Established in 2022, The Abundant Life Flourishing Program is hosted at Regent University’s School of Psychology and Counseling. This program was inspired by the successful work of the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard’s Institute for Quantitative Social Science and Baylor University’s Institute for the Study of Religion. The Abundant Life Flourishing Program is dedicated to studying and advancing human flourishing, with a particular emphasis on the science of Christian flourishing. Its goal is to create systematic methodologies for integrating knowledge in Psychology and Christianity to promote the understanding of human flourishing.
The Abundant Life Flourishing Program engages in producing research publications and educational activities for the Regent University community. These activities include courses, seminars, conferences, and summer schools, all with the intention of fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and reflection. We aim to bring together knowledge from diverse fields and explore how psychology and different disciplines (e.g., Theology, Philosophy, Public Health) can form a coherent whole when studying and promoting the science of Christian flourishing.
Our research framework places Christ at the center. Faith, hope, and love shape desire and direction across six dimensions of daily experience.
The Mechanics of Growth
The virtues function as inner orientation, while the six dimensions function as visible outcomes. This model helps leaders name where growth occurs and where spiritual strain concentrates.
Our lab builds high-validity measures and uses survey tools alongside mixed methods to map how faith, relationships, and context shape thriving in real Christian communities.
The framework provides churches and scholars a shared language for formation. It supports measurement that respects theology while meeting the highest scientific standards.
The Abundant Life Flourishing Lab brings together psychology and theology to study how faith, relationships, and context shape thriving for Christians worldwide.
