30 December 2021
To the Conference of the
Continental Boards of
Counsellors
1.
At Riḍván
this year we described how, over the course of a quarter century, the Bahá’í
world underwent a transformation that endowed it with an undreamed-of capacity
to learn, to grow, and to serve humanity.
But, however bright were the achievements of
this period, they must be eclipsed by what is to come. By the conclusion of the new series of
Plans recently begun, the Bahá’í community will need to have acquired capacities
that can scarcely be glimpsed at present. In your deliberations over the coming days,
you will be occupied with exploring what is required to bring into being such a
fortified community.
2.
Bahá’u’lláh
states that “the purpose for which mortal men have, from utter nothingness,
stepped into the realm of being, is that they may work for the betterment of
the world and live together in concord and harmony.” He has revealed teachings that make this
possible. Building a society that consciously
pursues this collective purpose is the work of not only this generation, but of
many generations to come, and Bahá’u’lláh’s followers welcome all who labour
alongside them in this undertaking.
It means learning how to raise up vibrant, outward-looking communities; it
means those communities learning how to bring about spiritual and material
progress; it means learning how to contribute to the discourses that influence
the direction of that progress. These
areas of endeavour are, naturally, familiar ones. Seen from one perspective, they are
quite distinct, each having its own characteristics and imperatives. Yet they all represent ways of awakening
the energies latent in the human soul and channelling them towards the
betterment of society. Together, they
are means of releasing what the Guardian described as “the society-building
power” of the Faith. This inherent
power possessed by the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh is visible even in the fledgling
efforts of a Bahá’í community learning to serve humanity and promote the Word
of God. And though the world
society foreshadowed in His Revelation is of course far distant, communities
that are earnestly learning to apply His teachings to their social reality abound. How immensely blessed are those souls
who, alive to the greatness of this Day and the significance of their actions, strive
for the emergence of a society shaped by the divine teachings.
3.
The
series of global Plans that began at Riḍván will last a full twenty-five years.
It will carry the ark of the Cause
into the third century of the Bahá’í Era and conclude at Riḍván 2046. During this period, the Bahá’í world
will be focused on a single aim:
the release of the society-building power of the Faith in ever-greater
measures. The pursuit of this overall
aim will require a further rise in the capacity of the individual believer, the
local community, and the institutions of the Faith. These three constant protagonists of the
Plan each have a part to play, and each one has capacities and qualities that
must be developed. However, each is
incapable of manifesting its full potential on its own. It is by strengthening their dynamic relationships
with one another that their powers are combined and multiplied. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explains that the more the
qualities of cooperation and mutual assistance are manifested by a people, “the
more will human society advance in progress and prosperity”; in the Faith, this
principle distinguishes and shapes the interactions of individuals, institutions,
and communities, and it endows the body of the Cause with moral vigour and
spiritual health.
4.
The
enkindled souls being raised up through the processes of the Plan are seeking
to gain an ever more profound understanding of Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings—“the sovereign remedy for every disease”—and to apply them
to the needs of their society. They
are committed to the prosperity of all, recognizing that the welfare of
individuals rests in the welfare of society at large. They are loyal citizens who eschew
partisanship and the contest for worldly power. Instead, they are focused on transcending
differences, harmonizing perspectives, and promoting the use of consultation
for making decisions. They emphasize
qualities and attitudes—such as trustworthiness, cooperation, and
forbearance—that are building blocks of a stable social order. They champion rationality and science as
essential for human progress. They advocate
tolerance and understanding, and with the inherent oneness of humanity
uppermost in their minds, they view everyone as a potential partner to collaborate
with, and they strive to foster fellow feeling even among groups who may
traditionally have been hostile to one another. They are conscious of how the forces of materialism
are at work around them, and their eyes are wide open to the many injustices
that persist in the world, yet they are equally clear sighted about the creative
power of unity and humanity’s capacity for altruism. They see the power that true religion possesses
to transform hearts and overcome distrust, and so, with confidence in what the
future holds, they labour to cultivate the conditions in which progress can
occur. They share their beliefs
liberally with others, remaining respectful of the freedom of conscience of
every soul, and they never impose their own standards on anyone. And while they would not pretend to have
discovered all the answers, they are clear about what they have learned and
what they still need to learn. Their
efforts advance to the alternating rhythm of action and reflection; setbacks
leave them unfazed. In places where
growing numbers are helping to build communities of this character, the power of
the Cause to transform people’s social existence, as well as their inner lives,
is becoming increasingly visible.
Earnest pursuit of the Plan’s central aim will, we are sure, cause many,
many such communities to emerge.
The movement of clusters
5.
A
greater expression of the society-building power of the Faith requires, first
and foremost, still further advances in the process of entry by troops in every
part of the world. The essentially
spiritual undertakings of diffusing the light of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation ever
more widely and extending the roots of His Faith ever more deeply into the soil
of society have measurable outcomes:
the number of clusters where a programme of growth has been initiated and
the degree of intensity that each has reached. The means now exist for a swift advance
in relation to both measures. The
goal that the community of the Greatest Name must aspire to fulfil during the
current series of global Plans is to establish intensive programmes of growth
in all the clusters in the world. This
formidable objective implies a broadening and intensification of activity on a
scale never witnessed. Rapid
progress towards this goal must be achieved in the course of the Nine Year Plan.
6.
As
a preliminary step, we ask that you assist National Spiritual Assemblies and
Regional Bahá’í Councils to determine whether their schemes for dividing their
territories into clusters would benefit from any adjustments. As you know, a cluster defines an area
where the activities of the Plan can be stimulated in a manageable and
sustainable way. Over the last
twenty-one years, much has been learned about the size of cluster that is
“manageable” in different contexts and in different parts of the world; in some
countries, modifications have already begun to be considered, occasioned by the
effects of growth. In many
instances this reassessment will not lead to any change, but in some it will
result in a cluster being divided or reduced in size, and occasionally a
cluster might become larger. Areas
that are sparsely populated owing to the natural terrain may be excluded from the
clustering scheme. Of course, any believers
who reside in such places would adopt as many elements of the framework for
action as are applicable to their circumstances.
7.
The
movement of clusters along a continuum of development will remain the basic
model for the expansion and consolidation of the community. The features of the developmental path that
should be followed, and in particular the first,
second, and third milestones that mark progress along the way, are already well
known to the friends from our previous messages and from their own experience,
and we feel no need to reiterate what we have stated before. By the close of the One Year Plan we anticipate that programmes of growth will be under
way in over 6,000 clusters, that in close to 5,000 of these the second
milestone will have been passed, and that in 1,300 of these the believers will
have advanced further. These
figures must climb considerably over the coming nine years. Once any adjustments to the clustering
scheme in each country have been determined, we ask that you work with National
Assemblies and Regional Councils to forecast the numbers of clusters where
progress could be made past the first, second, and third milestones,
respectively, during the Plan. It
should be borne in mind that these are only intended to be well-informed estimates;
they can be refined later as necessary and need not be laboured over at length.
As such, we request that the
results of these assessments be sent to the Bahá’í World Centre by Naw-Rúz. At Riḍván, we will then be able to set
out the total collective aspirations of the Bahá’í world for the Nine Year Plan.
8.
We
are conscious that there are some regions and countries where the Faith remains
at an early point of development, and there is a pressing need to ensure that
what the Bahá’í world has learned about accelerating the growth process benefits
these places as well. One important
lesson that has become clear is the immense value, to a region, of a cluster
where the third milestone has been passed.
Once the friends in a given cluster have developed
the range of capacities that such progress implies, and the means to disseminate
insights and share experience about community-building endeavours are in place,
then a swift acceleration of the work of expansion and consolidation in
surrounding clusters becomes possible.
With this in mind, it is imperative that during
the Nine Year Plan the process of growth reach this level of intensity in at
least one cluster in every country and every region. This constitutes one of the Plan’s chief objectives
and it will call for the concentrated effort of many a consecrated soul. The International Teaching Centre is
ready to work with you to implement several strategies to bring this
about. Foremost among these will be
the deployment of teams of international and homefront pioneers who are
familiar with the framework for action and are prepared to dedicate significant
amounts of time and energy to serving the Cause over a number
of years. You will need to
impress upon National Spiritual Assemblies and Regional Bahá’í Councils the
urgency of encouraging believers who, following in the footsteps of so many
heroic souls of the past, can arise to ensure that the light of the Faith
shines bright in every territory. We
look in particular to countries, regions, and clusters
where strength and experience have accumulated to generate a flow of pioneers
to places where help is needed, and also to provide support by other means. This flow of support is one more way in
which the spirit of collaboration and mutual assistance, so essential for
progress, manifests itself in systematic action.
9. The accomplishments of the previous
series of Plans—particularly the last Five
Year
Plan—could not have occurred without a tremendous advance in the teaching work. An important dimension of this work is
the capacity to engage in conversations on spiritual themes, a capacity which
was explored in our message to your 2015 conference, where we described how it
is developed through participation in institute courses and by gaining
practical experience. It is evident
that the pattern of activity unfolding at the grassroots opens
up a variety of settings in which receptive souls—sometimes whole
families or peer groups—can take part in meaningful conversations which awaken
interest in the vision of the Faith and the Person of Bahá’u’lláh. Over time, many such souls begin to
identify themselves with the Bahá’í community, especially as they gain the
confidence to participate in community life through service. Of course, the community welcomes any
degree of association that a person would like to maintain, great or
small. Yet to recognize Bahá’u’lláh
as a Manifestation of God and accept the privileges and responsibilities that
are uniquely associated with membership in the Bahá’í community is a singular
moment in a person’s spiritual development, quite distinct from regular
involvement in Bahá’í activities or voicing support for Bahá’í principles. Experience has shown that the
environment created by community-building endeavours in a locality enables
anyone who wishes to take this step to do so with relative ease. Wherever these endeavours are under way,
it is important for the friends to remain mindful that the doors of the Faith
are wide open and to give encouragement to those who stand at the threshold. And in areas where such endeavours have
been well established for some time, many believers are discovering that a
vibrant, expanding pattern of activity can naturally lead to families, groups
of friends, and even clusters of households being ready to enter the
Cause. For in spaces where the
possibility of joining the community can be discussed openly and inclusively
among those who share a sense of collective identity, souls can more easily
feel emboldened to take this step together. Bahá’í institutions, especially Local
Spiritual Assemblies, must adopt a mindset that allows for such developments,
and ensure that any obstacles are removed.
10. We ask you and your auxiliaries to help
the believers, wherever they reside, reflect periodically on effective ways of
teaching the Faith in their surroundings, and to fan within their hearts a
passion for teaching that will attract the confirmations of the Divine
Kingdom. Souls who have been given
the blessing of faith have a natural wish to share this gift through conversations
with relatives, friends, classmates, co-workers, and those previously unmet, seeking
in every place and at every moment a hearing ear. Different settings and circumstances lend
themselves to different approaches, and the friends should be occupied in an
ongoing process of learning about what is most effective in the place where
they are.
Learning
from the most advanced clusters
11. Six years ago
we described for you the characteristics of a cluster where the friends have
passed the third milestone along the continuum of growth. To have come this far implies intense
activity occurring in specific neighbourhoods or villages, but also concerted
effort being made by the generality of the believers living across the cluster—in
other words, a rising spirit of universal participation in the work of
community building. In practice,
this means the mobilization of a sizeable number of Bahá’ís who are creatively
and intelligently applying the Plan’s framework for action to the reality of
their own circumstances wherever in the cluster they live. It entails families and individual
believers working together and making a conscious decision to see themselves as
belonging to an expanding nucleus. Such
groups of friends set about widening the circle of participation in their
activities by engaging with the networks to which they belong—networks created through
a place of work or study, a local school, or a community hub of another
kind—and by accompanying others who arise to serve alongside them. These efforts have tremendous
merit. Even when a cluster contains
a number of flourishing centres of intense activity,
efforts being made across the rest of the cluster might still represent a large
proportion of all the activity that is occurring. We also acknowledge, in this connection,
the steps being taken in some clusters to systematically reach out to a
specific population that has shown receptivity to the Faith but is dispersed
throughout the cluster. This can be
seen as a specialized form of the community-building work, and one which continues
to show great promise. As
participation in the work of the Plan in all its forms increases, many opportunities
emerge for the friends to learn from each other’s experience and to kindle within
one another the joy of teaching.
12. Of course, the work undertaken in receptive
neighbourhoods and villages has been a special focus of attention in recent
years. As the inhabitants of such locations
begin to participate in Bahá’í activities in large numbers, more consideration needs to be given
to coordination in order to cope with the
inherent complexity involved. Within
each centre of intense activity, collaborative arrangements emerge among groups
of families, who organize community-building activities among themselves with a
view to widening the embrace of such activities to many nearby households; an
informal network of friends provides encouragement and support to the
endeavours under way. The character
of daily life in such places is adapting to the rise of a culture in which worship
and service are cherished activities involving many people at once. Uplifting, well-prepared community
gatherings—extending in some cases to camps and festivals—occur with increasing
frequency, and music and song feature prominently on such occasions. Indeed the arts as a whole, so integral a part of
the development of a community from the start, stand out in such settings as an
important means of generating joy, strengthening bonds of unity, disseminating
knowledge, and consolidating understanding, as well as of acquainting those in
the wider society with the principles of the Cause. And naturally,
there remains a strong focus on being outward looking: finding ways to continually share the
fruits of a thriving pattern of action with souls who are as yet unfamiliar
with the Faith.
13. Amid all this, we have observed a
specific, heartening phenomenon, whose early glimpses we described in our
message to your 2015 conference as representing a new frontier. Although learning how to embrace large
numbers is a characteristic of any cluster where the third milestone has been
passed, the focus of the friends necessarily begins to broaden as they approach
a point where a significant proportion of the population of a particular area is
taking part in community-building activities. This might be true for only a specific
residential area in a cluster, or for several such areas, or for a single village;
other parts of the cluster might not yet share the same reality. But in such locations, the thoughts of
the friends labouring at the grassroots are increasingly occupied with the
progress and well-being of everyone dwelling in the vicinity. Bahá’í institutions feel more keenly their
responsibility for the spiritual education of an entire generation of children and
junior youth, most or even all of whom might already be engaged in community
activities. Local Spiritual
Assemblies strengthen their relationships with authorities and local leaders, even
entering into formal collaborations, and growing
attention is given to the multiplying initiatives of social action arising from
groups of junior youth, youth, women, families, or others who are responding to
the needs around them. The sheer level
and variety of activity requires Auxiliary Board members to appoint multiple
assistants to serve a single village or neighbourhood; each assistant might
follow one or more lines of action, offering counsel and support as necessary,
and lending momentum to the processes in motion.
14. In places where the activities of the
Plan have reached such a degree of prevalence, the inhabitants now possess a
substantially increased capacity to steer the course of their own development, and
the institutions and agencies of the Faith there now have an expanded vision of
their responsibilities. Of course, these
responsibilities still include having robust systems in place to continually
build capacity and support those taking initiative. But the advancement of the community
depends, to a greater extent than before, on local institutions and agencies
being conscious of the social forces at work in the environment and acting to
preserve the integrity of the community’s many endeavours. Meanwhile, the relationship of the Bahá’í
community to the surrounding society undergoes profound change. As represented by its formal structures
of administration and informal collaborative arrangements, the Bahá’í community
has become a highly visible protagonist in society in its own
right, one that is ready to shoulder important responsibilities and
intensify a broad, collective process of learning about spiritual and material
progress. At the same time, as the
wider society embraces many aspects of Bahá’í community life and imbibes its
unifying spirit, the dynamics thus created allow divers groups to come together
in a combined movement inspired by Bahá’u’lláh’s vision of the oneness of
humanity. To date, the number of
places where a Bahá’í pattern of community life has attained such prevalence is
modest, yet it is growing. Here is witnessed
a release of the society-building power of the Faith unlike anything that has
been seen before.
15.
Naturally,
prevalence of Bahá’í activity on this scale is not a prospect everywhere. It is necessary to appreciate the difference
that is made by the conditions in a cluster or in parts of a cluster and by the
characteristics of a people—that is, by the reality of circumstances. Accordingly, the ways in which the
society-building power of the Faith will find expression in different settings
will vary. But regardless of the
extent to which Bahá’í community life embraces those who reside in a particular
area—regardless, even, of the intensity of a programme of growth in a cluster
or the level of activity in a neighbourhood or village—the challenge facing the
friends serving at the grassroots is essentially the same in every place. They must be able to read their own
reality and ask: what, in light of the possibilities and requirements at hand,
would be fitting objectives to pursue in the coming cycle or series of
cycles? You and your auxiliaries
are ideally placed to put this question and to ensure that appropriate
strategies are identified. Much can
be learned from the experience of the friends in similar clusters, for a community
that is a step further along the same path can provide valuable insights about
the goal to strive for next. As the
friends ponder what is before them, they will readily see that for every
community there is a goal in reach, and for every goal a path to reach it. Looking ahead on this path, might we not
perceive Bahá’u’lláh Himself, the reins of humanity’s affairs in one hand, His
other beckoning all to hasten, hasten?
Contributing to social transformation
16. The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh
is concerned with the transformation of both humanity’s inner life and social
environment. A letter written on
behalf of Shoghi Effendi describes how the social environment provides the
“atmosphere” in which souls can “grow spiritually and reflect in full the light
of God” shining through the Revelation. A clear sign that the society-building
power of the Cause is being released in a cluster is that efforts are being
made by a growing band of its inhabitants, inspired by the teachings of the
Faith, to help improve the spiritual character and social conditions of the
wider community to which they belong.
The contribution made by Bahá’ís is distinguished by its focus on
building capacity for service; it is an approach founded on faith in the ability
of a population to become the protagonists of their own development.
17. As the intensity of community-building
work in a cluster increases, the friends there
inevitably become more conscious of social, economic, or cultural barriers that
are impeding people’s spiritual and material progress. Children and junior youth lacking
support in their education, pressures on girls resulting from traditional
customs related to early marriage, families needing help with navigating unfamiliar
systems of healthcare, a village struggling for want of some basic necessity, or
long-standing prejudices arising from a legacy of hostility between different
groups—when a Bahá’í community’s efforts in the field of expansion and
consolidation bring it into contact with these situations and many others, it will
be drawn to respond to such realities as its circumstances permit. In reflecting on such situations
it becomes evident that, within clusters, expansion and consolidation, social
action, and contributing to prevalent discourses are dimensions of a single,
unified, outward-looking endeavour carried out at the grassroots of
society. All these efforts are pursued
according to a common framework for action, and this above all else brings
coherence to the overall pattern of activity.
18. The initial stirrings of grassroots
social action begin to be seen in a cluster as the availability of human
resources increases and capacity for a wider range of tasks develops. Villages have proven to be notably fertile
ground from which social action initiatives have emerged and been sustained,
but in urban settings too, friends living there have succeeded in carrying out activities
and projects suited to the social environment, at times by working with local schools,
agencies of civil society, or even government bodies. Social action is being undertaken in a number of important fields, including the environment, agriculture,
health, the arts, and particularly education. Over the course of the Nine Year Plan, and especially as the study of specific
institute courses stimulates greater activity in this area, we expect to see a proliferation
of formal and informal efforts to promote the social and economic development
of a people. Some of these
community-based initiatives will require basic administrative structures to
sustain their work. Where
conditions are propitious, Local Spiritual Assemblies will need to be encouraged
to learn how best to cultivate new, fledgling initiatives and to foster efforts
that show promise. In some cases,
the needs associated with a particular field of endeavour will warrant the establishment
of a Bahá’í-inspired organization, and we anticipate the appearance of more
such organizations during the coming Plan.
For their part, National Spiritual Assemblies will have to find ways in
which they can stay well informed about what is being learned at the grassroots
of their communities and analyse the experience being gained; in some places
this will call for the creation of an entity dedicated to following social
action. Looking across the Bahá’í
world, we are delighted to see how much momentum has already been generated in this
area of endeavour through the encouragement and support of the Bahá’í
International Development Organization.
19.
Closely
connected with the capacity for engaging in social action is a capacity for contributing
to the discourses of society. At
heart, this is simply a capacity for participating in a conversation about a
matter that affects people’s lives and offering a perspective grounded in
Bahá’í principles and Bahá’í experience.
Viewed in this way, it is a skill which many Bahá’ís have
the opportunity to practise almost daily, for instance in their studies
or occupations, and which is cultivated through involvement in institute
courses; in its more formal expression, it is central to the work of the Bahá’í
International Community and national Offices of External Affairs. However, in relation to the release of
the society-building power of the Faith at the grassroots, it is a capacity
that comes into greater demand as closer association with a population, brought
about through the work of expansion and consolidation, leads to increased
consciousness of an area’s prevailing social problems, as well as of the
aspirations of its people to overcome them. As the number of those participating in
community-building activities rises, so does the need for the Bahá’í community
to offer, as a unified body, its considered perspective on obstacles to social
progress and on issues that weigh on the minds and spirits of those with whom it
interacts. This has particular implications for Local Spiritual Assemblies. In places where the activities of the
Plan have attained a degree of prevalence, the Assembly begins to be viewed
more widely as a source of moral insight.
Over time, efforts to contribute to societal discourses become more
systematic, and Bahá’ís become adept at helping those around them to engage
constructively in a discourse and find consensus. Opportunities are sought out to share the
perspectives of the Faith with community leaders and figures in authority, and
spaces are created in which representatives of various groups and interests can
be assisted to reach a common point of view through consultation. We are pleased with the steps that have
already been taken to learn how insights from the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh and
from the experience of Bahá’í communities can be brought to bear upon pressing
social issues at the local level; much more is sure to be learned in this
regard during the Nine Year Plan.
20. We wish to stress that, historically and
now, social action and efforts to participate in the prevalent discourses of
society have emerged not only in the context of growth, but also as a result of individual Bahá’ís striving to
contribute to society’s progress in ways available to them. As a personal
response to Bahá’u’lláh’s summons to work for the betterment of the world, believers
have variously chosen to adopt certain vocations and have sought out
opportunities to support the activities of like-minded groups and
organizations. Projects, both
large and small, have been started in order to respond
to a range of social issues. Numerous
Bahá’í-inspired organizations have been established by groups of individuals to
work for many different objectives, and specialist entities have been founded
to give attention to a particular discourse. All of these
efforts, at whatever scale they have been undertaken, have benefited from being
able to draw on the principles and insights guiding the activities occurring at
the grassroots of the worldwide Bahá’í community, and they have also benefited from
the wise counsels of Local and National Spiritual Assemblies. We rejoice to see these diverse,
harmonious expressions of faith by the devoted followers of the Blessed Beauty, in response to the tribulations of a perplexed and sorely
agitated world.
Educational endeavours and the training
institute
21. The importance of education to a Bahá’í
conception of spiritual and social transformation can hardly be overestimated. “Consider”, Bahá’u’lláh states, “the
revelation of the light of the Name of God, the Educator. Behold, how in all things the evidences of such a revelation are manifest, how
the betterment of all beings dependeth upon it.” The significance of education in the work
of community building is unmistakable, and in the field of social action the
provision of education remains the signature contribution of Bahá’ís in most
parts of the world. Pre‑eminent among
the structures and agencies created by the Bahá’í world to offer education is,
of course, the training institute.
Indeed, the network of national and regional training institutes operating
with such proficiency around the globe is among the choicest fruits of the
previous series of global Plans. Building
capacity for service within communities by enabling ever-increasing numbers of
individuals to benefit from the institute process will continue to be a central
feature of the Plans in the present series. The capacity for community development that
has already emerged, represented by hundreds of thousands of individuals who
are able to serve as tutors, animators, or children’s class teachers, is a
resource of historic consequence.
22.
When
we first introduced the concept of the training institute, it was in the
context of the need to raise up human resources to take on the tasks of
expansion and consolidation. At
this juncture, when a new series of Plans has just begun, we invite you to take
a more expansive view.
Increasingly, participation in institute courses is preparing the
friends of God for an ever-deeper engagement in the life of the wider
community; it is endowing them with the knowledge, insights, and skills that
enable them to contribute not only to the process of developing their own
community, but to the progress of society.
In short, the institute is a potent means for the society-building power
of the Faith to find release. Although the task of developing curricular materials
to support this purpose is a long-term undertaking, existing materials already
aim to build capacity for a broad range of initiatives. Moreover, they offer a seamless coherent
educational experience from the age of five, upwards to the age of junior youth,
and through into adulthood, and they serve as a direct counterpart to the
pattern of activities unfolding at the grassroots. In relation to this, we have been
pleased to see the rich insights that the friends in different parts of the
world, in a variety of social and cultural contexts, are generating about
aspects of community development. If these insights, and those still to
emerge, are to benefit Bahá’í communities more widely, systems for the
preparation and refinement of educational materials will need to be extended.
With this in mind, we will soon set out the approach that will guide this work
over the coming years.
23.
With
respect to raising the capacity of institutes to deliver each of the three
stages of the educational process, we are glad to see that attention is
increasingly being given to enhancing the quality of the educational experience
itself, in addition to expanding the system for its delivery. A critical requirement is to enable all
those contributing to the work of the institute to progressively advance their
understanding of the educational content:
its objectives, its structure, its pedagogical principles, its methodology,
its central concepts, its interconnections. Many training institute boards have been
supported in this regard by the collaborative groups described in our message
to your 2015 conference. In places,
separate teams have also begun to focus respectively on children’s classes,
junior youth groups, and study circles, identifying factors that contribute to
their effectiveness and finding ways to assist the friends involved in each
avenue of service to further raise their own capacity. The Auxiliary Board members in a region
and their assistants are often the first to see to it that what is being
learned reaches a wider number of friends across adjoining clusters and within
centres of intense activity. Individuals
with a depth of experience in the promotion of institute activities are serving
as resource persons, and they have proved instrumental in helping institutes at
an earlier point of development to advance. Nevertheless, in general it is
Counsellors who are ensuring that each institute becomes familiar with the many
essential insights being generated by their sister agencies in neighbouring countries
and regions. Counsellors have arranged
for institutes to be organized into groupings of varying sizes to enable the
lessons that are being learned by the most experienced institutes to be shared more
widely, increasingly through the means of formal seminars. All these arrangements will need to be
strengthened during the next Plan.
In places where a site for the dissemination of learning about the
junior youth spiritual empowerment programme is operating, collaboration
between the learning site and associated institutes has already proved
extremely fruitful, and it should intensify; their pursuit of a common goal and
their shared desire to see clusters advance create ideal conditions for the
spirit of cooperation and mutual assistance to flourish. The knowledge that has now accumulated
about factors that contribute to the effectiveness of the institute process is extensive,
and we look to the International Teaching Centre to organize what has been
learned and make it available to you.
24.
What
we have described above is an educational system in a state of constant
refinement. This requires many
individuals to lend their support to its further development; it also requires
institutes, and Bahá’í institutions more generally, to plan
ahead and ensure that individuals who have developed considerable
capacity in supporting the community’s educational endeavours are able to
sustain their service and can, when their life circumstances change, continue
to be involved in the work of the institute in other meaningful ways. Appreciating the effectiveness of the
institute process, every follower of Bahá’u’lláh will feel a desire to
contribute to its advancement in some way—not least, the Bahá’í youth. Institutes know well that releasing the
potential possessed by young people is, for them, a sacred charge; we now ask
that Bahá’í youth view the future development of the institute in the very same
light. At the vanguard of a
nine-year, community-wide endeavour to bring the institute to a higher level of
functioning, we expect to see a broad movement of youth setting the
standard. They should seize every
opportunity—in their schools and universities, and in spaces dedicated to work,
family, or social interaction—to encourage more and more souls to benefit from
the institute’s programmes. Some youth
will be able to devote a period of service—perhaps even successive years—to the
provision of education, especially to those younger than themselves; for many, support
for the institute’s activities will be an ever-present dimension of their lives
throughout their own education and as they seek a livelihood from their calling
in this world; but for none should it be anything less than a cherished
commitment.
25.
In
many parts of the world, a natural outcome of the participation of individuals
and families in the institute process has been an increased consciousness of
the importance of education in all its forms. Friends serving as children’s class
teachers take a keen interest in the broad educational development of those
they teach, while friends serving as tutors and animators are naturally
concerned with the extent to which those approaching or entering
adulthood—girls and boys alike—can access and benefit from education of many
kinds, not limited to the courses offered by the institute itself. For instance, they can encourage young people
to look towards apprenticeships or university studies. We have been struck by how, in many
communities, engagement in the institute process by large numbers has gradually
reshaped this aspect of culture within a population. The institutions of the Faith will need
to take responsibility for ensuring that, as consciousness is raised in this
way, the noble aspirations that arise in young people as a result—aspirations
to acquire the education and training that will allow them to offer a lifetime
of meaningful service to their society—can be fulfilled. The long-term development of a community
and, ultimately, of a nation, from generation to generation, depends to a large
degree on the effort made to invest in those who will assume responsibility for
collective social progress.
27.
As
the contribution being made by the Faith to the progress of society in
different parts of the world gains greater visibility, the Bahá’í community
will increasingly be called upon to explicate the principles it advocates, and to
demonstrate their applicability to the issues facing humanity. The more the intellectual life of a
community blossoms and thrives, the greater its capacity to answer this call. It will be up to the followers of
Bahá’u’lláh to provide, in the world of ideas, the intellectual rigour and
clarity of thought to match their commitment to spiritual and material progress
in the world of deeds.
Raising capacity for administration at
all levels
28.
Eighty
years ago, a letter written on behalf of the Guardian described Bahá’í
administration as “the first shaping of what in future will come to be the
social life and laws of community living”. Today, at the beginning of the second
century of the Formative Age, the shape of Bahá’í administration has developed
considerably, and its continued development will be essential for the release
of the society-building power of the Faith.
29.
The
administration of the Faith at the grassroots is, of course, intimately
connected with the development of Local Spiritual Assemblies. These nascent Houses of Justice are
described by Shoghi Effendi as “the chief sinews of Bahá’í society, as well as
the ultimate foundation of its administrative structure”, and he greatly
emphasizes the importance of their formation. In 1995, we called for the reinstitution
of the practice that required all Local Assemblies, including those being newly
formed, to be elected on the First Day of Riḍván rather than at any other time
of year. This development was related
to the fact that, while believers from outside a locality could assist with the
electoral process, the primary responsibility for electing any Assembly and maintaining
its operations rests with the Bahá’ís of that place; much depends on their readiness
for undertaking administrative activity.
It has been seen, in recent years, how a sense of Bahá’í identity can
gradually gain strength in an area as a pattern of action grounded in the
teachings becomes established among individuals and families living there. Thus, a community will often have
attained a certain level of capacity in relation to community-building
endeavours by the time the formation of a Local Assembly becomes possible. As this point approaches—and it should
not be unduly delayed—efforts have to be made to
cultivate an appreciation for the formal aspects of community life associated
with Bahá’í administration. The
Local Assembly that emerges in such a milieu is likely to be well
aware of its responsibility to encourage and strengthen those activities
which help to sustain a vibrant community.
However, it will also need to gain proficiency in discharging a wide
range of other responsibilities, and the support provided to it by your
auxiliaries and their assistants will be vitally important. In our message to your 2010 conference,
we described the developmental path of such an Assembly, and we referred to
various dimensions of its functioning that would need to receive attention,
including its ability to manage and develop a Local Fund and, in time, to
support initiatives of social action and to interact with agencies of local government
and civil society. The benefits
that accrue to a community being served by such an Assembly need no
elaboration.
30.
In
your interactions with National Spiritual Assemblies and Regional Bahá’í
Councils, we ask that you devote attention to the matter of establishing Local
Spiritual Assemblies and consolidating their operations, especially in areas
where this aspect of growth may have received less emphasis. We anticipate this will contribute to a
rapid rise in the number of Local Assemblies formed year on year. In some countries, your consultations
will need to include consideration of whether in rural areas existing
arrangements for defining the boundaries of each locality are adequate.
31.
One
compelling insight which has emerged is that the extent to which the station
and leadership of a Local Assembly is recognized in a community is related to
how deeply the believers appreciate the sacredness of the electoral process and
their duty to participate in it, in an atmosphere wholly free from the taint of
suasion or worldly attitudes about power.
As consciousness is raised in a community about the spiritual principles
underlying Bahá’í elections, a new conception is formed of what it means for
someone to be called to serve on an institution, and understanding grows of how
the individual, the community, and the Local Assembly and its agencies relate
to one another. Where systematic
effort has been made to stimulate conversations in a community about the
formation of the Local Assembly and its purpose, and to sustain those
conversations year after year, the strength of the elected body and the dynamism
of community life reinforce each other.
32.
This
reciprocal effect has been especially noticeable over the last two years in
places where we have approved the adoption of a two-stage electoral process for
a Local Spiritual Assembly, an approach which traces its origins to instructions
given by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to the Spiritual Assembly of Ṭihrán. Twenty-two Local Assemblies, spread over
eight countries, have already begun to be elected by this method during this
period. Similar in many respects to
the election of a National Spiritual Assembly, it involves the division of a
locality into units from each of which one or more delegates are elected, after
which the delegates elect the members of the Local Assembly. As the number of Bahá’ís residing in a
locality grows large and the community’s capacity for managing complexity
increases, the case for implementing a two-stage electoral process becomes commensurately
stronger. Accordingly, in the
coming Plan, we expect to authorize the adoption of this method for electing a
Local Assembly in many more places, both urban and rural, where conditions make
such a step timely.
33. A Local Spiritual Assembly maintains a
keen interest in learning how best to advance the community-building work within
its jurisdiction, and as such it consults regularly with friends involved in
coordinating endeavours in the cluster.
It follows closely the development of any centres of intense activity in
the locality, especially by offering support to the teams of believers who have
emerged there and are stimulating the process of growth. In general, the more the intensification
of activity requires organizational arrangements at the level of the locality
or in parts of the locality—say, arranging campaigns of home visits,
accompanying families who are holding devotional meetings, or encouraging them
to form groups to work together—the more prominent the role that can be assumed
by the Local Assembly in this regard. In localities where large numbers are
being welcomed into the embrace of Bahá’í activities, and where the complexity
of an Assembly’s work and manifold responsibilities is increasing, the Assembly
sometimes finds that its Secretary needs to be
supported by a staffed office, and eventually, the need for a befitting local Ḥaẓíratu’l‑Quds
becomes more pressing.
34.
As
Local Assemblies begin to take on a greater and greater share of responsibility
for nurturing the development of the community, institutions at the regional
and national levels must become more systematic in their efforts to support them. We have been pleased to see this need
being addressed in methodical ways, for instance by National Assemblies or
Regional Councils convening periodic meetings with the Secretaries and other
officers of Local Assemblies to consult about the unfoldment of specific lines
of action.
35.
Where
a Regional Council has developed an enhanced capacity for administration,
including an ability to provide appropriate kinds of support to many clusters
at once, this has been conducive to the accelerated progress of the whole region. Our message to your 2015 conference
indicated that in smaller countries where the establishment of Regional
Councils is not required, a formal structure would need to emerge at the
national level which would be charged with helping clusters to advance. We ask that, in countries where this has
not yet occurred, you now consult with National Assemblies about the steps that
can be taken to appoint that formal structure, namely, a National Growth
Committee with three, five, or seven members. The National Assembly will need to give
this agency the necessary latitude to foster the movement of clusters, drawing relevant
insights from what has been learned about Regional Councils in this regard. Its responsibilities can include
appointing Area Teaching Committees and encouraging them in their plans,
arranging for the deployment of homefront pioneers, supporting teaching
projects, and distributing core literature. The Committee will benefit from being
able to collaborate closely with the training institute, itself an agency of
the National Assembly, and with the Auxiliary Board members serving the
country, and it will also be able to communicate directly with the relevant
Counsellor. While a National
Assembly will naturally wish to maintain an ongoing familiarity with the work
of the Committee and provide it with guidance, support, and encouragement,
creating an entity that is wholly occupied with promoting growth should enable
an Assembly to give greater attention to other important matters. In countries where Councils have not
been formed but could be established eventually, a National Growth Committee
should also be appointed at this time.
36. As the spiritual energies released by earnest
pursuit of the Plan surge, they meet resistance from the countervailing forces
that hold humanity back from attaining full maturity. In the face of such forces, the vitality
of the various lines of action being followed at the local level needs to be
preserved and fortified. This critical
responsibility is of special relevance to the members of the two Auxiliary
Boards, whose numerous, demanding duties keep them closely connected to conditions
at the grassroots and alert to anything that might affect the spirit of a
community. Across different
cultures and social environments, they must assist the friends to face different
kinds of challenges: to help previously
antagonistic groups find unity through pursuit of a common goal; to learn to
put aside inherited customs and attitudes that belong to humanity’s period of
adolescence, and to overcome prejudices of all kinds; to guard against any
tendency to view matters with cynicism or an eye for faults, and instead
sustain an eager and constructive outlook; to put the equality of women and men
into practice; to cast off inertia and
apathy through the exercise of individual initiative; to put one’s support of plans
for collective action before feelings of personal preference; to
harness the power of modern technologies without succumbing to their
potentially enervating effects; to prize the sweetness of teaching the Faith
and the joy of serving humankind above worldly interests; to reject the opiate
of consumerism; to turn away from materialist ideologies and the worldviews
they aggressively promote, and fix one’s gaze upon the bright beacon that is
the laws and principles of God. These,
and many more besides, constitute a formidable set of responsibilities for the company
of the faithful to fulfil as they navigate what are sure to be tumultuous years
in the life of humanity. Your
auxiliaries, who have so creditably acquitted themselves in advancing the
process of entry by troops, must be equal to all such challenges whenever and
wherever they arise. Through the
power of their good example and the clarity of their good counsel, may they help
the friends to grow in faith, assurance, and commitment to a life of service, and
accompany them as they build communities that are havens of peace, places where
a harried and conflict-scarred humanity may find shelter.
37.
Over
the last series of Plans, the community’s capacity to maintain focus on the
Faith’s most pressing needs emerged as one of its most important
strengths. However, this sense of
focus has to accommodate many lines of action, all of
which must advance without being in competition. This calls for an expanded vision, a
nuanced understanding of coexisting imperatives, added flexibility, and
heightened institutional collaboration.
We are conscious that the Faith’s resources are finite, and individuals
experience many demands on their time.
But as the Plan unfolds in a given place and the
ranks of those who are willing to serve swell, the varied aspects of a rich and
vibrant Bahá’í community life will advance in step, and the society-building
power of the Faith shine forth.
A historic mission
38.
We
hope to have impressed upon you, in these pages, that the present-day capacity
of the Bahá’í community, combined with the discipline it has achieved through
adherence to a coherent framework for action, has prepared it for an extensive,
rigorous test of all its resources, spiritual as well as material. The Plan that will shortly commence—the
first major undertaking in a sacred twenty-five-year venture, generational in its
scope and significance—will make demands of the individual believer, the
community, and the institutions reminiscent of the demands that the Guardian made
of the Bahá’í world at the outset of the Ten Year
Crusade. If, by the grace of
Almighty God, the friends should succeed in reaching the heights of heroism to
which they are now summoned, history will assuredly pay tribute to their actions
in terms no less glowing than those with which it honours the glorious deeds
that decorate the annals of the first century of the Formative Age.
39.
We put
great reliance on you and on National Spiritual Assemblies to ensure that, in
all the efforts made to acquaint the friends with the nature of this collective
enterprise, the perspective of history is kept fully in view. The civilization of today, for all its material
prowess, has been found wanting, and the verdict has been issued by the Supreme
Pen: “Know
ye not that We have rolled up that which the people possessed, and have
unfolded a new order in its place?” The establishment of Divine Civilization
is, in the words of the Guardian, “the primary mission of the Bahá’í Faith”. It is to be built upon the most
foundational qualities, ones for which the world stands in great need: unity, trustworthiness, mutual support, collaboration,
fellow feeling, selflessness, commitment to truth, a sense of responsibility, a
thirst to learn, the love of an all-embracing heart.
40.
How
we long to see humanity illumined with the love of its Lord; how we long to
hear His praise on every tongue. Knowing
the ardency of our wish, you know then the emotion with which, when we lay our
heads upon the Most Holy Threshold, we implore Bahá’u’lláh to make you, and all
who cherish His precious Faith, ever more perfect channels of His ineffable
grace.
[signed: The Universal House of Justice]