It’s okay for a community to end. This can happen for any number of reasons: people move away, the goal is accomplished, interest has shifted away, other priorities arise, you can’t serve members anymore. When a community ends, the relationships can continue. If we consider that the community’s real purpose is to enrich members in some way, then it’s okay if at some point a community stops gathering. You may not keep your temple, or enact your rituals, or use your symbols. With luck, you’ll still have the relationships that were formed in your community, and this alone can be considered a success.
If you fear failure because your community is coming to an end, please know that ending doesn’t necessarily mean failure. You may have simply created what was needed at the time, and now you get to start the next commitment. My favorite example of this was shared by my Neptune Studios friend Emily. She told me how she works on a film project for as long as three years and in that time she grows very close to her coworkers. By any standard, they become a community. They celebrate together, support one another in crises, and learn each other’s stories. Once a film is finished, the team is inevitably broken up, and the members will go on to other film projects. She’s been doing this for over ten years, so she’s been through the cycle several times. It’s not a matter of the community not working: its members have succeeded in creating what they set out to do, and their time has passed. She also shared how their relationships continue. She’ll see those friends at the studio, perhaps on other projects, and they’ll explore how they can work together again. They have joined new communities on new projects, and they’re growing both professionally and personally in new ways.