Rotorua launches intensive programme of growth
5 Masa’il
16 December
With hearts brimming with joy, the North Island Regional Bahá’í Council is thrilled to announce the launching of an intensive programme of growth by the friends labouring in the Rotorua cluster. This is the second cluster in our region to traverse the second milestone of growth in the spiritually charged period marked by the bicentenary of the Birth of the Báb.
The pathway traced by the friends in Rotorua, much like that recently traced by the friends in Taranaki, is one which is familiar to us all, and within reach of every other cluster yet to traverse the second milestone. Among the many features which have enabled the Rotorua cluster to take this step are:
the choice of a particularly receptive neighbourhood in which some friends have been able to dedicate focused and intense attention, to which homefront pioneers able to offer dedicated periods of service have been deployed, and in which an expanding nucleus of friends has now emerged who consult regularly on the progress of the neighbourhood;
the work of friends across the cluster to sustain and grow their activities at whatever level of intensity their circumstances allow, drawing on connections with family, friends, neighbours, colleagues and acquaintances;
the support of the Local Spiritual Assembly for these efforts, including the personal involvement of its members in both the dimensions of the work described above, and its support for the friends working in both these dimensions to meet from time to time to share their learnings and draw inspiration from each other’s efforts;
the regular support of the regional training institute through visits and periodic intensive institute campaigns held in the cluster;
the engagement of numerous souls in meaningful and distinctive conversations in the lead up to the celebration of the twin Holy Birthdays;
the emergence of a group of friends who are consulting regularly on the systematic engagement of new souls into the process in both its dimensions.
The work for the friends in Rotorua, having traversed the second milestone, now begins to take on higher and higher degrees of complexity; we ask that you keep in your prayers the efforts of the friends in this cluster, and in the other nine in the North Island to have also traversed the second milestone, which are all learning about increasing intensity. To win the goal of the Five Year Plan for the region, seven more North Island clusters remain where the second milestone must be traversed and intensive programmes of growth launched.
In some, the work is now well under way and the goal is within grasp, while in others the seeds have been lovingly sown and now require tender and dedicated care to flourish. Prayers from each of you will be essential; so too will be the devoted efforts of souls who can arise as homefront pioneers to work alongside the local inhabitants.
The Council is already working to identify, train and deploy such souls, and welcomes any offers to join the ranks of the heroes labouring in clusters around our region, to achieve the goals of the Plan.
In closing we call to mind the words of the beloved Master, with the hope that His wish may be realised in every corner of our motu in the year that lies ahead:
O that I could travel, even though on foot and in the utmost poverty, to these regions, and, raising the call of “Yá Bahá’u’l-Abhá” in cities, villages, mountains, deserts and oceans, promote the divine teachings! This, alas, I cannot do. How intensely I deplore it! Please God, ye may achieve it. (‘Abdu’l-Bahá)
North Island Regional Bahá’í Council
Te Kaunihera Bahá’í ā-Rohe o Te Ika-a-Māui
