Dear Bahá'í friends,
We have been watching with keen interest the development of
the teaching work among the masses, and from time to time have offered
suggestions to guide and assist the efforts of National Spiritual Assemblies
engaged in this highly meritorious activity.
Many National Spiritual Assemblies in carrying out their
plans for expansion and consolidation have found it necessary to select a
number of believers for service as travelling teachers. While we appreciate the
valuable services these travelling teachers have already rendered we are
nevertheless deeply conscious of the problems facing your National Assemblies
in your desire to carry out your teaching programmes with as much dispatch as
possible. The purpose of this letter is to draw your attention to the fact that
these problems could well be minimized if the selection of such teachers were
done with great care and discretion.
It must be realized that people who are mostly illiterate
cannot have the benefit of reading for themselves the written word and of
deriving directly from it the spiritual sustenance they need for the enrichment
of their Bahá'í lives. They become dependent, therefore, to a large extent on
their contacts with visiting teachers. The spiritual calibre or moral quality
of these teachers assumes, therefore, great importance. The National Spiritual
Assembly or the Teaching Committees responsible for the selection of these
teachers should bear in mind that their choice must depend, not only on the
knowledge or grasp of the teachings on the part of the teachers, but primarily
upon their pure spirit and their true love for the Cause, and their capacity to
convey that spirit and love to others.
We are enclosing some extracts from the Writings which will
no doubt assist you in your deliberations on this vital subject. What wonderful
results will soon be witnessed in the areas under your jurisdiction if you
devise ways and means to ensure, as far as circumstances permit, that the
travelling teachers you are encouraging to circulate among the friends will all
be of the standard called for in these quotations -- pure and sanctified souls,
with nothing but true devotion and self-sacrifice motivating them in their
services to God's Holy Cause. We also suggest that the study of quotations such
as these should form part of the courses offered at your Teaching Institutes
for the deepening of the friends.
We wish to assure you once again of our fervent prayers at
the Holy Shrines for the solution of your problems and the removal of all
obstacles from the path you are so valiantly pursuing.
With loving Bahá'í greetings,
The Universal House of Justice
(‘Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1963 to
1986’)