Beloved friends,
In the message of the Universal House of Justice to the Baha'is of the world and in its letters to individual communities setting the goals of the first phase of the Seven Year Plan are a number of references which it wishes to amplify for your guidance. Not all will apply to every national Baha'i community, but you will all undoubtedly find interest in reading even those which do not immediately apply to your specific situation. The points we have been asked to set forth are as follows.
Local Spiritual Assemblies
In August 1970 the House of Justice sent to all National
Spiritual Assemblies a compilation of the words of Baha'u'llah, 'Abdu'l-Baha
and Shoghi Effendi on the Local Spiritual Assembly. To supplement this
fundamental and most important guidance we now enclose a compilation of extracts
from the letters of the Universal House of Justice written between 1966 and
1975, covering the importance of Local Spiritual Assemblies, their development,
the supporting role of the Auxiliary Board members and their assistants, and
suggested goals for Local Assemblies.
In selecting goal towns for the formation of Local Spiritual Assemblies a National Assembly should ensure that there will be a wide distribution of Local Assemblies throughout the country.
National Assemblies should consider calling upon every Local Assembly to meet at least once every Baha'i month, and to appoint a local teaching committee wherever it is desirable to do so and has not already been done.
Pioneers and Travelling Teachers
The need for the services of pioneers and travelling teachers remains very great. In the goals for the initial two-year phase of the Plan few specific assignments for the sending of pioneers and travelling teachers have been made. In recent years a steady stream has begun to flow, and the Universal House of Justice calls upon the followers of Baha'u'llah in the stronger national communities to arise to join this stream. Enclosed are two lists showing those countries which are particularly in need of pioneers and travelling teachers at the present time. You should publish these as soon as possible. They are also being supplied to the Continental Pioneer Committees, and those friends who arise will be able to decide upon their area of service in consultation with their National Assembly and the appropriate committees. The international funds of the Faith are now very limited, and this adds to the need for pioneers and travelling teachers to be self-supporting.
Youth Teaching
Experience has shown that youth can render valuable service
in many activities of the community, and particularly in taking the message to
the members of their own generation. Those in schools and universities have
many opportunities to teach their fellow students and faculty members, and many
can be particularly effective by attending a school or university in a pioneer
goal. During vacations youth can often render outstanding services as
travelling teachers. Travelling in teams has been very useful.
Border Teaching
It is very important that there be collaborative teaching
between national Baha'i communities in border areas, both by travel teaching
across the border and in the organization of joint teaching campaigns on both
sides of it. Each National Spiritual Assembly should study this possibility
and, if it finds such projects profitable, should seek the collaboration of its
sister National Assemblies and request the advice and assistance of the
Continental Board of Counsellors.
Teaching Conferences
These conferences, whether national or regional, in addition
to providing good opportunities for fanning the enthusiasm of the friends and
fostering their unity, have been effectively used by many National Assemblies
as working conferences where reports are given of the status of the goals of
the Plan and of the urgent needs and priorities; and, where necessary, calls
are raised for pioneers, travelling teachers and funds.
Summer and Winter Schools
The Guardian once described the institution of the Summer School
in a letter written on his behalf, as "a vital and inseparable part of any
teaching campaign." In April 1972 the House of Justice issued a
compilation on the importance of Baha'i Summer Schools, and it commends this to
every National Spiritual Assembly for study. In only a few countries has it
been possible or timely to acquire properties to house Summer and Winter
Schools; in most they are still held in rented premises, and the House of
Justice stresses the importance of holding them at as low a cost as possible in
a place that is easily accessible to the friends, so that large numbers of
believers and inquirers can attend. It is hoped that this activity will become
at least an annual feature of the Baha'i community life in every land.
The Baha'i Education of Children
It is important to hold regular Baha'i children's classes to
give the children a thorough grounding in knowledge of the teachings and
history of the Faith, to imbue them with its spirit, to establish loving ties
between them and to provide them with that firm foundation in the Faith which
will enable them to grow up as staunch and enlightened servants of Baha'u'llah.
Non-Baha'i parents will often welcome the opportunity of having their children
take part in such classes, and this, in addition to the benefit it confers upon
the children, may well be a means of attracting their parents to the Faith.
Tutorial Schools
This is a term, originally adopted in the Baha'i community
of India, to describe the simple type of school, organized and conducted under
the auspices of the Baha'i administrative institutions, wherein one teacher is
employed to conduct classes in reading and writing and elementary subjects for
the Baha'i and non-Baha'i children in a village. In addition to the academic
subjects he also conducts Baha'i classes for the children and, in his spare
time, makes a valuable contribution to the teaching and consolidation work in
his own and neighbouring Baha'i communities. The school may be held in the open
air, in one of the houses of the Baha'is, in the local Haziratu'l-Quds, or in a
simple building constructed for the purpose, as conditions allow.
The teacher's salary as well as the other costs of the school are provided out of fees paid by the parents, supplemented, if necessary and possible, by allocations from the local or national funds.
In the Tablet of the World Baha'u'llah states that "Everyone, whether man or woman, should hand over to a trusted person a portion of what he or she earneth through trade, agriculture or other occupation, for the training and education of children, to be spent for this purpose with the knowledge of the Trustees of the House of Justice." In many countries this duty is fulfilled through the taxes that the government levies for the support of the state educational system, but there are other lands where no such facilities are provided and the Local Spiritual Assemblies may well begin to fulfil this aspect of their duties by encouraging the local friends to contribute to a special education fund which can be used for the support of tutorial schools or to assist the children of indigent believers to obtain schooling.
Publications
Every National Spiritual Assembly should have a well
conceived plan for the provision and dissemination of a balanced supply of
Baha'i literature for the believers and for the teaching work. In translation
and publication, priority should be given to the Sacred Texts and the writings
of Shoghi Effendi, for without access to the life-giving waters of the Holy
Word, how are the believers to deepen in their understanding of the Teachings
and convey them accurately to others?
Recordings
In addition to the publication of Texts and teaching
materials for the friends, it would be helpful in areas where the degree of
literacy is not high, to find ways to teach the friends Baha'i songs, poems,
stories and brief quotations from the Writings as well as prayers. This can be
done through the use of cassette tapes or radio broadcasts.
The goal given to certain national communities to make recordings of the Holy Texts is not intended to imply the large-scale production of cassette tapes but rather the development of locally based programmes for the recording on cassette tapes of passages in the indigenous languages. Such tapes can then be carried by travelling teachers to outlying areas, used in the teaching work, or left behind if there are tape-recorders locally available.
Communications
Keeping the friends informed of the news of the Faith is so
important that every National Assembly is urged to devote attention to the
prompt and regular dissemination of its national newsletter, supplemented,
where necessary and feasible, by regional and local news organs. Some National
Assemblies have also found that cassette recordings can be useful for communicating
with friends in outlying areas, and radio programmes can, of course, fulfil a
similar purpose. Correspondence courses
Such courses have proved their usefulness both for teaching the Faith and deepening the knowledge of the believers, and their production has been given as a goal to some national communities. If any National Assembly assigned this goal is not certain how to proceed, it may consult with the Continental Board of Counsellors or write to the Universal House of Justice which will put it in touch with those National Assemblies most likely to be able to help.
Properties
Many properties have already been acquired in the course of
previous plans. It is important that these properties be properly maintained in
good repair. National Spiritual Assemblies should set aside sums annually in
their budgets for the maintenance of national properties so that when a repair
becomes necessary the funds will be available without creating a sudden crisis
for the national fund. As far as possible, local Haziratu'l- Quds and other
local properties should be kept up by the local friends themselves.
It is also important to make full use of the properties of the Faith for the purposes for which they were acquired. Well maintained and regularly used properties will not only be a means of fostering Baha'i community life, but will add to the prestige and dignity of the Faith in the eyes of the non-Baha'i public.
A number of properties called for in the Five Year Plan, such as district and local Haziratu'l-Quds and local endowments, have not yet been acquired, usually as a result of local circumstances beyond the control of the friends. These goals should continue to be diligently pursued so that they will be attained as soon as conditions permit. If there are insuperable difficulties which make such a property unobtainable in the foreseeable future, a full report should be sent to the Universal House of Justice.
For goals requiring the acquisition of additional local Haziratu'l-Quds during the initial phase of the Seven Year Plan, no budget has been provided for assistance from the International Fund.
The Universal House of Justice is eagerly anticipating an upsurge of activity in the years ahead, and assures you all of its fervent prayers in the Holy Shrines for the rapid progress of all aspects of the new Plan.
With loving Baha'i greetings,
Department of the Secretariat
(‘Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1963-1986’)
