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ISKCON Membership and Social Development
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ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

Mar 26, 2015

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Juan Hudson
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Page 1: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

ISKCONMembership and Social

Development

Page 2: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

• Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

Page 3: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

• Q: Why do people want to ‘belong’ to a group?

• A: To get their needs met.

• Q: What are their needs?

• A: Physical, Mental, Social, Spiritual.

Page 4: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

• If they get their needs met by being a member of the group, they remain a member.

• If they don’t get their needs met, or if their needs are threatened, they will leave the group.

Page 5: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

• Q: What makes people decide to join a particular group in the first place?

• In a survey, 85% of people who had recently joined a religious group said they had joined because: “A friend was already a member.”

Page 6: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

• Two reasons people will join ISKCON and stay:

• 1. They feel they are getting their needs met.

• 2. Friends are already involved, or they make new friends quite soon

Page 7: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

The Membership Pyramid

Page 8: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

• Q: Who is in our ISKCON Membership Pyramid?

• A: As many members as we desire and as many as we can accommodate

• Q: Who are they?

Page 9: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

Who are members of ISKCON?

• People who like us (lots of people at the base of

the pyramid)• People who sympathise with our beliefs and

aims• People who make a contribution• People who practise our sadhana• People who practise and preach• People who have taken up full-time responsibility

for leadership and management

Page 10: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

Fact: Initiated members of ISKCON are in the minority

Fact: Many initiated members do not live in temples and are independent in finances and accommodation.

Question: What percentage of initiated members of international ISKCON do not live in temple communities?

Page 11: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

• In a recent survey of 23 ISKCON gurus, the total percentage of disciples not living in temples was

•96%

Page 12: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

• Fact: Yet we still continue to present ISKCON as: ‘A confederation of temples..’

• This was true perhaps in 1987 but not now.

• Our true size is bigger than we may think

Page 13: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

• Members of any organisation need to know where they fit into the structure…

• How they can make a contribution and accept responsibility…

Page 14: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

• Consider the humble cucumber

• 96% water

• 4% ‘organisation’

• Can we learn anything?

Page 15: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

• ISKCON does not need to have a huge ‘organisation’ to care for all of its members.

• 4% will do

• But it must be good, intelligent, organisation

• With adequate systems as well as a structure

Page 16: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

• STRUCTURE: The way in which a thing is organised

• SYSTEM: A set of connected things, or parts, that form a whole, or work together

• ORGANISATION: The sum total of the system and structures

Page 17: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

• The structure of an organism may be simple

• But the systems - the exchanges between its constituent parts - may be relatively complex

Page 18: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

• ISKCON requires a system and structure wherein our members are:

• 1. Connected by firm friendship

• 2. Provided opportunities for increasing involvement

• 3. Given empowerment (guidance, education, coaching, responsibility)

Page 19: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

• FACT: Many large organisations, especially those in which personal and spiritual growth are essential, are comprised of a large number of small groups.

• These groups are small enough, and friendly enough, that members will want to remain members of the group.

Page 20: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

• Question: What size should a group be in order to optimize the feelings of friendship, to enhance productivity, and to maintain good communication?

• Not too small and not too big

• Some examples from history:

Page 21: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

Army organised in groups of 8 or 9

Page 22: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

Moses divided his followers into groups of 10

Page 23: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

Jesus and his disciples made a group of 13

Page 24: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

• In the Vaishnava tradition there have always been small groups.

• Often a small group would look after a group each.

• Each member of this sub-group would care for yet another group.

• In this way thousands were cared for in a group system.

Page 25: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

Ramanuja created 74 groups

Page 26: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

Each of the Six Goswamis cared for several groups of followers

Page 27: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

“Let 5 or 10 of you sit down by your houses and chant the Holy Names”

Page 28: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

• Bhaktivinoda Thakura worked hard to create defined groups in each place where he preached

• Many group members were given specific responsibilities

Page 29: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

• Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati created five layers of administration to care for thousands of disciples:

• Disciples cared for by: Upadeshaka; Maha-upadeshaka; Sanyasi; Acarya

Page 30: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

• When Srila Prabhupada was asked: “How many families in a Vedic village?” he replied: “15”

• He created 108 centres, average number of devotees: 15.

Page 31: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

What happens if you don’t create groups for friendship and support?

• Spiritual life of members is hard to sustain• Members feel ‘not part of the movement’• Communication is ineffective• Organisation is chaotic• Members susceptible to drifting away to

other groups• Entire movement becomes weak• Growth is slowed down

Page 32: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

• Two examples from English history

• One, a preacher who created a network of small groups in addition to ‘centres’

• One who simply gave great classes

Page 33: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

• John Wesley (1703-1791) preached throughout England for 60 years, creating congregations which were then divided into smaller groups

Page 34: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

Hundreds of preachers and 80,000 members at his passing

Page 35: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

• George Whitefield (1714-1770) was the better preacher but did not form groups.

• He said: “Because I did not fashion my followers into groups, as did Wesley, when I called upon them to act, it was like pulling on a rope made of sand.”

Page 36: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

• Srila Prabhupada to Tribhuvanatha Dasa:

• “Do not make me another Alexander the Great” (Preaching everywhere and ‘conquering’ but with the people remaining unchanged)

Page 37: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

One preacher can create 12 groups by training 12 group leaders

(Mother-daughter)

Page 38: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

Who can then create the next generation of groups (grand-

daughters)

Page 39: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

Questions for ISKCON leaders

• How many members in your region have received initiation in the last ten years?

• How many are still practising?

• How many are still contributing their time, words and wealth to the mission?

Page 40: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

• “A movement that knows how many books it has sold; how much money it has; but does not know how many members it has; what they are doing; or whether they are happy; is a movement that may not actually want more members.”

• “And if a movement does not want more members it places a limit on what it can achieve.”

Page 41: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

Big Movements come from Small Groups

Page 42: ISKCON Membership and Social Development. Member: A person who belongs to a group of people.

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