- The ‘Dark Side’ of Congregational Context: Small Groups and Civic Engagement, by Andrew Whitehead (Ph.D., Baylor, 2012). Church-goers are widely thought to be more civically engaged than their non-church-going counterparts, but little is known about how the popular phenomenon of small groups factors into this equation. What consequences does small group participation at individual and congregational levels have for civic engagement? The answer may surprise you.