Theos-Talk Archives (October 1995 Message tl00310)

Sy:

>At The Theosophical Society in Miami & South Florida (TSA) in Deerfield Beach,
>we do not see as an issue whether theosophical teachings have to be changed to
>be more attractive and easy to comprehend. We think they are fine just the way
>they are. Some studies are more difficult, some less.

You've found a formula for running a group that is highly successful, and
we all applaud you and your fellow workers.

>... All this makes us a big active Branch with well over 100 members
> and growing. We ... respectfully suggest that those of you interested
> in Branch work might wishto take a look at what we are doing here. We are
> convinced that if more Branches followed a broad program of course and study
> group offerings, the TSA would be growing, not shrinking.

We should take a close look at what you're doing and see how it might be
adopted elsewhere. One thing I wonder about, as I read your description, is
how do you handle rapid growth? How does a core group of people grounded in
Theosophy maintain control when quickly outnumbered by new members with
perhaps different beliefs, people who could quickly outvote the old members
and change the direction of things?

>It's not hard to do and you do not need a lot of money. Just members of
>goodwill who wish to give some service for the overall benefit. We do this all
>in a small (1000 sq ft) store in a shopping center which also contains our
>Quest Bookstore and Branch library.

With your group, do you have one or two strong people leading the way and
looked up to by the rest, or is there a core group of five or ten that
share the inititive on an equal basis? (Just wondering.)

-- Eldon