Community and Small Groups 2

Theresa Latini’s new book, The Church and the Crisis of Community: A Practical Theology of Small-Group Ministry, examines small groups in the context of the crisis of community in late modernity. What I most like is the thickness of analysis and description: when we want small groups in our local church we need to understand the social factors at work in why people want such things, what they expect from such small groups, and why small groups develop as they do.

Latini examines the theme of connection in small groups — connection to God, connection to others, and connection to self. She’s a bit hard on small groups in this chp but she’s setting up an argument, so I will focus even more on that. But today is not a day to complain about small groups, but to think about this:

How do small groups yearn for genuine community while at the same time embodying the various features that undermine genuine community? What is really required for genuine community, and what factors are at work in our culture that fight against community, and how are those features at work in small groups?

She relies upon the exceptional research of Robert Wuthnow (Sharing the Journey, and I Come Away Stronger) as well as Robert Putnam (Bowling Alone). One thing I’m saying here is that her work is analytical and theoretical, so don’t buy this book for your average Bible study leader and say, “Here, read this tonight and tell me what you think.” This is a book for pastors who want to understand the social dynamics at work in small group ministries, and frankly this kind of book needs to be read carefully by all small group pastors.

Here are some facts to keep in mind: by the mid90s, 79% of Americans had participated in some kind of small group (all kinds of small groups, like AlAnon). In the mid90s 48 million Americans were involved in church based small groups. And this has altered the structure of local churches in that education and pastoral counseling have increasingly moved from classrooms and offices to small groups with lay folks increasingly taking the lead in these matters.

Here is the central thesis of this chp, and it’s stunning in import for church small groups because this chp provides not only some good but also some bad, and I want to focus a bit on the latter (apologies offered):

“In short, the quest for healing often trumps the quest for sanctification” (32). I’ll put this in another way as the general conclusion she focuses on: small groups help as well as hurt connection to God, others and self. That is, they simultaneously enhance and undermine those relationships. It is not entirely clear that small groups are genuinely changing the crisis of community in late modernity.

She examines each: connection to God is personal and most people report growth and help, but not the connections tend not to be as ecclesial as they ought to be; it can be too much about psychology and not genuine spiritual formation.

Connection to others tends to help people form a substitute family and to nurture and care, but they also tend to re-embed already existing social ties. And the social contract binding group members is tenuous: breakups are easy. Many group-hop as they church-hop, always looking for that elusive solution to their ache for community.

Connection within the group: she focuses on homogeneity and privatism. That is, like likes like and the group satisfies the individual without bridging genuine community or bridging social capital. Instead of “bridging” social capital (including others, expanding, breaking down boundaries, loving those not like us), small groups create “bonding” social capital for the like-skinned, like-economic, and like-minded. They foster care for those who are alike.

Connection to self: “they emphasize personal experience and self-discovery in their quest for self-actualization” (41). As such, they can help people find themselves or find others. Her big conclusion is that small groups tend too much toward “being true to oneself” and not enough toward the confronting challenge of Scripture, church tradition and genuine spiritual formation into holiness and into loving the neighbor.