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One thing about building a community is that people have to know about it in order to join it. After they become aware of it, they then have to have reason to stay. Once they decide to stay, they need the motivation and support required to become leaders (both formal and informal). This is the three-level model of community building:
- Outreach
- Member Retention
- Paths to Leadership
- Summary
A local body that wishes to have a vibrant and robust community needs to put forth effort in all three areas. I suspect that at this point within the Order, all three are often left to work out on their own. While this can be okay on a very minimal level, it does a great disservice to the potential that O.T.O. offers. While I am going to present some of my own ideas about these three areas, this essay is really just an invitation for people to think about community development, and to encourage initiates to discuss these issues within their own local bodies.
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