Developing Faith or Individualism?

I am currently reading the book "A Churchless Faith" by Alan Jamieson, and I am struck by how clearly he paints a picture of my faith struggles of the last few years. While I have not really been a "church leaver" like Jamieson describes, I have gone through many of the same transitions that the "leavers" in his book have gone through, sometimes clinging on to my church participation by only a thread.

Jamieson's discussion of the stages of faith development (based on work by James Fowler) has truly given me hope that I have not just been going crazy these last few years. I spent many years in the stage Jamieson calls "The Loyalist", which is a conformist or tribal stage. During this time I developed high ideals for myself about what it meant to be committed to Christ and my church.

I believe that I have been slowly making the transition into the stage Jamieson calls "The Critic", which he calls the most difficult transition, and "involves the greatest dismantling of what was learnt and experienced in the previous stage". Here's one paragraph of his description:

"In their examination of their faith and practice, Critics begin by raising previously accepted beliefs, values, world views and actions for inspection, often as if they were looking at them and analyzing them for the first time. In this critical examination flaws, inconsistencies, unanswered aspects and overly simplistic solutions seem to be their primary focus. This is a process of unpicking their previous faith and their communities' beliefs and practices. It is lonely, uncomfortable and often protracted. But through this process a new respect and trust for one's inner feelings, intuitions and personal judgement is commonly is experienced. In contrast to the previous stage, the Critic trusts their own perception more than the perception and view of any community of others."

So - is this understanding valid? Or, as many of DesertPastor's discussions (like this one) about the pervasiveness of individualism in our culture has me wondering, is this possibly just a justification for individualism? In my old Loyalist, black and white world view, I probably would have made that judgment about my current faith journey. Or can we, in this journey of faith, go through this process of individual evaluation of what we believe - and sometimes change our beliefs from the body of beliefs that we previously held with our community, while still valuing community and connectedness? I hope so! I believe so.