The Familiar Stranger: (Re)Introducing the Holy Spirit to Those in Search of an Experiential Spirituality

by Tyler Staton

the great myth of our time is that we can be healed completely (or healed most deeply) in isolation—that community is not necessary to my healing or yours. The truth, affirmed by both spirituality and psychology, is that community is the context of our deepest and most complete healing.

becoming more interruptible in my spiritual practice does more to form me into the image of Jesus than becoming more intentional in my spiritual practice.

Union with God that doesn’t draw me nearer to others is not apprenticeship to Jesus but a distortion of it.

root your life in a community of Jesus’ followers. The fruit and the gifts, character formation and supernatural manifestations, all of these grow in the soil of deeply rooted community.

a spirituality of “self over community” was stunting maturity.

The fruit of the Spirit is not grown abstractly. You and I must be deeply rooted to bear fruit. We grow in patience by bearing with difficult people when running would be much easier. We grow goodness by remaining in relationship with people through conflict. Self-control grows in soil where we’re tempted toward outbursts of gossip or anger. Spiritual maturity is relational and particular. The way of Jesus essentially involves relationship because without community, there is no way for us to grow to become more like Jesus. The way of Jesus is particular to a place because the Kingdom of God is not an abstract utopia we ascend to but an invading reality coming to every square inch of earth.

In his brilliant book When the Church Was a Family, Joseph Hellerman writes, Spiritual formation occurs primarily in the context of community. People who remain connected with their brothers and sisters in the local church almost invariably grow in self-understanding, and they mature in their ability to relate in healthy ways to God and to their fellow human beings. This is especially the case for those courageous Christians who stick it out through the often messy process of interpersonal discord and conflict resolution. Long-term interpersonal relationships are the crucible of genuine progress in the Christian life. People who stay also grow.15

A healthy church community, stuck with through disillusionment and stuck with over a long period of time, is an anchor and a filter—an anchor that holds me in God’s presence, and a filter that purifies my character from the inside out.

Are you eager for manifestations of the Spirit? Are you longing for signs and wonders? For supernatural physical healing and deep inner healing? For the ground-shaking word of prophecy and the still small whisper to the soul? For the fiery power of intercession and the society-altering justice that follows? Then channel all your energy into loving those in your local church who you find are the hardest to love.