I’ve been reflecting since the Small Group DeConference last week about the role of community in Spiritual Transformation. It is interesting to reflect on the amount of importance that we, in our current North American Church culture, have placed on Small Group ministry. I don’t discard this reality and I strongly believe and live the important value that Small Group ministries need to have in our lives.

However, it has drawn numerous sociological and ecclesiological questions from me. First sociologically…it is interesting that hundreds of years ago people would retreat to monastic communities, or go alone into the desert or wilderness because they believed that Spiritual Transformation occurred in isolation. I think part of the reason this occurred was due to the fact that people lived in smaller communities; people lived with their relatives, personally knew their neighbors, had close friends and lived interconnected lives together.

Recognize the difference?

Our lives today, especially in suburbia, have become exceptionally isolated. We open our garages and enter our houses without connecting on any level with our neighbors, our nuclear families spend little time together, and our nuclear families live very separate lives from our extended family. Maybe it is our isolated lives that draw us to reflect and long for deep community (deep ecclesiology) with others because we don’t experience anything like it on a regular basis. Maybe that is why isolation for spiritual development is not commonly practiced in our culture. Reversely, maybe that is why hundreds of years ago when people lived communally, it would seem appropriate that people sought isolation for a deeper connection with God.

I am not against community or isolation. I see both evidenced in the life of Jesus and throughout Scripture as important aspect for the life of a Christ follower. What I am referring to is the interesting dynamic of our spiritual lives and transformation and how we have begun to look at Small Groups as the sole answer. I think it is an important part of that answer but I also think it needs to be balanced with times of isolation and solitude…both of which we struggle with in our culture. When it comes to spiritual transformation (which can only be done through the ministry of the Holy Spirit), there is a place for both seemingly opposites: community and isolation.

Maybe opposites do attract.