A Manual for a New Network of Home-based Communities
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Method #6: Monthly Gatherings

Members of each home-based community gather once a month in one of their homes for a shared meal, informal socializing, a support group, and basic decision-making.

Following the meal, they conduct a confidential support-group meeting to report on their efforts concerning self-improvement, environmental responsibility, community service, and political action .

Though each community is free to develop its own format, we encourage each community to experiment with the following structure for at least three meetings and then report to the national office concerning their results and whether and how they plan to modify or substitute for that structure. Conducting and reporting on such experiments could help improve the recommended format.

These support groups use the following structure:

• The group previously agrees to set aside two hours for the meeting (if it is needed).
• Members sit in a circle and have a minute or two of silence.
• Going around the circle, the group conducts four rounds, with each member reporting on their recent efforts and their thoughts about future efforts concerning:
  • Self-improvement.
  • Environmental responsibility.
  • Community service.
  • Political action.
• At the end of each report, if other members feel they have not understood what was reported, they can ask for clarification.
• After any such questions have been answered, the reporting member can ask for some brief advice, if they wish to do so, but there is no assumption that they will.
• Each member then reports on how they feel about this meeting, especially in terms of what they liked and didn’t like.
• The meeting concludes with a minute or two of silence.
• All members are equally responsible for the conduct of the meeting. The host places a bell, a cup and spoon, or some other device in the center of the circle so anyone can signal when they want to begin or end the meeting with silence and, perhaps, when they believe a speaker has spoken long enough.

Each report is presented without interruption. With a group of ten, each member would have about two-and-one-half minutes to report on each of the four areas: self-improvement; environmental responsibility; community service; and political action.

These meetings are confidential. Members will not reveal what others say specifically, though they may talk about the meeting in general terms.

These meetings are not problem solving, conflict resolution, or group therapy sessions. Each individual is responsible for her or his personal or spiritual growth and finding any additional support they need for that growth. Any issues that need to be addressed between members more fully will be addressed at another time and place, in a manner decided by the individuals involved.

In these ways, Network home-based communities provide a safe time and place for all members to speak and be heard concerning heartfelt matters. And they provide all members the opportunity to listen to and learn from others concerning meaningful issues. Simply reporting honestly on these efforts to close friends can be enormously healing if the other members pay close attention and listen with compassion and understanding.

Following this support-group meeting, after a ten-minute break, members reconvene for up to one hour to make necessary decisions. Such possible decisions include the time and location of the next gathering, food preparation, plans for political action, changes in the support-group format, deciding whom to invite to join, supplemental activities in addition to the basic eight hours a month, and plans for next month’s meeting, including agenda items.

Even if only two people participate, each meeting begins with a written agenda set by everyone, a facilitator who helps to keep the discussion focused on the agenda, and a secretary who records the decisions and later circulates those decisions to all members. The whole community periodically selects the facilitator and secretary – either at the end of each meeting, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually. Although rotating these roles is generally advisable, there is no necessity that everyone eventually assumes each role if he or she is uncomfortable doing so or if the group is uncomfortable with that option. Some skill is needed to do these jobs well.

Each community tries to reach unanimous consensus on each decision. However, we recommend that each community agrees that if reaching unanimous consensus proves too difficult, they can make decisions with a 80% super-majority with groups of five or more or 75% with a group of four (groups of two or three could require unanimous consent). If a sizeable minority objects to a proposed decision, they likely have legitimate concerns that need to be addressed, if only to avoid a damaging split and reduced participation. Requiring a super-majority avoids this risk.

Toward the end of each meeting, each meeting should conduct an evaluation with each member reporting on what they liked and didn’t like about the meeting – without discussing others’ comments. Any such discussion can take place later.

Then the group can agree on any important agenda items for next month’s meeting and, if need be, decide who will facilitate and record decisions at the next meeting. That information can then be included in the written report on decisions to be circulated between meetings.

With this minimal structure, a small group of close, compatible friends can make key decisions in an efficient manner.