Community is prepared for herculean effort ahead

In a new video message titled “Herculean Effort” the National Spiritual Assembly celebrates the remarkable strengths gained by the Aotearoa Bahá’í community over the past four years and shines a bright light on the path ahead in the present challenging times.

“The experience, knowledge and capacity of our national Bahá’í community has never been stronger than it is today,” says the video. This strength needs to be drawn on in a further “herculean effort” as “the needs of humanity are great, are critical”.

Pioneers to goal clusters are particularly urgently needed. These goal clusters are:

North Island:

Coromandel (Thames), Eastern Bay of Plenty (Opotiki), Ruapehu (Taumarunui), South Waikato/Taupo (Tokoroa), Tairawhiti (Gisborne), Wairarapa (Masterton), Waitomo/Otorohanga (Te Kuiti)

South Island:

West Coast, Central Otago

Local communities have been asked to watch the video at Feasts and other occasions and consult on its implications. It was published just before the Feast of Kalimát on 12 July so no doubt most communities have already begun reflecting on the points it makes about actions we can take in this last year of the current Five Year Plan.

Citing the Universal House of Justice and worldwide experience, the National Assembly conveys in the video, “the best, the most effective way to make lasting, real change in society right now is by participating in the expansion and consolidation framework.”

Over the past four years and two months the national community has doubled the number of core activities overall and tripled the number of devotional meetings, brought the number of clusters surpassing the second milestone to 15, seen Auckland cluster go well beyond the third milestone and Canterbury cluster increase its core activities by 250%, and seen the emergence of community building activities in many neighbourhoods throughout the country.

Moreover, “the first glimpses of social action are starting to arise naturally from community building activities” and “the Bahá’í community’s involvement in discourses of society, particularly around ethnic diversity and inclusion, has had unprecedented progress.”

These achievements have brought us to the present significant moment when “In 10 months, at Ridván, the current Five Year Plan will come to a close.” With the need of humanity being obviously very great, “the effort required to meet that need must be great. Thankfully, we are a national community with deep commitment, resources, skills and experience. We are equal to this task.”

Specific reflections called for by the National Assembly include:

Can I or my family pioneer?
Can I or my family deputise a pioneer?
Can I travel to a goal area identified by the Regional Bahá’í Council for short periods?
How can we bring more friends in our core activities to be willing servants of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh?

Auckland cluster has been able to move from 145 core activities at the beginning of the plan to 276 as of now

Special appeals are made to the friends in Auckland and Canterbury clusters to tap the receptivity in their areas, a call is issued for expanded neighbourhood efforts, a request is made for support of the plans of regional institutions, and mention is made of the material means needed in order to assure success. Also: “To provide spiritual assistance for the final push of this Five Year Plan we ask every Bahá’í in Aotearoa to join a prayer campaign for the month of Kamal, 31 July to 18 August.”

Finally, the National Assembly says, “Whether you live in a rural community or a city; in a neighbourhood working intensively or your endeavours are spread across the cluster; and irrespective of how we choose to serve, have confidence, divine assistance will come.”