(The Baha'i World 1946-1950)
July 26, 2018
July 25, 2018
The broad scope of the teaching work
The teaching work is broad in scope, encompassing personal
efforts as well as collective projects, selected neighborhoods as well as
sundry localities, chosen populations as well as chance acquaintances,
firesides as well as core activities.
- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated 5 January 2015,
written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to NSA of the United
States)
July 23, 2018
The station of ‘Abdu’l-Baha
Thou hast asked concerning the station of this servant. The
station of this servant is servitude to the Holy Threshold (Baha’u’llah) and I
glory and honor in this. Abdu’l-Baha is the standard of the divine love, the
sign of the gift of God, the servant of the assemblage of the merciful ones,
the light of the meeting of the spiritual ones. He is the orb of peace and
reconciliation and the light of love in the world of humanity. He is the herald
of the Kingdom of the Merciful One and the promulgator of the religion of
rectitude and security. This is the station of this servant! This is the Truth!
I hope through the divine grace that the brilliancy of the
love of God will pervade all regions, and that he will remove warfare and
strife from the world of existence. Then the human world will become expressive
of the unity of the merciful world, the inferior world will become a clear and
purified mirror reflecting the Supreme Concourse, the East and West will
embrace each other like unto two longing ones and the North and South will
shake hands and clasp each other in the arms like unto two beloved ones. This
is the station of ‘Abdu’l-Baha.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (‘Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, vol. 1)
July 22, 2018
July 20, 2018
Political figures – not to “either side with them or denounce them”
The Guardian wishes me to draw the attention of the friends
through you that they should be very careful in their public utterance not to
mention any political figures -- either side with them or denounce them. This
is the first thing to bear in mind. Otherwise they will involve the friends in
political matters, which is infinitely dangerous for the Cause. - Shoghi Effendi (From a letter dated 12 January 1933 written on behalf of Shogh Effendi; Baha’i News, no. 72, April 1933)
July 18, 2018
July 16, 2018
How to teach oneself not to be concerned with the faults of others – ‘Abdu’l-Baha explains
- The Universal House of Justice (From a
message written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual
believer, 13 August 1980; compilation: ‘Lights of Guidance’)
July 15, 2018
Area Teaching Committee & Cluster Agencies – some chronological references from the Universal House of Justice & the International Teaching Centre
Need for “close collaboration of the institute, the
Auxiliary Board members and their assistants, and an Area Teaching Committee”
Programmes initiated in such areas should aim at fostering
sustainable growth by building the necessary capacity at the levels of the
individual, the institution, and the community. Far from requiring grandiose
and elaborate plans, these programmes should focus on a few measures that have
proven over the years to be indispensable to large-scale expansion and
consolidation. Success will depend on the manner in which lines of action are
integrated and on the attitude of learning that is adopted. The implementation
of such a programme will require the close collaboration of the institute, the
Auxiliary Board members and their assistants, and an Area Teaching Committee.
(UHJ, 9 Jan. 2001)
Plans of ATC should also include “an analysis of approaches
to be adopted and lines of action to be followed” – “visions, strategies, goals
and methods have to be re-examined time and again”
The plans of action that Regional Councils, Area Teaching
Committees and Local Spiritual Assemblies devise in the ensuing process need to
go beyond the mere enumeration of goals to include an analysis of approaches to
be adopted and lines of action to be followed. Indeed, at this level, planning
and implementation must go hand in hand. If learning is to be the primary mode
of operation in a community, then visions, strategies, goals and methods have
to be re-examined time and again. As tasks are accomplished, obstacles removed,
resources multiplied and lessons learned, modifications have to be made in
goals and approaches, but in a way that continuity of action is maintained.
(UHJ, 9 Jan. 2001)
July 11, 2018
Cycles of Intensive Program of Growth: some excerpts from messages of the Universal House of Justice
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)
July 9, 2018
July 6, 2018
First four native African Baha'is of Kampala, Uganda
Representing the Buganda, Batero and Teso tribes.
(The Baha’i World 1950-1954)
July 2, 2018
‘Abdu’l-Baha calls on us to “defend the rights of Bahá'u'lláh”
The time for my departure [from America] is near and I am
making arrangements for the voyage. Therefore I shall not be able to attend
every meeting, so I shall bid you farewell. I am pleased with you and grateful
for your services. Truly, you have shown great kindness and extended to me the
utmost hospitality.
I supplicate to the Kingdom of Bahá'u'lláh to shower upon
you His assistance and confirmations so that day by day you may be more
assisted to defend the rights of Bahá'u'lláh, that your hearts may become more
enlightened, your morals heavenly, your souls transported with joy and your
conduct proof of your faith and certitude. May you be in the utmost sanctity,
be completely attracted and turned to the Abhá Kingdom and become like
brilliant lights. May you become evident signs of the Blessed Beauty and proofs
of the reality of Bahá'u'lláh so that you may illuminate the world. And when
people look at your deeds and conduct they will see the traces of holiness and
severance and will behold heavenly brightness in you and all will testify that
`these people are truly proofs of the reality of Bahá'u'lláh', and that
`Bahá'u'lláh is undoubtedly the Sun of Truth who has educated these people
through His power'. May they see divine lights in your behavior, find the signs
of the love of God, observe praiseworthy conduct in you and seek the virtues of
the world of man within you. You must each become the proclaimer of truth and
shine from the horizon of the world of humanity like brilliant stars. This is
what is meant by defending the rights of Bahá'u'lláh; this is the purpose of
the Blessed Beauty in suffering afflictions and accepting confinement in the
Most Great Prison. He bore all afflictions and difficulties and ascended to the
Kingdom of God a prisoner so that we would act according to His teachings and
arise and carry out that which is consistent with faithfulness; that we may act
upon His exhortation and raise the call of the Abhá Kingdom and proclaim the
light of the bounties of truth, so that the waves of the Most Great Ocean may
surge high, this world may become the mirror of the world above, this bed of
thorns may turn into a flower garden and this region of dust may reflect the
All-Glorious Paradise.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (Words of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, December 2, New
York, recorded by Mahmud Zarqani; ‘Mahmud’s Diary’)
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