6.16.2026 - Katie Van Koevering

This week’s devotions are written by Katie Van Koevering. Katie lives in West Michigan with her husband and three sons. Katie works in the Athletics Department at Unity Christian High School and serves as a leader on the worship team at Covenant Life Church in Grand Haven, MI.  

Read Philippians 2:5-8

Over the last few months, the small group that I am a part of has been working through a book called Bullies and Saints: An Honest Look at the Good and Evil of Christian History by John Dickson. As the title suggests, the book journeys through the good and bad of church history, emphasizing the presence of both in all people who follow Christ. Dickson starts with the Crusades, then walks through history by covering prominent historical Christians, such as Augustine and Martin Luther. We’re just finishing up the book and we’ve walked through a lot of bad that has been present throughout the history of the Church. Thankfully, discussing that is above my pay grade, so I’ll skip to the end to discuss the good. Dickson wraps things up by discussing studies that have been done about what being part of a church does to people. Many studies show that there is a positive link between religious involvement and psychological and physical well-being. The main cause of this is due to church involvement leading to higher social capital, which is defined as “social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them”. We’re in community in our church homes. Being part of a church provides social connectedness in ways that we don’t find elsewhere in our lives. Dickson found that churchgoers are twice as likely to volunteer in their communities (even after volunteering in the church). Many nonprofit organizations are affiliated with or have roots in the church. A US study even found that those who go to church at least once a week have a 17% probability of donating blood, versus 10% probably of those who do not go to church. Who knew! Paul is reminding the Philippians to approach and serve each other in humility. Living in community with one another naturally opens the door to this. The opportunity that we are given through our relationships with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ naturally lead to service. Members of the church care for one another and feel cared for. As we talked about yesterday, all churches are flawed. All members of churches are broken and in desperate need of our Savior. But the heart of the Church is to be united together in our pursuit of Christ. Today, be thankful for the Church and the community it provides.