The Way Back to One Another: How to Live as People Created for Community

Rediscover Community in a Disconnected World

Jesus said his followers would be known for their love, not their loneliness. Yet over half of Americans-and American churchgoers-say that they lack companionship or that no one knows them well. We live increasingly disconnected lives, and our mental and spiritual health suffer as a result.

In The Way Back to One Another, Jeff Galley and Phil Smith provide a remedy based on studying Scripture, learning from the global church, and observing best practices in thousands of small groups. The New Testament’s exhortations to love one another are not merely individual commands but instructions for experiencing deep relationships and community, one to another, to each other, and each to all. Loving one another today will require a countercultural return to practices that are increasingly devalued and disregarded: depending on, committing to, talking with, knowing, and welcoming one another.

In The Way Back to One Another, you’ll learn:

• Loneliness is a subtle yet pervasive issue that affects our mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being, and even as Christ-followers, we’re not immune.
• God designed us for deep, meaningful relationships to help us become who he intends us to be.
• There is hope to cultivate the deeper connections we long for and to be ambassadors of those relationships for others, even in a culture of isolation.
• Fulfilling life is found in interdependence and realizing that our relationship with God is deeply connected to our relationships with others.
• Overcoming loneliness requires intentional, countercultural changes in how we live.

Galley and Smith cast a vision for how we were created to live, outline practical shifts to combat loneliness, and offer life design suggestions-small yet meaningful changes we can make to escape aloneness, build relationships, and create community to experience the depth of connection God intends for us. With The Way Back to One Another, discover how you and your church can break away from soul-killing isolation and become catalysts of life-giving relationships and community.

Phillip N. Smith is the senior development ambassador at HOPE International. He previously served as HOPE’s senior director of savings group programs, leading the organization’s global team. Prior to joining HOPE, Phil served as an executive pastor, corporate executive, and in senior leadership with World Relief, and has served on many boards over the years. Phil and his wife, Becca, have lived in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Rwanda, and currently reside in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. They have two sons, a daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren.

Jeff Galley is the central group leader for LifeGroups and Missions at Life.Church, where the church aims to lead people to follow Jesus and love their neighbors through the power of community. He is the author of Conversations: Turn Your Everyday Discussions into Life-Giving Moments. He coleads Global Lift Collective and serves on the board at the Chalmers Center for Economic Development and Tearfund USA. Jeff and his wife, Christy, have three married children, three grandchildren, and live in the Oklahoma City area.

Jill Heisey is a writer who is passionate about helping leaders and nonprofits share their stories. She has collaborated on the books Lead with Prayer, Rooting for Rivals, and The Gift of Disillusionment; written the children’s book Keza Paints a Bright Future; and authored articles featured on Christianity Today’s Better Samaritan blog. Jill graduated from Messiah University with degrees in politics and Spanish and resides outside Washington, DC, with her husband, Bryan, and their two daughters.