And our responses are often set on automatic pilot, so we fail to change or grow but instead continue to repeat the conditioned responses to groups developed long ago. But groups are meant to sustain and renew, to repair and bring new life. The challenge of differing opinions and dynamic interactions keep us stretching and adapting. Some groups become stuck because they try to nullify difference of opinion and refuse to risk openness to new ways of operating or thinking. The most helpful groups rock the boat, not just stick to the comfort zone.
Relational networks make being an individual better.
Sociologists tell us that three major needs are met through group involvement. I am needed. And groups provide safe places to be influenced so members can be helped to think and act differently. For the Christian, groups provide a healthy exchange between what a person experiences and does in life and what he or she believes. Groups give us permission to examine our faith as it relates to dilemmas of workplace, daily schedule, personal encounters, decisions, attitudes and so on.