Framework for Action Selected Messages of the Universal House of Justice and Supplementary Material 2006–2016 Palabra Publications Copyright © 2017 by Palabra Publications All rights reserved. Published April 2017. ISBN 978-1-890101-29-9 Palabra Publications 7369 Westport Place West Palm Beach, Florida 33413 U.S.A. 1-561-697-9823 1-561-697-9815 (fax) [email protected] www.palabrapublications.com Contents Contents Preface ........................................ v PART I Selected Messages of the Universal House of Justice 1. 27 December 2005, to the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors regarding the Five Year Plan, 2006–2011 .............................. 3 2. 28 December 2005, to all National Spiritual Assemblies regarding the training institute and the materials of the Ruhi Institute ................ 17 3. 31 December 2005, to the Bahá’ís of the World marking the close of the Conference of the Continental Board of Counsellors ................ 21 4. Rid. ván 2006, to the Bahá’ís of the World .......... 23 5. 25 March 2007, to the Bahá’ís of the World regarding the Bahá’í electoral process ............. 31 6. Rid. ván 2007, to the Bahá’ís of the World .......... 35 7. 9 September 2007, to the Bahá’í students deprived of access to higher education in Iran ....... 39 8. 26 November 2007, to the Bahá’ís of the World, paying tribute to the Hands of the Cause of God .... 45 9. 18 February 2008, to the Friends of Iran regarding the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice . 51 10. Rid. ván 2008, to the Bahá’ís of the World .......... 61 11. 20 October 2008, to the Bahá’ís of the World, calling for 41 regional conferences ............... 67 12. Rid. ván 2009, to the Bahá’ís of the World .......... 71 13. 1 January 2010, to the Friends Gathered at the Youth Conference in the United Kingdom ......... 73 14. Rid. ván 2010, to the Bahá’ís of the World .......... 75 15. 29 August 2010, regarding the centenary of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s departure for His visit to the West .... 93 16. 28 December 2010, to the Conference of the Continental Board of Counsellors regarding the Five Year Plan, 2011–2016 ..................... 95 i FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION 17. 1 January 2011, to the Bahá’ís of the World regarding the Five Year Plan, 2011–2016 ......... 121 18. Rid. ván 2011, to the Bahá’ís of the World ......... 123 19. 23 May 2011, to the Bahá’ís of the World regarding pioneering ......................... 127 20. 12 December 2011, to all National Spiritual Assemblies regarding training institutes .......... 129 21. Rid. ván 2012, to the Bahá’ís of the World ......... 139 22. 8 February 2013, to the Bahá’ís of the World announcing the convocation of 95 youth conferences ................................ 145 23. 2 March 2013, to the Bahá’ís of Iran regarding the principle of noninvolvement in partisan politics ............................ 149 24. Rid. ván 2013, to the Bahá’ís of the World ......... 161 25. 1 May 2013, to the Bahá’ís of the World announcing 19 additional youth conferences ...... 169 26. 16 May 2013, to the delegates gathered at Bahá’í National Conventions .................. 171 27. 1 July 2013, to the participants in the forthcoming 114 youth conferences throughout the world ...... 175 28. 5 December 2013, to the Bahá’ís of the World regarding the centenary of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s return to the Holy Land ........................... 179 29. 29 January 2014, to the Bahá’í youth in the Cradle of the Faith .......................... 183 30. Rid. ván 2014, to the Bahá’ís of the World ......... 187 31. 10 July 2014, to the Bahá’ís of the World regarding the implementation of the Badí‘ calendar . 191 32. 1 August 2014, to the Bahá’ís of the World regarding the progress of the construction of Houses of Worship .......................... 195 33. 1 October 2014, to the Bahá’ís of Iran regarding their ennobling response to oppression ........... 201 34. Rid. ván 2015, to the Bahá’ís of the World ......... 205 35. 29 December 2015, to the Conference of the Continental Board of Counsellors regarding the Five Year Plan, 2016–2021 .................... 209 36. 2 January 2016, to the Bahá’ís of the World regarding the Five Year Plan, 2016–2021 ......... 235 ii Contents 37. 26 March 2016, to the Bahá’ís of the world acting under the Mandate of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá ........ 237 38. 26 March 2016, to the chosen recipients of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Tablets of the Divine Plan, the Bahá’ís of the United States and the Bahá’ís of Canada ................................. 241 39. Rid. ván 2016, to the Bahá’ís of the World ......... 243 PART II Extracts from Letters Written on Behalf of the Universal House of Justice 40. 11 August 2008, to an individual Bahá’í regarding the responsibilities of Local Spiritual Assemblies .... 249 41. 30 September 2008, to an individual Bahá’í regarding firesides, deepening, proclamation, travelling teaching, and retaining Local Assemblies in remote areas ............................. 251 42. 23 December 2008, to an individual Bahá’í regarding participating in political activity, social change, and public policy ................ 255 43. 4 January 2009, to the National Spiritual Assembly of Australia, regarding centers of Bahá’í learning ... 259 44. 15 March 2009, to an individual Bahá’í regarding the institute process ................. 263 45. 17 May 2009, to all National Spiritual Assemblies regarding the Nineteen Day Feast ............... 265 46. 20 November 2009, to the Spiritual Assembly of Malaysia regarding Regional Councils ........... 271 47. 28 February 2010, to the National Spiritual Assembly of Papua New Guinea regarding the processes of social and economic development and expansion and consolidation ........................... 275 48. 13 February 2011, to an individual Bahá’í regarding what Shoghi Effendi termed the “double crusade” ........................... 277 49. 10 April 2011, to an individual Bahá’í concerning efforts to eliminate racial prejudice in the light of the framework of action .................... 279 50. 9 August 2012, to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States regarding Regional Councils and fostering dynamics of growth in clusters ...... 283 iii FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION 51. 19 April 2013, to three believers conveying guidance on adhering to Bahá’í standards of morality ....... 289 52. 23 April 2013, to the National Spiritual Assembly of Denmark regarding the upholding of Bahá’í moral standards ............................ 295 53. 23 July 2013, to the National Spiritual Assembly of India on enhancing institutional capacity to collect and utilize statistics .................... 301 54. 24 July 2013, to the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada regarding the role of the Association of Bahá’í Studies ............................ 303 55. 17 February 2014, to an individual believer concerning obstacles to the progress of the Plan, including dichotomous thinking ................ 307 56. 24 December 2014, to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Democratic Republic of the Congo regarding the scheme of coordination in advanced clusters ................................... 311 57. 5 January 2015, to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States regarding the reinvigoration of the training institute and establishing strong Area Teaching Committees .................... 315 58. 9 October 2015, to a National Spiritual Assembly regarding the medium of the Internet and the promotion of the Faith ....................... 321 PART III Supplementary Material 59. 26 November 2012, “Social Action,” a document prepared by the Office of Social and Economic Development at the Bahá’í World Centre ......... 327 60. April 2013, “Insights from the Frontiers of Learning,” a document prepared by the International Teaching Centre .................. 351 61. January 2017, “Training Institutes: Attaining a Higher Level of Functioning,” a document prepared by the International Teaching Centre ................. 383 Index ....................................... 421 iv Preface Preface SECOND DECADE HAS PASSED since the introduction of the Four Year Plan, when the Universal House of AJustice set the Bahá’í world on an unprecedented course of action. Those four years marked “an extraordinary period in the history of our Faith, a turning point of epochal magnitude,” and that Plan acquired “a special place in the scheme of Bahá’í and world history.” Since 1996, the Bahá’í world has pursued a series of Plans that would take it to the end of the first century of the Formative Age, and each of these Plans contributed in its own unique way to the pursuit of a single, overarching aim: advancing the process of entry by troops. Much of the guidance provided by the Universal House of Justice to the Bahá’í world in the first decade after 1996 was captured in the book Turning Point. This volume, Framework for Action, organized in much the same way, covers the past decade from 2006–2016. Its three parts include messages from the House of Justice, letters written on its behalf, and supple- mentary materials. In the past ten years, the systematic efforts of the Bahá’í community—reinforced by a learning process involving study, consultation, action, and reflection that stretches from the grass roots in neighborhoods and villages worldwide to the international level—have grown stronger, deeper, and more complex. In 2006, at the end of the first of a series of four Five Year Plans, only the first glimmerings of an intensive program of growth had emerged, and a new pattern of action was consolidated in but a few score clusters. The first elements of an evolving framework for action had just emerged, which, in the past decade, has been more fully understood, elaborated, and exploited. Among the many important concepts and practices that received attention over this period were the systematiza- tion of cycles of growth, the learning mode, the functioning of the Auxiliary Boards, the training institute as an educational process with three distinct stages, institutional capacity at the cluster and regional levels, the movement of youth, accompa- niment, a coherent life of service, social action, involvement in the discourses of society, and universal participation.