Sharing The Journey by Robert Wuthnow

Author:Robert Wuthnow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Free Press
Published: 1994-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

THE EFFECTS OF GROUP INVOLVEMENT

Words like faith and spirituality, of course, can mean many different things. 12 In a society like ours, where two-thirds of the population claims membership in a religious organization and more than nine in ten affirm belief in God, it would not be surprising to find that people in small groups also talk about spirituality. Indeed, the fact that more than half of all such groups are sponsored by religious organizations makes this possibility all the more likely. But broad terms can often be misleading. As we have seen, community means something quite different in small groups than it traditionally has meant in families and in neighborhoods. By the same token, faith may mean something different as well. If, as I suggested at the outset, support groups are changing our relationship to the sacred, then the ways in which people talk about their faith provide a valuable clue to understanding these changes.

To find out more specifically what people meant when they said their spirituality had deepened as a result of being in their group, we asked all group members to respond to a variety of statements describing various consequences that might have been experienced from participating in their group. Some of the statements emphasized consequences that probably would be associated with spirituality according to most conventional or traditional meanings of the term; for example, “feeling closer to God.” Others employed language that is often associated with spirituality, although the same language might be used in other settings as well; for example, “a better ability to forgive others.” Some of the other statements described changes that are often mentioned by people in small groups but are not always thought of as spirituality; for example, “more open and honest with yourself.” We included a couple of consequences that might be thought of as negative as well; for example, “less interested in people outside your group.”

Except for the negative consequences, almost all the other perceived effects were reported by a majority of group members (see Table 8.1). At the top of the list were consequences that, for the time being, might be described best as personal or interpersonal growth. Eighty-four percent, for example, said they felt better about themselves as a result of being in their groups. At least three-quarters said they were more open and honest with themselves and in their dealings with others. Nearly this many said they had developed a deeper love for other people. These results are interesting because they suggest that personal and interpersonal growth define many of the most commonly shared faith experiences in small groups. Members did not argue that these experiences had nothing to do with faith; they overwhelming affirmed that these changes were among the ways in which their faith had changed.

Consequences framed in specifically religious language were experienced by slightly fewer people than those framed more generally, but were also selected by a majority of all group participants. Two out of three said they felt closer to God as a result of their group.

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