ABSTRACT

There are three enabling concepts that will color the Life Focus Community groups, each of which contributes to transforming the distance of strangers into a comradely connectedness. They are congregation, ethos, and guidance. "Congregation" is a venerable word, used to identify religious assemblages. Through religion's historic role in tending lives, the concept of congregation offers lessons to the Life Focus Community. Closely interwoven with the enabling powers of congregation is the mandate for a benign ethos. Contagion is another key factor in the development of a group ethos. Large groups require a different form of leadership: one more open to designating themes; more open to giving instructions for exercises; and more open to playing inspirational music, reading illuminating poetry, and providing informative lectures. There is a choice to be made between the undesigned style of the familiar therapeutic process and the Life Focus Community formats.