Why do participants stay in the Gülen Movement even after leaving an institution or finishing a service-project?

At the moment of joining the service-networks, individuals might not bring a profound personal investment. Rather, their commitment and contribution increase as their knowledge of the field in which they have come to contribute grows and matures. This investment progressively strengthens the participant’s bond with a service-network or SMO, and is a cultural investment.

Relationships constructed in this way are far deeper and more binding than short-term participation, and they outlive short-term participation. They are completely unlike participation in actions and organizations with totalizing accents. The self-reflective capacity that participants develop in networks and their direct participation in the collective action makes their experience coherent for them. The cultural, symbolic and plural form of the Movement respects individual differences and needs.