was what was true in that first cen tury after the death of Christ. Many of our fine evangelical pastors are so concerned about this that they have devised ways so their mem bership can be broken up into smaller groups where people can touch one another's lives, yet com ing back together for worship as a collective body of believers. Any sensitivity training which appeals to the sensual nature in man has to be rejected. We are not the least bit interested in this. There is rather the spiritual aspect which must be strengthened. Re member, small groups have been used for centuries in the context of the church. This is true today with our traditional Sunday school class. We would immediately reject anything which would violate Bibli cal standards. We could encourage, however, those who purposes and goals are to get individuals together in groups to strengthen Christian relationships. These leaders, of course, must be qualified individ uals who know the Bible, and who understand group dynamics so that they can work intelligently and effectively. Q. "What causes a Christian couple to drift away and eventually to get a divorce?" A. There can be a variety of rea sons for this. One is that many young people get married when they are too young. They enter in to this new union basically out of what we may call "romantic love." They have very little understanding of what goes on in the marriage process. When they realize what life is all about they may feel they have lost out on being single and Page 17
with. Small groups would meet, generally on an intensive scale, to see how they might change atti tudes, their own and others. To day, of course, there are many variations of sensitivity training in cluding the more sensational types which the news media have picked up. These have included the areas of physical contact. Some have criticized sensitivity training stating that it will tear down a person emotionally. Re search does not really indicate this to be true. At the same time one should exercise real caution in get ting involved in groups where mo tives, leadership, final goals and other aspects are the least bit ques tioned. Such groups functioning within the church should not only teach people to be sensitive to themselves but also to one anoth er, and most importantly to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Only in this way can their relationship with the Lord be made more sig nificant. Sensitivity training has been abused by many. Only the grace of Cod has the power to really change an individual's life for both time and eternity. Yet, people do feel alienated today and need to know of God's love which can be ex pressed through the lives of His children. There are many large churches where a visitor or member can feel alone even in a crowd of a thou sand. They may suffer from iden tity problems, sensing something missing in their lives. They may lack personal and direct fellow ship with those who also know and love Christ. We should be aware and on the lookout for the needs other Christians have. This
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