Pioneer call: expressions of interest invited
A call for international and homefront pioneers was announced by the Universal House of Justice in a letter of 24 May 2022 to the Bahá’ís of the World. To assist any of the friends who are inspired to consider arising in response, the Aotearoa Pioneer Task Force has published a “Pioneering Expression of Interest” form, available here:
Those who could be interested in pioneering can use the form to let the Task Force know of their interest. Submitting an expression of interest opens the pathway for a discussion and some possible orientation opportunities that may be available. It does not imply commitment to any course of action, and not every expression of interest will necessarily lead to deployment to a pioneering post.
Of special importance at present is to identify pioneers for Czech Republic before Riḍván so we achieve the goals set for New Zealand in the first year of the Nine Year Plan.
The Universal House of Justice’s pioneer call was published as an attachment to a “Bahá’í Aotearoa” article of 2 September 2022, titled “Pioneer call for the Nine Year Plan”. The article also included a letter from the National Spiritual Assembly to the believers of Aotearoa, announcing the establishment of the Pioneering Task Force. The National Assembly also wrote:
In a most significant message dated 24 May 2022 to the Bahá’ís of the World, the Universal House of Justice made the pioneer call for the Nine Year Plan addressing both international and homefront pioneering. On that same day, the Supreme Body also wrote to selected National Spiritual Assemblies, bestowing on Aotearoa the privilege and bounty of contributing our share to assisting countries that are at an early stage of development. The letter also anticipated a significant movement of homefront pioneers to assist with establishing programmes of growth in cluster after cluster, spelling out what experience has shown about the synergy generated when programmes of growth have become intensive in several adjoining clusters, and how, “when several such groups of adjoining clusters have emerged in close proximity, the evidences of the society-building power of the Faith grow by orders of magnitude within a population across a significant geographic area. It would be greatly beneficial if, when contemplating where to settle pioneers, the development of such dynamics is kept in mind.”
For further understanding, the National Assembly encourages the friends to become familiar with the Universal House of Justice’s letter of 24 May 2022. and the additional background in the National Assembly’s letter. See: “Pioneer call for the Nine Year Plan”.