Tairawhiti climbs past the second milestone
Tairawhiti cluster is the latest in Aotearoa to pass the second milestone of growth. The cluster’s advancement to this stage was recognised by friends gathered at a cluster reflection meeting on 13 November.
Announcing this significant development, the Regional Bahá’í Council for the North Island wrote to all communities in the North Island on 2 December: “The Bahá’í community in Tairāwhiti has developed an outward-looking orientation and is engaging with the wider community in a systematic pattern of action”.
Local friends present at the 13 November reflection meeting were joined by Auxiliary Board members Matt Hitti and Jaimee Lolo, along with North Island Council member Drisana Brown. Together, they assessed key capacities built in the cluster over the past several years, leading them to conclude that development of the community-building process had reached a sufficiently advanced point.
A congratulatory letter from the National Spiritual Assembly to the friends, institutions and agencies of cluster has summarised notable features of the work they have been doing:
We note with admiration the devotion to learning that has enabled the cluster to develop an outward orientation, manifested in engagement with the wider community in a systematic pattern of action. The community spirit and personal spiritual growth being fostered amongst those who are touched by these efforts is truly inspiring. We also admire the success you have been having in raising up resources through the training institute, strengthening the pattern of action in three-monthly cycles, and laying groundwork for better coordination. It is a testament to the vision and wisdom amongst you that integrations are being established with the marae network and Māori community processes. In the realm of supporting the community’s growth and spiritual health, the efforts of the Spiritual Assembly of Gisborne to build its capacity are yet another harbinger of further victories ahead for the valiant Tairawhiti cluster.
The lights of enterprise and fortitude have been well and truly lit in Tairawhiti. As the awesome challenges of the Nine Year Plan come into focus, there is no doubt that your cluster has prepared itself for further noble victories. May love and enthusiasm ever drive you onward and upward.
In its email to communities on 2 December, the Regional Council wrote:
We are delighted to share this news of another goal of the Nine Year Plan won for our beloved House of Justice, as the Bahá’ís in Tairāwhiti “labour together in ‘serried lines’, ‘one locked to the next, each supporting his fellows’ … They ‘associate with all the peoples and kindreds of the earth with joy and radiance’”; they “strive for the transformation of the inner and outer realities of human life, and for the cultivation of spiritual and social conditions that will give rise to a new kind of people and a new society founded on unity”.
