A valuable body of knowledge about the nature of intensive
programmes of growth is accumulating, and certain features of these endeavours
are now well understood. Such programmes tend to consist of a series of cycles,
each of several months' duration, devoted to planning, expansion, and
consolidation. Human resource development proceeds uninterrupted from one cycle
to the next, ensuring that the process of expansion not only is sustained but
progressively gathers momentum. (UHJ, Ridvan 2005)
Intensive Program of Growth & its “successive cycles of
activity”
You have, likewise, observed how the conditions thus created
in such clusters have made it possible to launch intensive programs of growth,
in which large numbers of friends eagerly participate in the learning that
takes place through successive cycles of activity seeking to integrate
well-coordinated collective action with effective individual initiative. And
you are equally aware of how interaction among three entities—the institute,
the Auxiliary Boards, and the Area Teaching Committee—in close collaboration
with responsive Local Spiritual Assemblies, can help carry the friends from one
cycle to another and accelerate the learning process. (UHJ 19 October 2005)
Intensive Program of Growth: “it employs a few measures that
have proven to be indispensable to large-scale expansion”.
As currently conceived, an intensive programme of growth is
straightforward, simple and effective, but implies a level of exertion that
tests the resolve of the friends. Conforming well to the vision we presented
five years ago, it employs a few measures that have proven to be indispensable
to large-scale expansion and consolidation. It consists of cycles of activity,
in general of three months' duration each, which proceed according to distinct
phases of expansion, consolidation, reflection and planning. (UHJ 27 Dec. 2005)
Consolidation phase of cycles: “involves nurturing the
interest of seekers and accompanying them in their spiritual search until they
are confirmed in their faith.”
In other clusters, enrolments during the expansion phase may
not be high, especially in the first few cycles, and the goal is to augment the
number of those willing to participate in core activities. This, then, defines
the nature of the consolidation phase, which largely involves nurturing the
interest of seekers and accompanying them in their spiritual search until they
are confirmed in their faith. To the extent that these measures are vigorously
followed, this phase can generate a considerable number of enrolments. (UHJ 27
Dec. 2005)
Pioneers in clusters
Priority should be given to settling short-term and
long-term pioneers in those clusters that are the focus of systematic
attention, whether as a means of reinforcing endeavours to lay the groundwork
for accelerated growth or stabilizing cycles of activity under way. It is not
unreasonable to assume that a concerted effort to build on strength will result
in the eventual outflow of pioneers from such clusters to areas destined to
become the theatre of future conquests. (UHJ 27 Dec. 2005)
The “workings of those clusters which are in a robust state
of growth”
Today as we observe the workings of those clusters which are
in a robust state of growth, we note that in every one of them the friends have
continued to strengthen the institute process, while learning to mobilize their
expanding nucleus of active supporters of the Faith, to establish an efficient
scheme for the coordination of their efforts, to weave their individual
initiatives and collective endeavours into an effective pattern of unified
action, and to draw on the analysis of pertinent information in planning the
cycles of their activities. That they have found the means for carrying forward
the work of expansion and consolidation hand in hand-the key to sustained
growth-is demonstrable. Such evidence will surely inspire every devoted
believer to remain resolute on the path of systematic learning that has been
set. (UHJ, Ridvan 2007)
Cycles of activity are means to “implement the Plan’s
framework of action”
This year has witnessed significant progress in the teaching
work throughout the world as cluster after cluster has pursued successive
cycles of activity in their efforts to implement the Plan’s framework of
action. (UHJ to US NSA, 28 Jan. 2008)
A “fully-fledged scheme for the coordination of activities”
becomes operational through “joint interactions of the [Area Teaching]
Committee, the institute and the Auxiliary Board members”
As the process of growth continues to gather momentum, such
an arrangement ultimately fails to satisfy the demands of planning and decision
making, and an Area Teaching Committee is constituted, and reflection meetings
institutionalized. In the joint interactions of the Committee, the institute
and the Auxiliary Board members, a fully-fledged scheme for the coordination of
activities becomes operational—with all the inherent capacity needed to
facilitate the efficient flow of guidance, funds, and information. By now, the
process of growth in the cluster will conform to the rhythm established by
pronounced cycles of expansion and consolidation, which, punctuated every three
months by a meeting for reflection and planning, are unfolding without
interruption. (UHJ, 28 Dec. 2010)
The “imposition of formulas on the process will not result
in a pattern of growth characterized by the desired equilibrium”
In reiterating here much of what we have stated on previous
occasions, we hope to have impressed upon you how readily the movement of a
population, inspired by the purpose and principles of the Cause, can be
nurtured, when not made the object of extraneous complications. We have no illusion
that the path traced out so summarily above is devoid of difficulty. Progress
is achieved through the dialectic of crisis and victory, and setbacks are
inevitable. A drop in participation, a disruption in the cycles of activity, a
momentary breach in the bonds of unity—these are among the myriad challenges
that may have to be met. Not infrequently the rise in human resources, or the
ability to mobilize them, will fall short of the demands of rapid expansion.
Yet the imposition of formulas on the process will not result in a pattern of
growth characterized by the desired equilibrium. Temporary imbalances in the
progress of different activities are intrinsic to the process, and they can be
adjusted over time, if dealt with patiently. Scaling back one activity that is
flourishing, on the basis of theoretical conceptions of how balanced growth can
be achieved, often proves counterproductive. While the friends in a cluster
might well benefit from the experience of those who have already established
the necessary pattern of action, it is only through continued action,
reflection and consultation on their part that they will learn to read their
own reality, see their own possibilities, make use of their own resources, and
respond to the exigencies of large-scale expansion and consolidation to come.
(UHJ, 28 Dec. 2010)
Consolidation phase of cycles
From another perspective one thinks in terms of the
three-month cycles of activity through which a community grows - the burst of
expansion experienced as a result of intense action; the necessary period of
consolidation during which increases in ranks are fortified as they, for
example, participate in devotional gatherings and the Nineteen Day Feast and
receive visits at their homes; and the opportunities designated for all to
reflect and plan. The question of teaching among receptive populations moves to
the foreground in this light, and the challenge of seeking out souls who are
willing to engage in a conversation about the world around them and participate
in a collective effort to transform it comes into focus. (UHJ, 12 Dec. 2011)
Role of training institute in cluster
We look to the institutes themselves, however, to foster the
learning process necessary to manage large numbers of children's classes and
study circles, to put in place a scheme at the cluster level that will
strengthen coordination across their three defined areas of action, and to open
the flow of resources from the regional level into the grassroots-this, to
ensure the seamless progression of sizeable contingents from one stage of the
educational process to the next and to facilitate the steady unfoldment of
cycles of activity so essential to systematic growth. (UHJ, 12 Dec. 2011)
The “two complementary perspectives” in each cluster
Further, as you will be aware from the 12 December 2011
message of the House of Justice to all National Spiritual Assemblies, there are
two complementary perspectives from which the Councils will be able to view the
pattern of action in a cluster: the “three-month cycles of activity through
which a community grows” and the emergence of “an educational process with
three distinct stages”. (9 August 2010, on behalf of UHJ to US NSA)
The “two complementary perspectives” in each cluster
The friends’ commitment to learning finds expression through
constancy in their own endeavours and a willingness to accompany others in
theirs. Further, they are able to keep two complementary perspectives on the
pattern of action developing in the cluster firmly in view: one, the three-month
cycles of activity—the rhythmic pulse of the programme of growth—and the other,
the distinct stages of a process of education for children, for junior youth,
and for youth and adults. While understanding clearly the relationship that
connects these three stages, the friends are aware that each has its own
dynamics, its own requirements, and its own inherent merit. (UHJ, Ridvan 2013)
“[R]einvigorating aspects of the Plan”
Work in each of these areas will, no doubt, be wisely and
systematically extended as the measures you have put into place to build
capacity for learning from the cluster to the national level gradually bear
fruit. This must include reinvigorating aspects of the Plan that may have waned
to some extent, such as the dynamism of the regional institutes, the engagement
of the generality of the friends in a cluster in the pattern of community
building, and the efforts of Area Teaching Committees to maintain the rhythm of
three-month cycles of activity. In this regard, a few comments are offered for
your consideration. (On Behalf of UHJ, 5 Jan. 2015 to US NSA)
“The impulse to learn through action”
The impulse to learn through action is, of course, present
among the friends from the very start. The introduction of quarterly cycles of
activity capitalizes on this emerging capacity and allows it to be steadily
reinforced. Although this capacity is specifically associated with the
reflection and planning phase of a cycle, especially the reflection gathering
that regulates its pulsating heartbeat, it also comes to be exercised at all
other points of the cycle by those pursuing related lines of action. We note
that, as learning accelerates, the friends grow more capable of overcoming
setbacks, whether small or large—diagnosing their root causes, exploring the
underlying principles, bringing to bear relevant experience, identifying
remedial steps, and assessing progress, until the process of growth has been
fully reinvigorated. (UHJ, 29 Dec. 2015)
Among “objectives of each expansion phase” are:
As progress continues, the rising capacity for meaningful
conversation is harnessed in the plans of the institutions. By the time cycles
of activity have formally emerged, this capacity is being further stimulated
through the expansion phase that does so much to determine the outcome of each
cycle. The precise objectives of each expansion phase vary, of course, depending
on conditions in the cluster and the circumstances of the Bahá’í community. In
some instances, its main aim is to increase participation in the core
activities; in others, readiness to enroll in the Faith is discovered.
Conversations about the Person of Bahá’u’lláh and the purpose of His mission
occur in a variety of settings, including firesides and visits to homes. (UHJ,
29 Dec. 2015)
“Special gatherings for youth”: - a “feature of cycles of
activity in many clusters”
Special gatherings for youth, now occurring more frequently
at the level of the cluster and even the neighbourhood or village, have proved
to be ideal occasions for bringing an intensity to this ongoing conversation,
and they are an increasingly common feature of cycles of activity in many
clusters. (UHJ, 29 Dec. 2015)
The “all-surpassing love that spurred the Báb’s disciples to
the diffusion of the divine light” – to inspire us to “great deeds”
In the six cycles that lie between this Ridván and the next
bicentenary—indeed, throughout the remaining three years of the current
Plan—let the same all-consuming, all-surpassing love that spurred the Báb’s
disciples to the diffusion of the divine light inspire you to great deeds. That
you may be the recipients of heavenly aid is our supplication at the Sacred
Threshold. (UHJ, Ridvan 2018)
