Posts in Community
WeSpace Groups—Why We Need the “We”
WeSpace Groups—Why We Need the “We”

I (Paul) was twenty years old and very much a devoted follower of Jesus when I first realized a striking thing about Jesus that I had not grasped before. The first action Jesus took in his public ministry to heal and change his world was to gather a few others willing to follow him. He spent an extraordinary amount of time together with them as they shared their lives in radical ways. From that humble but dynamic beginning, we now have a world in which one-third of its 7.7 billion people claim to be his followers. His life and message of love, although not always followed, have made a radical, worldwide impact.

I decided I needed such a group in my life and asked six of my closest Christian friends if they would be willing to meet weekly to share our lives and pray for each other. Since that time over sixty years ago, I have always had such a group in my life. After seminary, I was called to pastor, for almost half a century the only church I would ever lead. The first thing I did was gather a few church members together in a small group that met weekly to share and pray. That multiplied until over 400 members of our congregation were meeting regularly in small groups which became the dynamic relational and spiritual center for our life together.

My (Luke) long passion for gathering has taken many forms throughout my life. Early on in my church life I was asking why our gatherings looked the way they did. I explored new forms such as house churches, new monastic intentional community, contemplative gatherings, and other ways of gathering small groups together. While traditional churches are shrinking, Christians still very much need to gather together. The spaces and ways need to keep evolving to serve the Christianity of the future.

We are seeking to do just that with Integral Christian Network. This movement invites followers of Jesus from around the world to meet primarily on the Internet via Zoom, for now. More local groups may develop in the future. In what we call “WeSpace groups,” anywhere from four to eight participants share their lives with one another and practice a form of meditative prayer together we call Whole-Body Mystical Awakening.

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WeSpace, Practice, CommunityPaul Smith & Luke HealyWeSpace, Mystical Community Comment
Co-Creating Communities of Deep Belonging
Co-Creating Communities of Deep Belonging

Why We Need New Spiritual Community
Practicing Community – Part Twenty

Integral Christian Network is one such place of belonging. We are a community of mystics, evolvers, spiritual practitioners, and more. People come into our community from many different streams of background and are drawn by many different aspects—though nearly always a longing for more.

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Community, EvolutionLuke HealyMystical Community, Evolution, Belonging Comments
What Does Leadership Look Like in New Spiritual Community? 

What Does Leadership Look Like in New Spiritual Community? 


As I proposed in a previous article in this series, the days of the king (or queen) have passed. The time of being subjects reigned over has (mostly) passed, but we still elevate the hero or heroine, the celebrity and the guru.

We still want the great leaders who will solve the problems and set things in order. Those with the power, wisdom, and authority to make things right. A great, singular savior out there somewhere. 

And at the same time, we often resist being led. We are not just followers, but have our own story, our own journey, and our own sovereign realm we have to look after—our lives. We also have opinions and perspectives. The ways we think things should be and how they should be done. As we should!

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Community, EvolutionLuke HealyEvolution, Mystical Community Comments
Beyond Balance: Discharging Static Community
Beyond Balance: Discharging Static Community

Deeply embedded into our biology is the instinct that community is about survival. Safety in numbers. It is rooted into our natural drive to come together with others for protection and security. As such, the best thing to do was to strengthen the bonds of the group and maintain collective order—even expelling overly divisive and diverse members that would upset the stability of the community. Our very existence may have depended on it.

Might there actually be a similar movement happening today, necessary for our survival, but in a different way? Moving toward the collective, recognizing that we deeply need each other again in order to survive. That the myth of individual independence is crumbling in a way we feel deep in our bones. 

But going forward, our survival will be less dependent on sameness and conformity to the collective for the sake of group stability. Rather, we will find our path through by welcoming the interplay of our unique diversity growing the field of possibility exponentially, dancing together in the multiplicity of energies where emergence comes forth.

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CommunityLuke HealyMystical Community, Evolution, Development Comments
How Do We Be Together Well?
How Do We Be Together Well?

In this series on Practicing Community, we have explored many aspects of how we come into and practice mystical community with others on this evolving spiritual path. Undergirding this whole series are the foundational identities and fundamental values of Integral Christian Network. We approach practicing community from the heart of being Christian (in an evolving way), Mystical, and Integral. We hold everything we do to our values of Love, Mystical, We, Uniqueness, and Emergence. 

When we look particularly at our practices of community, we may also identify some more specific values of community that have been implicit throughout this series. I’d like to now bring those up to the forefront and consider these more directly, as they make up the energetic source of how we are together—of how we seek to be together well. 

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Community, MysticismLuke HealyMystical Community, ValuesComment
Mystical Sacraments of the New Church

Communal Participation in Resurrection
Practicing Community – Part Sixteen

On this Easter weekend, churches across the world are celebrating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. A common refrain will be heard and echoed across many services and gatherings:

“Christ is risen!” 

And the response, “He is risen indeed!”

If I might be so bold, I’d like to propose an amendment to this declaration: 

“We are risen indeed!”

For we are the living resurrection of Christ today. Here and now.

If the body of Christ is the people of God, the church, the gathering together of those who are summoned in spirit—and Christ is risen—then we are risen indeed!

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Community, MysticismLuke HealyMystical Community, Integral Church, SacramentsComment
What Type of Community Are You In?

Throughout this series, we’ve been talking about “community” as a general blanket term. But there are many different types of community. Not just spiritual community versus other reasons for gathering, but forms of collectives that have different purposes and general ways of being together. What are the reasons that we gather together?


Commonalities of some kind are what bring us together in community. They are the gathering principles of attraction and bonding that form collectives. These may be shared experiences, common intent, similarity of beliefs, access to resources, related needs, associated risks, and more. 


On one level, geographical location has long been a major determining factor for access to communities, though as we have already described, that is changing rapidly. With this limitation drastically altered, nonlocal communities can form with much greater specification and specialization. 


Many communities come together simply to engage in a shared activity, like a book club or choir. Here, we’re considering those with some sort of higher purpose.


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Evolution, CommunityLuke HealyMystical Community, DevelopmentComment
When We Evolve It Will Be Together

One of the tragedies in our time of hyper-individualism is the loss of our larger stories of meaning, purpose, and transformation. 

Religious narratives of eternal judgment to heaven or hell have largely lost their fearful grip. Commercial narratives of economic triumph are insatiable and ultimately unfulfilling. 

National narratives of political salvation coming from the State not only continue to fail, but generally aren’t encompassing enough to bring about holistic transformation.

What is your larger collective story?

Is it big enough for the immensity of your longings? For the immeasurable value of your soul? For the highest purpose and deepest meaning of your ultimate being?

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CommunityLuke HealyEvolution, Mystical Community, DevelopmentComment
Navigating Natural Rhythms of Community

Phases of Group Development
Practicing Community – Part Thirteen

It is the nature of life to grow and evolve. So too, every group and community that is alive will go through change and growth. Unfortunately, many spiritual communities instead take a static approach to community life. They try to keep things the way they are, reinforcing the traditional patterns and set processes that bind the members to a repetitive cycle.

But if the spiritual community continues to evolve, it can be a synergistic process of personal growth and communal evolution working in tandem.

Let’s look at some natural phases of the process of community life and where that can lead us if we navigate them with wisdom and grace.

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Community, Practice, WeSpaceLuke HealyMystical Community, WeSpace, Evolution, DevelopmentComment
The New Architecture of Transformative Community

Last week, we considered the need for new structures and ways of coming together in spiritual community. Recognizing that many of the old forms are not equipped to handle the new wine of evolving spirit in this time of great change, we looked at our own personal place in the midst of these great transitions. Where are we meant to be? Where is spirit calling us to live and contribute with our unique gifts and presence?

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CommunityLuke HealyMystical CommunityComment