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Research shows our society's widespread isolation. What's the church's role in alleviating it? While technology, living situations, and neighborhood have all played roles in perpetuating these feelings of loneliness, arguably so have many of churches, says Ashley Hales, the author of Finding Holy in the Suburbs: Living Faithfully in the Land of Too Much. \u201cThere\u2019s a sense that our church structures have made people more lonely,\u201d said Hales. \u201cPeople can just come as they please. If they\u2019re really unknown, they\u2019re not getting plugged into any smaller forms of community.\u201d Part of it is changing cultural expectations of church, said Hales. \u201cWe want church to be this customizable religious experience, instead of saying this is the bride of Christ, it\u2019s going to be painful to be a part of, that it\u2019s one of the only organizations where people of every tribe, tongue, and nation are getting together amidst different socioeconomic and racial differences,\u201d she said. \u201c Hales joined digital media producer Morgan Lee and editor in chief Mark Galli to discuss the structural and existential reasons for our loneliness, how to be a good neighbor, and why it\u2019s the small patterns of our life that make a big difference when it comes to relationships.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices