I mention this not to discount the necessity of Christian community. Without it one surely will fall. But I would like to try and explain why I grew and my brother in Christ backslid. This is particularly relevant because I have observed several Christians stunted in their spiritual growth by their communities, all the while churches tout the importance of community.

I fellowship daily with dead people. St. Augustine, Jonathan Edwards, B.B. Warfield, G.K. Chesterton, St. Athanasius, Soren Kierkegaard, Simone Weil, John Calvin, St. Francis of Assisi, George Whitefield, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Henri Nouwen, J.S. Bach, G.F. Handel, C.S. Lewis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Thomas a Kempis, and C.H. Spurgeon are brethren who have kept me accountable through the years and encouraged me to continue growing in Christ. Though they are dead they still speak. (Hebrews 11:4). They have been my community. They have been my great cloud of witnesses. (Hebrews 12:1). Without them I would have stumbled in my spiritual walk long ago and not gotten back up. Their presence explains why even in solitude I have continued to grow in Christ.

Throughout my life, I have always been surrounded by two spiritual communities: one of past spiritual giants and one like myself. By differentiating between these two communities, I do not mean to suggest the unimportance of personal contact with believers who share much in common with oneself. There is value in mutually praying for one another and engaging in social activities together.

But there is only so much that kindergartners can do for one another. Yes, they may keep each other company, thereby helping one another deal with their sense of loneliness. But without a grownup, kindergartners can only end up reinforcing immature habits.

I hope it is not presumptuous of me to say that most Christian communities today are like kindergartens without adult supervision; that at best, believers are being babysat by spiritual teenagers. Thus joining them is no assurance of Christian growth. In fact just the opposite may occur.

I would only like to encourage Christians to join both communities available to them. Here I must confess that over this past year, while sitting at the feet of Christian heroes, I did my school fellowship and myself a disservice by not also joining their meeting. I should have shown some solidarity. At the very least I would have had the opportunity to introduce some clouds into their clear skies.