Deep Christian Community and Spiritual Formation | Ep 112

What kind of community forms deep people?In this Season 5 bonus episode, Brian continues the reflection from Episodes 110 and 111 by exploring the desperate need for deep communities. If a deep disciple is someone increasingly awake and attuned to God, self, others, creation, and culture, then the next question is obvious: what kind of community can actually form that kind of person?Brian argues that deep Christian community requires more than sermons, Bible studies, programs, weekend services, or casual small groups. Those things may have value, but they do not automatically create the vulnerability, honesty, safety, time, intimacy, and shared life necessary for genuine spiritual formation.This episode returns to the Great Omission, the Formation Gap, the Critical Journey, the “nones” and “dones,” and the Soil & Roots Greenhouse model. Brian asks whether many modern Christian institutions are structured to produce deep people, or whether their size, pace, power dynamics, and dependence on professional Christians can sometimes work against the very formation they hope to encourage.The episode also explores why the church may need to grow smaller rather than larger if it wants to recover New Testament discipleship. Deep communities are not built around celebrity teachers or institutional growth. They are formed by people willing to know and be known, listen deeply, suffer together, tell the truth, practice the five key elements, and experience Jesus in one another.Join us online! Web: https://soilandroots.orgSubstack: ⁠ https://soilandroots.substack.com/