sarawakbahai.org

16 July 2008 No Comment

Clusters at the next level of development, characterized in the 9 January message as having “a few isolated localities and groups,” often encompass a broad spectrum of Bahá’í activity, depending on the country, the history of growth in the cluster, and whether the area is rural or urban.

Two different conditions have predominated in this category. There are a number of clusters that experienced large-scale growth in the past but had no functioning Local Spiritual Assemblies and very few active believes. Also prevalent are clusters that had, in addition to isolated localities and groups, functioning Local Assemblies, some with only basic capacity and others with longstanding experience and active communities, but with minimal or no institute activity. The general approach in both these types of clusters has been to strengthen the institute process, but the means and pace have differed according to their particular circumstances.

In clusters that have experienced large-scale expansion, an approach that has proved effective is for teaching team to reestablish contact with responsive friends and gradually introduce institute courses in the area. In recommending such an approach to a National Assembly that faced the challenge of having areas with great numbers of believers who had not been contacted for years, the House of Justice explained:

In many countries of the world, meeting this challenge requires that attention be concentrated on those localities for which long lists of believers often exist, but which, with the passage of time, have ceased to have any Bahá’í activity. In your case you would do well to establish a specific program according to which teams of able teachers would visit such communities one after another, spend time with the believers they can locate, and teach receptive souls until the conditions become favourable for the institute to enter and offer its courses.

Building Momentum: a Coherent Approach to Growth