--Answer: A great deal. Each listing is color coded so that if it is properly updated you can immediately see which New Thought denomination a center is a member of or if it is independent. You can also learn if a center is "walking its talk" and practiicing the principles it teaches. Some of these questions will help you see that. Read on and learn.
and me, the spiritual seeker on my New Thought spiritual path?
-- Answer for questions 1 - 4: Seekers can instantly get the answer to the above questions by whether the listing is out of date and the information is not current, then the answer is "NO"!
International Seekers have asked us to provide a visual graphic to help them understand participation status.
A wonderful soul from Africa sent us an ostrich graphic to provide this visual.
If there is a graphic of an ostrich with its head in the sand, then the center is not participating in this wonderful resource.
-- Answer: News about non-participating centers is provided by the public and thus covered by the Public Update System or P.U.S.
-- We encourage centers to participate in the New Thought News Universal Directory system, but that is up to them.
Each center will always have a Find A Center Entry or F.A.C.E. but it is up to someone who cares about that center to put energy into that F.A.C.E.
-- As long as a center has a public footprint then it will have a F.A.C.E. The way that a Center gets out of the directory is to go out of business. Otherwise everytime we remove a listing, some person resubmits it. If you don't want a listing then simply close your doors and stop having a public profile.
--Answer: New Thought Seekers are trying to find New Thought Centers and the FindACenter directory system is part of the New Thought News service that is powered by Serving New Thought. By trying to remove the listings of other centers or a center that you might belong to you are hurting those seekers and that center. Over the years we have had numerous attempts made by Spiritual Leaders at centers in certain cities to have listings of other Leaders deleted. We have also had Spiritual Leaders who were leaving a center or people who had a bad experience at center attempt to delete a listing ostensibly to "get revenge" on that center.
-- Answer: Denominational directories are helpful to members of those denominations but not helpful to new seekers who have discovered New Thought. We have done polls and studies and found that regardless of the amount of "branding" or promotion that a New Thought denomination does,members of other denominations will not know that they are a related group and the public knows less today about New Thought than they did 100 years ago.
Thus it follows that when seekers are looking for a New Thought Center they often show up at your center only because they found it in one of the Universal Directories. If you are sincerely interested in reaching "unchurched" people who are not currently part of your denomination, then you will get on board and start participating.
-- Answer: Get involved and stop sitting on the sidelines complaining. We listen to all New Thought Spiritual Sharers and make changes all the time. We listen most to those who are supporting the work we do supporting you and them. Those who are supporting our work with voluntary tithes and donations will get more attention than those who are not. This is logical because regardless of where you go in the world the people sponsoring positive works have more influence than those that are just complaining. The bottom line is all cases is that centers who want to grow are "walking their talk" so perhaps the easiest way to change the listing status is to send a tithe.
Answer: Some F.A.C.E.'s are covered by P.U.S. and therefore might have a P.U.S. update graphic. Listings covered with P.U.S. are finalized on a "time available basis" or T.A.B. We don't have a huge staff and thus Time is not always available for extra stuff such as updating listings that are not sponsored.
-- Answer: The above graphic means what it says! Click on the graphic and follow the instructions when you arrive at the URL (webpage) that it is linked to?
--Answer: You can be come a M.A. (Make-up Artist or Mother Angel) and improve the look of that F.A.C.E. by particpating in the process and sending in a tithe to support that listing.
--Answer: That depends on your level of sponsorship. If you are choosing the rock bottom "Polar Bear tithe" then we will help you update the listing pertaining to the particular center you are sponsoring at least once a year. Listings that have a good M.A. obviously have higher levels of consciousness, just like people who have a good MA are generally more consciousness than those who don't.
And of course if you have an old F.A.C.E. then a little Make Up can work wonders :)
--Answer: Yes, you can tithe to support any listing in the directory and thus becomes its M.A. but this is a responsibility, the information you provide must be accurate and meet the same standards as all listings as articulated in the guidelines concerning listings.
-- Answer: Yes. all tithes and donations are voluntary and if you choose to voluntarily support any listing in the directory you are not only helping that center to express its prosperity and compassion, your donations are supporting the wonderful Spiritual Resources that we maintain to support all of New Thought. So your first reward is feeling great! In addition to this reward, anyone who is supporting a listing will have control of the graphic that pertains to that listing. You must follow all the rules concerning listings graphics, but as long as you follow the rules you can use whatever graphic you wish.
-- Answer: You can either sponsor that centers listing and become its MA or contact that center and have them do an update and finalize / complete / actualize the new information by doing the update orientation session.
-- Answer: As long as the listing you are sponsoring is in "prosperity status" you will have control of the graphic and the ability to update the information to the extent that your tithing level allows.
-- Answer: If a listing is no longer sponsored, meaning the tithe that came in to sponsor that listing ceases then that listing reverts to P.U.S., the graphic reverts to a "Charity" notice and is once again available for someone else to sponsor it and for the public to submit updates.
