Taranaki cluster reaches second milestone of growth
A letter from the Regional Bahá’í Council of the North Island to the Spiritual Assembly of New Plymouth, dated 4 Qawl 176 / 26 November 2019, the Day of the Covenant.
Dearly loved friends
“Upon you be greetings and praise!” (1)
The Regional Bahá’í Council has been delightedly following the progress of your cluster and has clearly seen the capacities of the friends which have been built over the past few cycles. The Council is pleased to announce that the Taranaki cluster has now traversed the 2nd milestone. We wish to acknowledge the continuous and dedicated efforts of your institution in winning this goal of this current Plan.
It is evident that your Assembly has lovingly accompanied the friends in the community and that the friends now have a deep understanding and ownership of the cluster as a whole having traversed the 2nd milestone. The Universal House of Justice has reminded us that many of the victories will be won “by youth and adults, men and women, who may at present be wholly unaware of Bahá’u’lláh’s coming, much less acquainted with the ‘society-building power’ of His Faith.” (2)
Rest assured of the Council’s loving support of your efforts, as we stand ready to walk shoulder to shoulder with you in rallying the friends to keep marching forward in this mighty spiritual enterprise. This “collective effort” and “determination” naturally calls for our “wholehearted reliance on those powers with which a benevolent Lord has endowed His loved ones” (3). It is at this opportune moment in history that the Universal House of Justice calls “the believers everywhere to the immense exertion necessary to bring to fruition the seeds that have been so lovingly and assiduously sown and watered in the five Plans that preceded it.” (4)
The Council highly commends all of the friends in the New Plymouth community for your efforts and urges you to continue to strive for more achievements by the end of the Five Year Plan and will be sharing this achievement with the rest of the friends in the region.
“Verily God loveth those who, as though they were a solid wall, do battle for His Cause in serried lines.” (5)
North Island Regional Bahá’í Council
Te Kaunihera Bahá’í ā-Rohe o Te Ika-a-Māui
Footnotes
‘Abdu'l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu'l-Bahá
The Universal House of Justice, to the Bahá’ís of the World, 1 January 2011
The Universal House of Justice, to the Conference of the Continental Board of Counsellors, 29 December 2015
Ibid.
‘Abdu'l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu'l-Bahá
What is the second milestone?
“Within this landscape of unfolding processes, emerging structures, and enduring fellowship, that moment which has come to be known as the ‘launching’ of an intensive programme of growth represents conscious recognition that all the elements necessary to accelerate the expansion and consolidation of the Faith are not only in place but also functioning with an adequate degree of effectiveness. It signals the maturation of an ever-expanding, self-sustaining system for the spiritual edification of a population: a steady stream of friends is proceeding through the courses of the training institute and engaging in the corresponding activities, which serves, in turn, to increase the number of fresh recruits into the Faith, a significant percentage of whom invariably enters the institute process, guaranteeing the expansion of the system.”
— Universal House of Justice, 28 December 2010 to the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors
