexual thoughts about someone to whom they are not married is sinful. 41% believe getting drunk is sinful, yet only 14% believe drinking even a little alcohol is a sin. Gambling is a sin to 30%, but only 18% feel this way about playing the lottery. 65% feel doing hard drugs are a sin, but just 41% say this about marijuana. (Christian Post 3/12/08) 

Workouts Energize A little light exercise can help almost anyone who is feeling tired all the time, according to a  Univ. of Georgia study a regular, low-intensity workout such as a leisurely stroll can boost energy levels by 20% and decrease fatigue by 65%. And surprisingly, low-intensity workouts were even more beneficial in reducing fatigue than high-intensity workouts. (Pastors Weekly Briefing 3/7/08) 

Confidence The 2008 Harris Poll of American leadership confidence has measured the confidence finds 15 of the 16 items listed show a fall in confidence from ’07. They are leadership in medicine down from 35% to 28%, the White House down 22% to 15% and small business leaders from 54% to 47%,. Wall Street, major educational institutions, the courts and the justice systems also saw significant declines. The 6 institutions enjoying the highest confidence of Americans are: The military (51%); Small business (47%); Major educational institutions (32%); Medicine (28%); Organized religion (25%): The Supreme Court (25%). The lowest levels of confidence are in: The Congress (8%); The press (10%); Organized labor (11%); Wall Street (11%); Major companies (14%). (Pastors Weekly Briefing 3/7/08) 

Media Trust 54% of Americans tend not to trust the media, with only 30% tending to trust the press. 46% do not trust TV, while 36% do. In contrast, Internet news and information sites do slightly better; 41% trust them, while 34% do not. 44% trust radio vs. 32% who do not, finds a harrisinteractive.com study. (Pastor’s Weekly Briefing 3/14/08) 

PG Profits A Nielsen study finds PG-rated movies with less profanity made more money at U.S. box offices. The study cross-referenced box office figures for 400 films in wide release from the fall of ’05 to the fall of ’07. More parents are choosing PG films with extremely low levels of profanity -- at least 1/3 the average level of most PG films. Family-friendly movies have the broadest audience appeal and are the ones audiences are really flocking to. (OneNewsNow 3/18/08)

Flexibility Pays Employees with flexible schedules are more likely to practice healthier lifestyle habits than those working traditional schedules. Flexible workweeks have higher frequencies of physical activity, engagement in stress management programs, participation in health education activities and healthier sleep habits. (Incentive 2/08) 

Reader Gap Those age 65 and older are nearly 3 times more likely than average to read the print edition of newspapers 6 times per week, while those age 18-24 are 38% more likely than average to not read a print newspaper at all during a typical week. (Center for Media Research Brief 3/20/08) 

Believers Happier People who believe in God are happier than agnostics or atheists, claim British researchers. They become even happier the more they pray and go to church. The report found religious people were better able to cope with disappointments such as unemployment or divorce than non-believers. Believers also enjoyed higher levels of satisfaction and suffered less psychological damage from unemployment, divorce or the death of a partner. The research echoes academic studies that have found religion can improve people’s sense of wellbeing. (Telegraph.co.uk 3/18/08) 

Opportunity 21% of all U.S. consumers in ’06 bought inspirational or religious gifts according to Unity Marketing’s Pam Danziger. This suggests a large 79% as-yet-untapped market for Christian merchandise. (Christian Retailing 3/10/08) 

Screen Time A Canadian study reveals some teens spend as much time in front of a screen as it would take to work a full-time job. 52% of boys and 26% of girls report average total screen time of more than 42 hours per week (TV, computers and videos). (Pastor’s Weekly Briefing 3/21/08) 

Church Drop Outs 70% of people who discontinue going to church in America do so between ages 18 and 22. Of those who attend college, 69% of active churchgoing youth stop attending church for at least a year between ages 18 and 22. Yet 71% of active churchgoing youth who do not go to college stop attending church during the same period. (Outreach 3-4/08) 

The European Union has overtaken the U.S. as the world’s #1 economy due to the continued dramatic fall of the dollar, according to a Reuters report. The U.S. ’07 GDP is officially estimated at $13,843,800 billion compared with at 8,847,889 billion Euros for the 15 EU countries. That means when the euro topped $1.56 on 3/18/08, the EU officially became the largest economy in the world. (The Source Daily 3/19/08)

For information on how to become a subscriber to the entire 3-page Foster Letter---Religious Market Update, E-mail us at: subscribe@garydfoster.com