This work is the complement to Robert Wuthnow's, SHARING THE JOURNEY. It presents 14 case studies of small groups - from a women's Bible study, to a peace fellowship, to a group for senior citizens. What small groups are like nationally and how their members understand spirituality can be gauged from the results of a national survey presented in the appendix. This book provides extended portraits of each of the groups studied. The portraits tell the stories, both collective and personal, of each group, revealing agreement and dissension, closeness and alienation, growth and stagnation. In a concluding chapter, Wuthnow places the small-group movement in the changing context of American society, showing why it has emerged and where it is headed.
