• potlucks: publicity was not consistent, houses were too far apart for all members to attend regularly, and sometimes it felt like a commitment or burden
  
  
• liturgies: were not held regularly, even though we had hoped they would be bi-weekly like our potlucks. More people would have come if they were scheduled often, once word got out.
  
  
• fellowship: although the house was "open" to spiritual exploration, there was little or no spiritual fellowship or support for our faith journeys within the house.
  
  
• spirituality: we did not discuss our spiritual experience/beliefs much, so there was not much common ground for collective spiritual exploration. Some members felt they needed to justify the inclusion of spirituality into the community house project. We should have discussed where we were coming from and what spirituality meant to us from the start.
  
  
• welcoming: difficult because of location (Echo House too far from town to be accessible) and people not being home enough to truly welcome guests.

• publicity: we need regular, consistent publicity of events and news that people can rely on. Start an email list from the start, and collect addresses to expand our base. Delegate one member to maintain this list and make sure events are announced. Consider a phone list as well, since voice invitations are sometimes more effective.
  
  
• contact: keep in touch with our supporters, mentors and past members (ie. the wider community) through a short newsletter mailed out, and phoning to check in from time to time.
  
  
• mentors: get in the habit of inviting our Circle of Mentors to everything we do, and maintain closer ties to them. Let them know what is new. Include past house members ("alumni") in the Circle for continuity and wisdom.
  
  
• structure: we need a little more structure and responsibility for house outreach and events beyond simple logistics and chores that usually occupy our meeting times.
  
  
• liturgies: develop a fill-in-the-blanks order of service (perhaps in anarchist 'zine format?) to make it really easy for members to lead liturgies and welcome other to them. It can be daunting if you have no songs, prayers and rituals to choose from.

• the community needs its wider network to keep it accountable and hopeful. Keeping in touch with mentors and past members would be important for this network, as would realizing the community is more than simply who lives in the houses.
  
  
• challenge: can we push ourselves more on our willingness to welcome strangers? How much are we willing to risk to help a neighbour or someone in need? Where are the limits of our comfort that need to be respected?
  
  
• bottom-line: we need people to take delegated responsibility to ensure we live up to our own standards, for instance setting specific goals together then having one person or group make sure it happens.

general evaluation of living intentionally

• Fun is really important, not just dealing all the time with chores, logistics and doing activist outreach for others. Some of our most bonding times were during collective games, walks, clean-ups, and fireside/movie hang-out times.
  
  
• Openness to discussing how we live together, to respecting a consensus decision making process, and to our values (environmental, activist, lifestyle, etc). A willingness to engage in community process which was new to some.
  
  
• Sharing simple living as a common value, even when the understanding or definition of it may have differed.
  
  
• Food was more than splendidly excellent throughout (except Graeme's beet casserole).

• Logistics of everyday (ie. chores, cleaning, moving) took over at the expense of community building time and sharing.
  
  
• Expectations were so divergent and sometimes unknown, so it was uncertain what process we should follow when they were not met for members. For instance, relationship between the three houses, what we expect as a commitment from others, what community even was in the first place!
  
  
• Communications between houses was lacking and this caused some tension over finances and inclusion.
  
  
• Consensus decision making process was great for open discussion, but we had a hard time developing specific goals and timelines, and sometimes long discussions would be inconclusive and unresolved.
  
  
• Feelings of guilt over not meeting all of our collective goals for outreach and sustainable living. Not being forgiving enough of the difficulties of community building and its inevitable challenges.

• responsibility: should be bottom-lined (ie. make sure it happens) by perhaps one person or a subcommittee for each of our vision areas, ie. outreach, to make sure we live up to our goals and challenge each other
• Member selection: develop a more clear process for individuals becoming members of the house. Although we had a list of questions new members should consider (for instance, needs, expectations, goals) this was not given to everyone and consequently there were varying understandings of what the community actually was. Such a process would need to be applied consistently (not selectively) and be based on self-selection (ie. only the applying member can decide if they can commit to the community)
• Commitment: discuss at the very start what members' commitments are to the community project. For instance, a full 8-month commitment might lead to more stability for building trust and community. On the other hand, allowing shorter stays keeps the community fluid and dynamic
  
  
• Membership: we discovered that nine is perhaps too many in one house for a viable, tight community, while only two in another house was not enough. Probably between 4-6 people per house is ideal
  
  
• Collective: be more clear from the start what the relationship between multiple houses is going to be. Will there be sharing of financial burdens? Equalized rents? How will events be divided to include all houses in the Collective?
  
  
• Finances: although we delegated two members to be financial officers--responsible for paying and managing bills, setting up bank accounts, collecting rent and operating a budget spreadsheet--these members moved out partway through the year, creating some confusion around managing the Collective's budget. There needs to be more continuity and communication around rent payment deadlines, sharing costs and operating the spreadsheets.
  
  
• House: renting a new house and moving every year is frustrating and makes stable continuity impossible. It's hard to put roots down.
  
  
• Community Building: need to set aside time for only talking about community and not everyday logistics/chores/responsibilities (which often takes over all meetings). ie. half an hour of each meeting is devoted to discussing less logistical aspects and more outreach/values/discussion/playing. Having collective social/play times would help.
  
  
• Start-up weekend: as a basic commitment to the house, commit to an entire weekend to discuss chores, finances, consensus decision process; expectations, visions, concerns; to discuss spiritual values and offer the option of shared fellowship/support with others throughout the year--in other words, take care of major stuff in the first week so it doesn't pop up later when it's too late. Discuss people's comfort levels with time/energy commitments, how much a priority the community is, and how much we're willing to be pushed/challenged and what our boundaries are.

• Time commitment: is important for the house to function as a community beyond simply living together. Full-time school/work seemed sometimes incompatible with offering our time and energy to every day logistics of intentional living, let alone outreach projects.
  
  
• Transience of student life makes it difficult to build stable community, since people are always coming and going. What is the meaning of 'roots'? Can we have roots together without a physical community, or lasting connection to one location?
  
  
• Challenges of living together in community often seem so heavy that we feel demoralized about the project. But as one person pointed out in our closing meeting, this is what makes an intentional community so powerful, since it is the everyday logistics of living together and sharing resources that is so difficult in our society.
  
  
• Don't feel we have to do it all, to take on every outreach project and that all "activism" has to be the same.

conclusions: moving forward in widening circles