Starting a Group
You may also want to create specific roles within the group to handle certain major responsibilities so the group leader doesn’t get bogged down with too much work. Leaving one person to do everything is always a recipe for disaster. Inevitably, that one person will be ill or unavailable when you really need him or her, and no one else in the group will have any idea how to get things done. Leaving one person to handle everything also encourages leader burnout.
At this point, think about how you’ll handle new members to the group. Will they need specific training? If so, what? Who will be responsible for the training, and how will it be administered? Will you want to limit the number of trainees the group can have at one time? How often will you accept new members? Will you want to screen potential members before inviting them to join? If so, who will screen them, and what will that process be?
If you’re running a social group, it may be best to just allow anyone who shows up to join. If you’re running a study group, you may only want to take new members when the group is starting a new project so you won’t have to catch someone up halfway through. If you’re running a working coven, you may want to establish training classes held several times throughout the year and only accept new members during those times. The process will obviously depend on the group, but you’ll need to have some sort of process in place to avoid chaos later.
I mentioned screening potential members for three reasons. First, many Pagan groups meet at members’ homes. Would you want to let a random stranger know exactly where you live? Neither would I. Meeting potential members in a public place will eliminate this concern. The second reason has to do with privacy concerns. Not everyone in your group may be “out” as a Pagan for one reason or another. And third, the potential member just may not be a good fit for your group. If you or the interested person decides during the screening interview that the two of you just aren’t a good fit, it’s less of a waste of time than if the interested person has to take several classes to find that out.
The last major thing you and your group will have to decide is how you’ll deal with
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