The American Bahá’í/Volume 8/Issue 11/Text
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On eve countrywide gatherings of American Bahá’í community preparatory launching Victory Campaign inspired Hand Cause William Sears impelled express admiration unprecedented scope audacious project enlist participation all segments Bahá’í population mainland United States in unified continuous teaching effort. Ardently supplicating Bahá’u’lláh to shower His boundless blessings on each and every valiant servant His Cause enabling them win nay exceed remaining allotted goals present phase implementation beloved Master’s Divine Plan.
Victory Campaign Gets Running Start[edit]
Perhaps no one was more excited or apprehensive about the Victory Weekend sessions September 10–11 than the staff at the Bahá’í National Center.
As the momentous weekend drew near, all was in readiness at the National Center, with National Teaching Committee and other staff members prepared to man telephones around the clock to receive pledges of firesides, traveling teaching, pioneering and other commitments from the friends, along with news of victories won during the initial phase of the Victory Campaign.
When Saturday, September 10, finally dawned, the suspense was nearly unbearable. Would the pledges and news of victories come? Or would the phones remain silent?
Staff members were on edge, waiting anxiously to see if the friends would respond to the challenge issued by the Hand of the Cause William Sears and the National Spiritual Assembly to arise and redouble their teaching efforts in the last critical months of the Five Year Plan.
THEY NEEDN’T have worried. The phones at the National Center started ringing incessantly early Saturday afternoon, and didn’t stop ringing until the wee hours of Monday morning.
By the end of the first week following the Victory Sessions, it was apparent to everyone at the National Center that the response of the friends had exceeded even their fondest hopes.
Among the more dramatic Victory Weekend developments as of October 25 were these:
- 20,755 firesides pledged during the national fireside month from September 20 to October 20 (the National Spiritual Assembly had called for a minimum of 20,000.)
- 109 offers to go foreign pioneering.
- 125 offers to go homefront pioneering.
- 397 offers to go traveling teaching in the goal states of New York, Illinois and California, and many others to travel to other areas.
- 5,874 postcards received bearing the names of seekers the friends have pledged to teach personally during the coming year. The average number of names on each postcard was more than three.
- $30,606.02 pledged to the National Bahá’í Fund.
By October 25, some 591 communities and many more individuals had been heard from at the National Center.
On the eve of the historic Victory Weekend, the Hand of the Cause of God William Sears accepts a single red rose, symbolic of Victory Campaign unity, from Glenford E. Mitchell, secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly, as the Hand of the Cause Zikrullah Khadem (left) and Mrs. Sears look on.
This Victory Weekend session, one of nearly a thousand such gatherings from coast to coast September 10–11, brought together the Bahá’ís of Mercer and Atlantic counties, New Jersey, under the direction of the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Hamilton Township. Of the 26 who attended, 24 pledged to hold at least one fireside each 19 days.
‘Cluster’ Plan Launched By Teaching Committee[edit]
As the Five Year Plan entered its fourth year at Riḍván with more than 400 Local Spiritual Assemblies to be formed to reach the goal of 1,400 nationwide, it was obvious to the National Teaching Committee that a new strategy was needed to help accelerate the pace of the teaching work.
In searching for an answer, the committee turned to the words of the Master, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: “Verily, God loveth those who are working in His path in groups, for they are a solid foundation.”
To bear out that statement, the committee found that in California, where communities had pooled their resources in 1974–75 to teach the Faith, enrollments had risen while the rest of the country was experiencing a decline in enrollments.
If it worked in California, the committee reasoned, it should work on an even wider scale as well. Thus was born the Cluster Teaching program, in which two or more neighboring Bahá’í communities come together regularly to help one another achieve the teaching goals.
THE CLUSTER Teaching program was introduced at this year’s Bahá’í National Convention, and the National Teaching Committee began laying the groundwork for the program in July when organizational manuals were sent to every District Teaching Committee in the country.
Cluster Teaching was launched in earnest shortly after the Victory Weekend in mid-September as the National Teaching
National Spiritual Assembly member Magdalene Carney urges the friends at the Knoxville Teaching Conference to go forth and win the victory as the Five Year Plan nears its conclusion.
At Knoxville
Teaching Fire Rekindled[edit]
Seven years ago the Bahá’í world community was electrified by news of enrollments in the southern United States on a scale never before approached in any area of the country.
The Universal House of Justice, in a cablegram to the U.S. National Spiritual Assembly dated January 31, 1971, noted the upsurge in enrollments in these words: “Joyfully announce Bahá’í world process entry by troops rapidly accelerating United States evidenced by enrollment 8,000 new believers South Carolina course six weeks campaign raising number new believers entire country 13,000 since Riḍván.”
Everywhere in the South, Bahá’ís were teaching the Faith with boldness, vigor and enthusiasm, and the result was a wave of enrollments that continued to surge upward until the end of the Nine Year Plan in 1973.
The catalyst behind the unprecedented expansion of teaching activity was a 1969 conference at Chattanooga, Tennessee.
ONE OF THE friends, set afire at the Chattanooga conference, returned home to South Carolina and began holding almost nightly firesides in the town of Adams Run.
Before long Bahá’ís throughout the country heard reports of enrollments in groups as large as 30, 40 or more in a single evening.
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Assemblies Are Urged to Incorporate[edit]
While nearly every Bahá’í in the U.S. knows that a goal of the Five Year Plan is to raise 1,400 Local Spiritual Assemblies by Riḍván 1979, there probably are many who don’t realize there is another closely-related goal, that of incorporating 400 Assemblies by the end of the Plan.
There are now 316 incorporated Local Spiritual Assemblies in this country. That means 84 more must be incorporated in the few months remaining until the end of the Five Year Plan—that’s more than half the number presently eligible for incorporation: that is, having 15 or more believers in the community.
The National Spiritual Assembly has contacted Assemblies in many states by letter, reminding them of the need to incorporate to give the Faith legal standing in their community.
ONE HUNDRED twenty-nine Assemblies were contacted by August 1. In addition, some 37 Assemblies have either indicated they are in the process of incorporating, or have written asking instructions.
In Principles of Bahá’í Administration (p. 48) the Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, stresses the importance of Assembly incorporation in these words:
“It is surely very important to give the Local Spiritual Assemblies some legal standing, for as the Cause progresses and its adherents increase, they will be confronted with duties they cannot even imagine at present.
“Not only will they have to make contracts for acquiring halls for their meeting place, but also they will be obliged to create new institutions to care for their sick, poor, and aged people.
“We hope that before long the Bahá’ís will even (be able to) afford to have schools that would provide the children in the intellectual and spiritual education as prescribed in the writings of Bahá’u’lláh and the Master.
“FOR SUCH duties that will naturally devolve upon the Local Spiritual Assemblies there will be an increasing need for a legal standing. They will have to be considered as a legal person with the power of making binding contracts.”
Fortunately, the process of incorporation is not unduly complicated in most states and communities. The National Spiritual Assembly offers these general guidelines to Assemblies:
1. At a regular Nineteen Day Feast the Bahá’í community should make a recommendation, properly moved, seconded and carried, that the Local Spiritual Assembly proceed with incorporation.
2. This in turn is acted on by the Assembly and the action recorded in the minutes.
3. The Assembly should then secure the assistance of an attorney who will prepare the necessary documents. The sample Articles of Incorporation offered by the National Spiritual Assembly to Local Assemblies should be followed to the extent that it is compatible with state law.
4. IF STATE law requires a different form, there are certain minimum requirements that must be observed:
- The Articles may not contain provisions that are in any way contrary to the Declaration of Trust or By-Laws, or to the principles of the Bahá’í Faith.
- The Articles of Incorporation should make proper reference to the Central Figures of the Faith, to the Universal House of Justice, and to the National Spiritual Assembly as the duly constituted administrative authority in the United States.
- The Articles should provide for proper distribution of the property of the Local Spiritual Assembly in the event of its dissolution.
5. As soon as the Articles have been prepared, they should be submitted to the National Spiritual Assembly for approval before having them recorded with the proper Department of State. When the recording is completed, the National Spiritual Assembly should be provided with a copy of the Articles for its files and a photograph of the members of the Local Spiritual Assembly.
With much of the emphasis in the Five Year Plan placed on raising new Assemblies to meet the goal of 1,400, the importance of incorporating Assemblies in communities where there are 15 or more believers should not be overlooked.
The National Spiritual Assembly urges those Assemblies that are eligible for incorporation to begin the process at the earliest possible time.
Eleanore Conkling (center), appointed by the Auxiliary Board to work with the newly-formed Local Spiritual Assembly in Palatine, Illinois, talks things over with Assembly Chairman William Peary and Assembly member Nancy Hannen.
Palatine Local Assembly Recognized at Ceremony[edit]
The formation of the first Local Spiritual Assembly in Palatine, Illinois, was commemorated with a recognition ceremony on September 8.
Thirty-four believers from surrounding communities were present to share in the joy of the new Assembly.
The National Spiritual Assembly gave the new Assembly a copy of World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, and D. Thelma Jackson personally greeted the Assembly on behalf of the Auxiliary Board of which she is a member.
The Assembly was introduced to Eleanore Conkling, who has been appointed by the Auxiliary Board to work with Palatine, and to Elliot Rubenstein, who has been appointed by the District Teaching Committee to work with Palatine.
The evening concluded with the sharing of refreshments.
At Bahá’í National Center
32 Believers Participate In Special Visit Program[edit]
Thirty-two Bahá’ís from across the United States spent August 18–21 in the spiritual shadow of the Bahá’í House of Worship on a tour of the Bahá’í National Center in Wilmette, Illinois.
The stay was part of a series of tours, called the Special Visit Program.
The Special Visit Program is an ongoing project of the Bahá’í House of Worship Activities Committee to “refresh and gladden the spirits” of the attendees as well as provide insight into the functioning of the various departments at the National Center.
Among the speakers who routinely address the group are the Hand of the Cause Zikrullah Khadem, Continental Counsellor Edna True, and Glenford Mitchell, secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly.
One of the participants, Gail Merryman, from New Kensington, Pennsylvania, said, “It’s so easy to get bogged down in daily routine. Spending time at the House of Worship is a spiritual renewal.”
Mike Porter, from Evanston, Illinois, has visited the House of Worship many times. He said he participated in the Special Visit Program because he was afraid he might be “taking the House of Worship for granted.”
He also was interested in learning about the continuity among the departments at the National Center, a goal he said was accomplished.
For Florence Foster of St. Petersburg, Florida, the Special Visit Program provided her first opportunity to see the House of Worship. She was able to visualize its history after an in-depth slide presentation about its beginnings and completion.
Gail Nixon of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who has been a Bahá’í for five years, visited the House of Worship for the first time during the Special Visit Program.
What most impressed her about the House of Worship, she said, was the spirit she felt there, and its awesome size. She feels the friends would be helped in their teaching work if they were to visit the National Center.
South Dakota Host to Youth Project[edit]
Summer vacation from school can be a time in which youth continue their education by interacting with people of different cultures.
Shoghi Effendi urged Bahá’í youth to “persevere and associate in a friendly spirit with other groups of young people, particularly of a different race or minority nationality, for such association will demonstrate your complete conviction of the oneness of mankind and attract others to the Faith, both young and old alike.” (See The Individual and Teaching, p. 61)
Six Bahá’í youth followed the Guardian’s injunction this summer, meeting in South Dakota for three weeks in July and August as participants in the National Summer Youth Teaching Project, which is held each year in a different area.
Their time was spent at three towns on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
FOR MOST of the projecteers, it was the first experience teaching Indians about the Faith on an Indian Reservation.
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The projecteers were Nancy and Earl Henrikson, sister and brother of a home-front pioneer on the Reservation; Barbara Jennrich of Navajo, New Mexico; Robin Kelley and Cindy Simons of Waukesha, Wisconsin; and Jahangir Tavangar of Blacksburg, Virginia.
The youth projecteers worked with a task force comprised of permanent residents of South Dakota.
The task force, three individuals who were appointed by the American Indian Teaching Committee, handled preliminary planning. They oriented the projecteers to the area and the task before them.
The first town the group taught in was Cannonball. While distributing invitations to a public meeting, two of the youth met an elderly Sioux woman who said she had once prayed at the House of Worship.
IN THE TOWN of Wakpala, one Indian youth who attended a Bahá’í public meeting memorized “Blessed Is the Spot” before the evening was over.
At a second meeting in Wakpala, a woman said, “I would like to become a Bahá’í but want to know more.”
One of the residents of Wakpala invited the Bahá’í youth into her home.
Several of the Indian youth who went to the public meetings wanted to keep in touch with the youth projecteers, so addresses were exchanged.
In Fort Yates, the projecteers held classes for the children in the Bahá’í community. The children made a Fund box for their contributions.
Midway through the project the youth consulted with the assistant to the Auxiliary Board member for South Dakota. “Consulting with this institution was a real assistance to us and provided us with new enthusiasm, inspiration and support,” said Miss Jennrich.
Mr. Henrikson said, “We sowed many seeds that we are still watering through personal letters, inspired the community to teach more, and learned a tremendous amount about teaching the Faith.”
“Stampede for Unity” was the creative theme of the Bahá’í float seen by 5,000 people at the Greeley, Colorado, Independence Stampede parade. The building of the float enkindled enthusiasm not only among the Bahá’ís of Greeley, but also among their non-Bahá’í friends and neighbors, one of whom stayed up until the early morning hours of the July 4th deadline keeping the tired workers supplied with coffee and moral support. The parade was covered by a local radio station whose announcer, in addition to describing the Bahá’í float, made favorable comments about the Faith and the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois.
Deepening Packet Change[edit]
The deepening packets that are currently being used for the nationwide Victory Campaign had a higher production cost than expected. When ordering your deepening packet from the National Education Office, please include a check for $2. The check should be made out to the Bahá’í Services Fund, with a notation saying “deepening packet.”
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Students in the National Treasurer’s Office’s ‘Secret of Wealth’ course in Texas work out a sample budget.
How to Avoid ‘Buy, Buy Blues’
Course Reveals ‘Secret of Wealth’[edit]
The Office of the Treasurer presented its recently-developed course on family finance entitled “The Secret of Wealth” at seven Bahá’í Schools this summer. The schools included Nebraska, Florida, New York, Texas, Michigan, Oregon and Montana.
The purpose of the course is to explore how Bahá’ís can begin to demonstrate distinctive characteristics through their use of material resources.
One of the reasons the course was developed, according to Stephen Jackson, assistant to the Treasurer, is that “the Old World Order is constantly pulling at us to fall into its trap of materialism. Everywhere we look we are being urged to buy, buy, buy, and are told that we need more and more material possessions to lead a fulfilled life.
“No one is teaching us how to use our resources wisely, or that the secret to a happy life lies in fulfilling our spiritual purpose rather than in the acquisition of material things.
“SINCE Bahá’ís are enjoined to work and support themselves and their families, and must also devote much of their time, energy and resources to the more important purpose of building the Kingdom of God on earth, it is especially important that we learn to use our resources most effectively,” said Mr. Jackson.
The course is divided into five segments. The first explores the nature of man—a material being living in a material world to fulfill a spiritual purpose.
The second segment offers a budget tool designed to enable students to gain control over the flow of their material resources. The third segment is a discussion of lifestyles, focusing on the principles of moderation and detachment.
The fourth segment helps students assess the extent of their personal wealth in terms of talents, skills, and abilities, and the final portion of the course provides a plan of action for the students to follow in implementing “The Secret of Wealth.”
REACTIONS to the course from students have been very positive.
Clay Nelson, who attended the course in Michigan, said that “it is extremely helpful in realizing the spiritual consequences of our material actions.”
Doug Haines in Oregon said: “This course serves as an excellent tool by using fiscal responsibility as a parallel to spiritual responsibilities.”
Irene Cachia of New York’s Summer School beautifully summed up the Treasurer’s Office’s hopes for the effect of the course on those who attended:
“If all the friends realized the great store of wealth they possess, they would all come forth without hesitation and be of service to the Cause.”
Living Life of Service Means Giving One’s All[edit]
Dear Bahá’í Friends,
In the history of our Faith, we find many examples of people who gave everything they had for the Cause.
The martyrs are, perhaps, our most luminous examples. They forsook their all in order to follow the Báb, crowning their earthly achievements with martyrdom.
Today we are not called upon to die as martyrs. We are asked to spend our lives drop by drop in the path of detachment and service.
In this day it sometimes is difficult for us to recognize the drama and heroism of our own deeds for the Faith. We feel that the following letter exemplifies the spirit so needed in our community today:
“We have not been active in the past year due to illness. I am 82 and my beloved is 91, but that does not matter.
“Being a Bahá’í is all the blessing we need. We pray daily for the Cause we love so much. The need is so great—please accept this small contribution sent with love and sacrifice.”
The Cause we love so much needs our support. We are far behind in meeting our Fund goals. We pray that every individual will arise to help us win our national goal on a regular basis.
With warmest Bahá’í love,
the Bahá’ís of the United States
Dorothy W. Nelson, Treasurer
Local Spiritual Assemblies, Groups and individual Bahá’ís in North Dakota collaborated this summer to place three identical billboards on major highways in the state. Billboards were placed on Interstate 94 between Jamestown and Bismarck in July, on Interstate 29 between Fargo and Grand Forks in August, and on Highway 83 between Bismarck and Minot in September. Total cost of the project including rental space was $524. Two additional copies of the billboard are being considered for future use as in-town billboards, fair booth backdrops, or to grace the walls of a future Bahá’í center.
The newly-formed Bahá’í Group of Mobridge, South Dakota, won a second place award in the “Hope for Peace” category with its entry in the Mobridge flower and vegetable show in mid-August.
Western Youth Conference Set[edit]
A Western Regional Youth Conference, co-sponsored by the National Youth Committee and the California Regional Teaching Committee, will be held December 27–29 at the Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove, California.
The purpose of the conference is the mobilization of youth for the successful completion of the Two Year Youth Program, for supporting the Five Year Plan goals in local communities and for teaching in California and the Western states.
The cost of room and board is between $28 and $36, depending on the plan used.
Space is limited, so register immediately by writing to:
- California Regional Teaching Committee
- Second Youth Conference
- 1429 East Thousand Oaks Blvd.
- Room 203-A
- Thousand Oaks, CA 91360
Covenant Focus of NTR Workshops[edit]
Studying the meaning of the Bahá’í Fund in terms of accounting and, more importantly, in terms of the Covenant was the way 77 National Treasurer’s Representatives (NTR’s) spent the Labor Day weekend at the Bahá’í National Center in Wilmette, Illinois.
Fifty of the NTR’s were returning for a second time to the training institute. The first one was held over the Labor Day weekend in 1976.
Why is the National Treasurer’s Office training NTR’s, and why is the Covenant so strongly emphasized?
Stephen Jackson, speaking for the Treasurer’s Office, explained that “the NTR Training Institute is the continuation of a process begun in 1976 to develop and strengthen the fiscal side of Bahá’í community life. When that side is in order, many of the activities we think of as ‘spiritual,’ such as intercommunity projects and public meetings, will be handled more efficiently, thereby bringing about greater progress for the Cause.
“THE FRIENDS need to understand,” he continued, “that the local Treasurer’s job is a spiritual one. Since the NTR’s will be training 1,700 Assembly and Group Treasurers, they must first have a clear understanding of the Administrative Order and its relationship to the Covenant. Conveying this knowledge to local Treasurers throughout the country will assist them to inspire believers to support the Fund regularly and with sacrifice.”
The spiritual atmosphere of the weekend was enhanced when the Hand of the Cause of God Zikrullah Khadem spoke about the Fund, and when Genevieve Voelz, who met ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, shared her memories of the Master.
Other speakers strengthened the representatives’ understanding of the relationship of the Fund to the Covenant.
Glenford E. Mitchell, secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly, said that when believers give to the Fund they are merely returning to God a small portion of what He has given to them in the first place.
Auxiliary Board member Mrs. Javidukht Khadem spoke about the Covenant and its significance to the unfoldment of a new world civilization—the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.
TOD EWING, an NTR from St. Cloud, Minnesota, said: “The connection between the Fund and the Covenant is strong and direct. First, the Fund is an Institution, and second, it was established by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Center of the Covenant.”
Said Kim Kerby, from North Carolina: “I expected a workshop in accounting and got a graduate course in the Covenant.”
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Publishing Trust Seeks Manager The National Spiritual Assembly is undertaking a nationwide search for the position of general manager of the Bahá’í Publishing Trust. It is hoped that the final candidates for the position will combine the technical background in publishing or printing-related fields with a broad understanding of the important work of the Trust and its need for executive and administrative direction and leadership. If you feel that you are qualified, and would be willing and able to serve in such a position, please send a resume and other pertinent information to the National Spiritual Assembly, 110 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091. |
Another important part of the Institute was the interaction among the NTR’s. By gathering together, they were able to learn from one another’s experiences in training Local Spiritual Assembly Treasurers.
The Institute is seen by the National Treasurer’s Office as a yearly “professional” meeting for NTR’s. This year the NTR’s adopted individual goals as to how many Treasurers they will train and how many community deepenings they will hold.
The NTR’s are serving to educate the entire Bahá’í community on the spiritual nature of the Fund and its relationship to the Covenant, in addition to their continuing contact with communities to provide training in accounting procedures.
Asked what he had learned at the Institute, Mr. Ewing replied, “In our communities we shouldn’t just discuss the practical side of the Fund. We must emphasize detachment and faith. Understanding and supporting the Fund is the only way in which the Kingdom of God can be established on earth.”
Program Director Named at Gregory[edit]
Betty Morris, a Montessori-trained teacher from Fort Worth, Texas, has been named program director at the Louis G. Gregory Bahá’í Institute in Hemingway, South Carolina.
The 30-year-old Miss Morris replaces Caswell Ellis who has moved to Washington, D.C., to continue his education after three years at the Gregory Institute.
Miss Morris comes to the Gregory Institute with an extensive background in education and many new project plans for the community. She says she plans, among other things:
- To construct a curriculum and media workshop library for use throughout South Carolina and the southern states.
- To explore the possibility of a systematic, phased literacy program.
- To project growth plans for the next 10 years at the Institute in collaboration with Institute Administrator Allen Murray.
In addition, Miss Morris will continue the regular programs of education, workshops, open houses, sports events, musical events and firesides already established at the Institute.
“I directed an alternative school in Orangeburg in 1973,” says Miss Morris, “and I loved South Carolina. Now I feel as though I’m coming home.”
Miss Morris attended the American University in Washington, D.C., and received her Montessori training and certification in Philadelphia.
She has taught Montessori classes in Philadelphia, Chicago, and Richmond, Virginia, and comes to the Gregory Institute from a position as Montessori director at the Tuskegee Institute School of Education’s lab school in Tuskegee, Alabama.
Miss Morris says she is eager to meet other educators in Hemingway, and has invited interested parents as well to visit her at the Gregory Institute.
Betty Morris (left), program director at the Louis G. Gregory Bahá’í Institute in Hemingway, S.C., discusses the children’s education program with Magdalene Carney, a member of the National Spiritual Assembly who gave deepening classes each night during volunteer work week this summer.
Special Visit Program Set[edit]
Another in a series of exciting and informative special visit programs to the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois, will be held January 12–15. Enrollment is limited to 30 believers on a first-come-first-served basis. Complete the registration form and mail it soon.
The special visit program is an ongoing project of the Bahá’í House of Worship Activities Committee and is designed primarily to refresh and gladden the spirit as well as provide an insight into the functioning of the various departments at the Bahá’í National Center.
Among the speakers who will share those precious moments in the development of the American Bahá’í community and the raising of the “Mother Temple of the West” will be Continental Counsellor Edna True whose mother, the Hand of the Cause of God Corinne True, devoted her life to making the House of Worship a reality. Glenford E. Mitchell, secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly, will host a gathering of the participants at the Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds, the meeting place of the National Spiritual Assembly, and share many aspects of how the National Spiritual Assembly conducts its business. All of the offices at the National Center, including the Bahá’í Publishing Trust and the Bahá’í Home, will be visited and a special display of the National Archives will be presented.
Housing has been arranged at the Howard Johnson Motor Lodge in nearby Skokie, Illinois. Transportation from the motel to the National Center will be provided. Each participant will be responsible for his own meals.
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More than 30 persons gathered on the Navajo Indian Reservation at Pine Springs, Arizona, the weekend of August 20–21 for the first Navajo-Hopi District Bahá’í Youth Conference.
Coordinated by the Children’s Education Resource Unit of the Navajo-Hopi District Teaching Committee, the conference was a major step toward consolidation on the Navajo and Hopi Reservations.
The conference drew participants from as far away as California, Kentucky, Georgia and Rhode Island.
Classes for youth were held Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, with joint events and entertainment Saturday evening.
DISCUSSION leaders for the youth sessions were Eva and Phil Castillo of Flagstaff, Arizona. Richard Kochmann of Ganado Chapter, Arizona, was coordinator.
Alfred Kahn served as translator for sessions that were bilingual.
The Saturday evening session featured a talk on the Covenant by Raymond Kahn of the Ft. Defiance Chapter Spiritual Assembly.
A Sunday morning presentation by Navajo medicine man Dan R. Yazzie, a Bahá’í of the Hard Rock Chapter Spiritual Assembly, included his explanation of “Navajo Tradition and the Bahá’í Faith,” which he said are parallel.
Informal activities included Native American chanting, a round dance, and singing to the accompaniment of Bahá’í vocalists and guitarists.
The sessions ended with spontaneous appreciations of the deepening discussions and a recommendation to the Navajo-Hopi District Teaching Committee that a youth conference be held each year.
Another result of the conference was the declaration of Ann Birkey, the daughter of a Reservation pioneer, who was visiting from Rhode Island.
Weekend
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While statistics on the number of declarations following the Victory Weekend weren’t complete, the National Teaching Committee said that at least 19 had been reported in the first few days.
Many of the callers went out of their way to express to Mr. Sears and the National Spiritual Assembly their deep appreciation for the Victory Sessions, said John Conkling, secretary of the National Teaching Committee.
“The results so far have been simply fantastic,” he said. “The tenor of the calls, the feelings expressed of renewed unity and spiritual reinvigoration in communities throughout the country, has thrilled us all.”
Following the Victory Weekend, the friends had slightly more than a week in which to prepare for the month of firesides.
This was to be succeeded in turn by a period of intensive deepening to last through November 12, the anniversary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh.
Cluster Teaching Plan Taps Group Unity, Strength[edit]
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Committee forwarded the first of its Cluster Teaching study materials to the District Teaching Committees, who are responsible for organizing and carrying out the program.
District Teaching Committees are to distribute these materials to specially designated traveling teachers who will meet with cluster groups on a rotating basis to guide the deepening part of the cluster program.
“The goals of the Cluster Teaching program,” according to John Conkling, secretary of the National Teaching Committee, “are to stimulate love and unity in the Bahá’í community, to provide a pattern for Bahá’í life, and, above all, to promote a renewed concern for individual teaching.”
Cluster Teaching, he adds, can help to increase enrollments and move the national Bahá’í community toward victory in the Five Year Plan.
“EACH CLUSTER program,” says Mr. Conkling, “provides a unique opportunity to introduce the seeker, who has been nurtured through individual teaching, to the beauty of Bahá’í community life.”
In Cluster Teaching, two or more communities—a “cluster”—arrange intercommunity programs that combine deepening, fellowship and teaching.
The National Teaching Committee suggests that clusters meet regularly, once a month in most cases, usually on a Saturday or Sunday.
Cluster meetings include a deepening activity for about 90 minutes; a fellowship period, such as a potluck, buffet or picnic, and a fireside or public meeting.
The National Teaching Committee stresses that non-Bahá’ís are invited to attend all three activities.
EACH COMMUNITY in the cluster hosts the monthly meeting on a rotating basis, and each one should designate a contact person who is the community coordinator.
The community coordinator:
- Provides information to the cluster coordinator about the site of the activity.
- Provides information concerning the teaching and deepening events.
- Informs members of his community about the next Cluster Teaching activity.
In addition, one individual in each cluster is designated to act as cluster coordinator. He or she serves as a contact point for the cluster, provides information to traveling teaching teams about the time and location of the next meeting, and provides similar information to other communities in the cluster.
The District Teaching Committees also set up “circuits” of several clusters, not more than nine and perhaps as few as three or four.
A CIRCUIT coordinator keeps everything moving, handles last-minute problems, arranges for substitute traveling teachers, checks with traveling teachers and community coordinators about progress, and keeps in touch with cluster coordinators to exchange information.
While each hosting community organizes the fellowship and teaching portions of the monthly program, the deepening is given by traveling teaching teams designated by the District Teaching Committee.
Participation in the Cluster Teaching program is of course voluntary, with District Teaching Committees responsible for contacting communities in their area to invite them to participate.
“Cluster Teaching can be continued indefinitely,” says Mr. Conkling. “There will always be plenty of materials available for deepening. The communities in each cluster can be changed, and the traveling teaching teams can be changed.
“The National Teaching Committee believes this program has great potential for expanding the Faith and building well-grounded Bahá’í communities,” he adds.
“By having a pattern of community life to which to bring those souls responding to personal teaching efforts in the current Victory Plan, a new thrust to our teaching can begin that will bring solid results to the national Bahá’í community.”
Or, in the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá:
“Those of you who are working separately are as ants, but working together you will be as eagles; when working separately you will be as drops or little rivulets of water, but when working in union you will be a mighty river carrying the Water of Life into the barren desert places of the world.”
Youth Committee Urges Response[edit]
The only way the National Youth Committee can tally the goals of the Two Year Youth Program each month is to hear from you, the youth, with a report of your activities.
In your report, you should state what goals were won and how they were won.
If you have pioneered on the homefront, the report should include your name, the name of the locality or county you moved to, and the date the goal was filled. This goal can be won by those 15–20 years of age who have pioneered with their families.
If a teaching trip was made, the report should give your name, the locality or county visited, and the date of the trip.
The goals are considered unfilled until a report is received saying they have been won.
[Page 5]
Teaching Briefs
Pawtucket Forms Spiritual Assembly[edit]
Pawtucket, Rhode Island, where the first Bahá’í declaration in the state took place 36 years ago, formed its first Spiritual Assembly on July 12 ...
South DeKalb County, Georgia, has had six recent declarations as a result of fireside teaching ...
In a one-month period five residents of Gulfport and Ocean Springs, Mississippi, declared their belief in Bahá’u’lláh ...
The general manager of a gospel radio station in Knoxville, Tennessee, after visiting Bahá’ís in Alabama, read Some Answered Questions and Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era in a two-day period, and said he “will probably be the next Bahá’í in Knoxville.”
A teaching effort in Casper, Wyoming, has resulted in the declaration of two Spanish-speaking residents and another person from Illinois ...
By August 4, four declarations had been reported in Longview, Washington, as a result of teaching activities by the Southern team of the Heart-to-Heart teaching campaign sponsored by the Western Washington District Teaching Committee. One declaration, in Anacortes, brought that jeopardized Assembly back up to nine members...
Indian Youth Teaching Teams representing five tribes and supervised by the American Indian Teaching Committee and the Spiritual Assembly of Mayes County, Oklahoma, were in the eastern part of the state August 8–14 and made teaching and consolidation trips to Choteau, Delaware County, Stilwell and Tahlequah ...
The Bahá’ís of Roanoke, Virginia, attracted significant attention to the Faith by winning first place in a Fourth of July parade with the best religious float ...
The Bahá’í community of Nashua, New Hampshire, observed the 65th anniversary of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s visit to that city with a week-long proclamation August 15–21.
A series of ads in the local paper elicited more than 30 phone calls. To further commemorate the Master’s visit, the Nashua community donated two linden trees that were placed in a city park ...
As a springboard to heightened teaching activity, the Bahá’ís in Eastern Washington devoted the four Saturdays in August and one-half hour on Saturday, September 10, to viewing the television programs available through the National Spiritual Assembly of the Hawaiian Islands and featuring, among others, the Hand of the Cause of God William Sears, Seals and Crofts, Robert Quigley, and U.S. National Spiritual Assembly members James and Dorothy Nelson. The shows are part of a year-long television proclamation effort in Eastern Washington sponsored by the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Yakima ...
The Bahá’í community of Colorado Springs, Colorado, took part in a weekend mall exhibit August 11–13 designed to acquaint local residents with available spiritual guidance. In all, 83 religious organizations were represented.
Each organization was given generous free space in the mall and was expected to furnish its own supplies. The Bahá’í exhibit included a table with floral arrangement, pamphlets and several books. Three display racks held a variety of posters showing Bahá’í Holy Places and basic principles of the Faith.
Also included were photos of the Colorado East summer school and the local Naw-Rúz celebration. A table was also provided with Bahá’í children’s literature and a coloring book with crayons.
The Bahá’í exhibit was put together by the Colorado Springs community with help from nearby Local Assemblies and individuals. Public response was good, and many pieces of literature were taken...
For the first time, a direct teaching conference was held in Maine, in the town of Bangor, in June.
Believers traveled as far as 300 miles to be at the conference, including those from Eastport in the north and Kittery in the south.
Eleven teams of two persons each spent an afternoon passing out invitations to a meeting to be held that evening.
Others continuously prayed while the invitations were being distributed.
Most of those on the 11 teams had never before been involved in this type of teaching. All of them said they would like to do it again ...
What is believed to have been the largest gathering for an International Women’s Year Conference in the United States was held June 23–25 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The conference began with a Bahá’í prayer for the unity of mankind, read by Alice Kasai, a Salt Lake City Bahá’í and a member of Utah’s International Women’s Year Planning Committee.
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A Reminder It’s still not too late to participate in the Youth Work/Study Program that will be held at the Bahá’í National Center December 26–January 6. Those interested should immediately contact the National Youth Committee, 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091. |
A crowd of between 2,000 and 3,000 had been expected, but because Mormon church officials urged Mormon women to attend the conference and voice their opinions, the number of participants was 13,800.
The Bahá’ís of Salt Lake City sponsored a booth about the equality of women and men. Thousands of women of different backgrounds and faiths either heard or saw the name “Bahá’í” during the two days ...
Five Bahá’ís who attended a tribal council meeting August 15 at the Lac du Flambeau Indian Reservation in Wisconsin found to their surprise that the council was overwhelmingly in favor of initiating programs about the Bahá’í Faith they had come to suggest.
After one council member moved that the Bahá’í programs be “accepted,” the wording was amended to read “supported.”
The Quinn Sapphire band was to present the first of the programs in October, followed by the Unity Bluegrass Band on November 12, the anniversary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh ...
The Bahá’í Groups of New Hanover County, Wilmington, and Wrightsville Beach in eastern North Carolina sponsored the Jeff Reynolds Show on WHSL Radio in Wilmington. Response was good, and the station has requested more tapes for future use ...
Dr. Glen Eyford (second from left), a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Canada, visited with the Bahá’ís in Dallas, Texas, for three days in August. The visit by Dr. Eyford, who is professor and head of the division of community development at the University of Alberta, Canada, resulted in six hours of interviews on five radio stations, nine minutes on a television station, and six column inches in three Dallas newspapers. Dr. Eyford also gave a public talk at which five non-Bahá’ís were present.
Eight study groups at the Green Acre Bahá’í School in Maine collaborated during a class on the evolution of religion August 19 to present progressive revelation in a new and dramatic way. Thanks to their imaginative work, more than 100 adults, youth and children were able to take a journey in time and space through BAHA’ILAND 1977 and into the religions of the past. Here the Bahá’í study group consults on how to illustrate the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh. The exhibit later was shown at the New Jersey Bahá’í state Convention before being returned to Green Acre.
DR. ANN SCHOONMAKER
To Address Women’s Group
Bahá’í to Speak At Conference On Religions[edit]
Dr. Ann Schoonmaker, a Bahá’í who is a psychologist and author of two books, will deliver an address December 31 at the section meeting for Women and Religion at the annual convention of the American Academy of Religion in San Francisco.
Dr. Schoonmaker’s address is entitled “The Story of Ṭáhirih: First Martyr for Women’s Religious Equality.”
Dr. Schoonmaker presently serves as staff therapist and coordinator of educational services at the Center for Counseling and Human Development in Summit, New Jersey.
Her most recent book, Me, Myself and I: Every Woman’s Journey to Her Self, examines the process of growth and development in women, emphasizing the fact that “all true liberation comes from the inside.”
Dr. Schoonmaker, the mother of four children, holds a doctorate degree in theology from Drew University. She has spoken to Bahá’í and other groups in many areas on topics related to women’s growth and development in relation to the Faith.
A group of Bahá’í entertainers from New York City is shown here singing Bahá’í songs for the participants at a recent international youth conference sponsored by Key Women of America Inc., an organization dedicated to the service of mankind. Left to right are Glover Parham, Janis Rozena-Peri, Mansur Sobhani, Bill Garbett and Artis Williams. Although no Bahá’ís belong to the organization, Ahmad Sobhani and other youth in New York City have worked closely with it.
Teaching-Consolidation Meet Planned at Gregory Institute[edit]
“Teaching and Consolidation: The Twin Processes” is the theme of an Institute to be held November 24–27 at the Louis G. Gregory Bahá’í Institute in Hemingway, South Carolina.
Included will be workshops on “The Fund and Sacrifice” by Jack and Fafa Guillebeaux of Montgomery, Alabama, and on “Firesiding Is Direct Teaching” by Allen Murray, administrator of the Gregory Institute.
A course on effective teaching also will be offered, with the teacher’s name to be announced.
Other November events include a radio script workshop November 5–6, and a new believer deepening and work weekend November 19–20.
A deepening on administration and consultation, conducted by an Auxiliary Board member, is scheduled for December 10–11.
December 17–18 is another deepening and work weekend, while December 20–24 is Youth Week at the Institute.
Betty Morris, the program director, says the staff at the Institute would like to hear from those who are interested in working with youth to help in staffing Youth Week.
The Carolinas Bahá’í Winter School will be held at the Gregory Institute from December 26 through January 1.
In preparation for the Fourth Bahá’í National Youth Conference, the University of Massachusetts Bahá’í Club held a Youth Conference of its own on the weekend of May 7–8. Forty people heard talks on Bahá’í law, the Administrative Order, and Bahá’í education. A Persian dinner on Saturday evening was attended by seekers as well as Bahá’ís.
[Page 6]
At University of Maryland
Conference Probes The Role of Music[edit]
Ever since man first turned his gaze heavenward and began to worship his Creator, music has played an important role in his religious observances.
This is no less true in the Bahá’í Era than it was in past ages. “... the Teachings of God,” says the Universal House of Justice, “whether they be in the form of anthems or communes or prayers, when they are melodiously sung are most impressive.”
The campus of the University of Maryland at College Park was the site August 12–15 for the first Eastern Bahá’í Music Conference whose theme was “Exploring the Role of Music in the Bahá’í Faith.”
Sponsored by the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Montgomery County, Maryland, and the Bahá’í Club of the University of Maryland, the conference used lectures, panel discussions and seminars to assist individuals and communities in teaching the Faith, educating children, and enhancing Bahá’í community life through music.
SPEAKERS included Theodies Washington, Paul Olson, Mary Zemke, Sterling Glenn, Marvin Holladay and Auxiliary Board member Albert James.
Jim Fischer was conference coordinator. Children’s classes, structured around the theme “I Can See a Rainbow,” were handled by Anne Gunee.
Sandi Eyre, the conference publicity chairman, succeeded in getting 54 press releases published and 20 radio spots about the conference aired on stations in and around College Park.
The 116 Bahá’ís at the conference also attended afternoon workshops, two public concerts, two firesides, and saw an audiovisual program of music around the world presented by Greg Dahl.
Conference sessions were held at the Tawes Fine Arts Center which was secured through the efforts of Emerson Head, a Bahá’í who is professor of trumpet at the University of Maryland and director of the Metropolitan Bahá’í Chorale.
CONFERENCE registrar was Nancy Anders.
Workshops covered topics ranging from Children’s Choruses, the Professional Musician, and Care and Maintenance of the Guitar to Use of the Autoharp, Sound to Paper, Electronic Music, Music Therapy, Performance and Audience Reaction, and Composing to the Bahá’í Writings.
Seminars were held on Group Singing and Choral Activities, and panel discussions on Use of Talent and Musical Trends and Bahá’í Concepts.
Mr. James praised the artists who performed at the conference and the public concerts, noting that the Metropolitan Bahá’í Chorale is reminiscent of the Fisk Jubilee Singers because of its professionalism and because black and white singers are praising God together in song.
Students at the first Eastern Bahá’í Music Conference at the University of Maryland gather for an outdoor lecture by Marvin Holladay, professor of world music at the University of Oakland in Rochester, Michigan.
Youth Project Planned[edit]
The National Youth Committee and the Spiritual Assembly of St. Petersburg, Florida, are co-sponsoring a National Winter Youth Teaching Project in Florida from December 18 to January 1.
Total cost for room and board during the two-week project is $75.
The teaching work will center on two areas: the beaches surrounding St. Petersburg, and the Ocala National Forest.
The main objectives are raising an Assembly in Ocala, Florida, and assisting in opening goal localities in the Gulf of Mexico beach area.
Teaching activities will include distributing invitations to public meetings, participating in firesides and Bible study classes, attending local churches, and distributing radio and television news releases.
Anyone wishing to take part in this exciting campaign of service to the Faith should contact the National Bahá’í Youth Committee and request a volunteer form. The address is 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091.
Classified Ads[edit]
ARAPAHOE COUNTY needs four homefront pioneers to bring its Group to Assembly status. The county is bordered by Denver, Englewood and Aurora, Colorado. Please contact Yvonne Cuellar, 882 East Briarwood Circle South, Littleton, CO 80122 if you are able to help. The telephone number is (AC 303) 794-9680.
THE FOUR MEMBERS of the Milford, Connecticut, Bahá’í Group are looking for homefront pioneers. Milford is a quaint New England town located on Long Island Sound. Diversified job opportunities are available. For more information write to P.O. Box 85, Milford, CT 06460, or telephone 203-878-5300.
RETIREMENT-AGE believers should investigate scenic central Texas’ hill country area, which has a low cost of living, dry climate and mild winters. Many waiting goal counties are within easy distance of Austin and San Antonio, where excellent medical facilities exist. Write or phone Central Texas District Teaching Committee Corresponding Secretary Mrs. Yvonne Justice, 505 W. 7th Street, Apt. 118, Austin, TX 78701, or phone 512-474-1004.
THE UNIVERSITY OF THE AMERICAS in Mexico seeks deans for its education and audio-visual departments, and a dean for the medical school that will open there next year. A wide variety of positions is available with the new medical school. If qualified, contact the International Goals Committee, 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091.
A BAHÁ’Í IN TONGA seeks an overseas pioneer with mechanical and automotive experience to join in a profit-sharing arrangement in his garage business. Contact the International Goals Committee, 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091.
HOMEFRONT PIONEERS are invited to settle in Area 8 in Massachusetts. This section of the state, in the southwest, borders Rhode Island. No Local Spiritual Assemblies exist in the area. There are local job and school opportunities, and Providence, Rhode Island, and Boston are within commuting distance. Contact Bill Fagan, Area 8 Coordinator, 10 Anawan St., Taunton, MA 02780, or phone 617-824-8198.
THREE LOCAL Spiritual Assemblies in southern Alabama need homefront pioneers. Tuskegee is the site of a university and a V.A. hospital; Montgomery County and Montgomery City have a number of colleges and industries. Also, the Southern Alabama District Teaching Committee seeks Bahá’ís to settle in one or more of the many unopened counties in its district. Contact Margot Beers, Cottage 43, Campus Road, Tuskegee, AL 36088.
FOUR FULL-TIME Bahá’í teachers are needed in the French Antilles for a teaching project to last until the end of the Five Year Plan. French-speaking Bahá’ís who are able to teach in the French Antilles for one month or more also are greatly needed. Anyone able to assist with the teaching project should contact the International Goals Committee, 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091.
PIONEER COUPLE needed on San Carlos Apache Reservation, 10 miles east of Phoenix, Arizona. Employment opportunities in education field. Write: Personnel Department, Rice School District, San Carlos, AZ 85550. Assist development of newly-restored all-Indian Local Spiritual Assembly. Moderate climate, elevation over 3,000 feet, open spaces.
‘Tablets of Divine Plan’ In New Cloth Edition[edit]
Tablets of the Divine Plan, referred to by Shoghi Effendi as “one of the outstanding achievements that have embellished the brilliant record of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s unique ministry,” is now available in a clothbound edition.
A 24- by 36-inch map of the world, showing the places named by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the Tablets, is included with each book.
Tablets of the Divine Plan consists of 14 Tablets—two each to the northeastern, southern, central and western states and Canada, and four to the U.S. and Canada collectively.
The Tablets include prayers for each of the five regions, and four general prayers. In the new edition, the Tablets are arranged in chronological order, beginning with the first, revealed on March 26, 1916, and ending with the fourteenth, revealed on March 8, 1917.
IN ADDITION, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s statement concerning the date, place of revelation, and the recipient is included at the beginning of each Tablet.
Shoghi Effendi made it clear that Tablets of the Divine Plan constituted the Charter that conferred upon him the authority to establish teaching plans. Referring to the Ten Year Crusade, for example, he wrote that it was “launched for the express purpose of executing the Divine Plan bequeathed by Him (‘Abdu’l-Bahá) to His followers...”
The Universal House of Justice, moreover, has written that Shoghi Effendi made the Administrative Order into “a teaching instrument to accomplish through a succession of plans ... the entire Divine Plan of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá...”
For American Bahá’ís, Tablets of the Divine Plan has a special significance. It is in these Tablets that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá conferred upon the community of American followers a world mission.
He revealed that “the moment this Divine Message is carried forward by the American believers from the shores of America, and is propagated through the continents of Europe, of Asia, of Africa and of Australasia, and as far as the islands of the Pacific, this community will find itself securely established upon the throne of everlasting dominion...”
Now, at this critical time in the Five Year Plan, American Bahá’ís can draw strength and inspiration from Tablets of the Divine Plan and gain an historical perspective of the mission conferred upon them.
Trust to Release Two New Cassettes[edit]
The Bahá’í Publishing Trust has announced that it will soon release two cassette tapes.
One contains a talk by the Hand of the Cause Leroy Ioas, made in 1958, in which he shares his personal remembrances of the Guardian.
The other is a cassette called Sing a New Song, which contains all the musical selections from the book of the same title, and in the same order that they appear in the book.
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Update from the Bahá’í Publishing Trust
To order: Order through Community Librarians if possible! Personal orders, enclose full payment plus $.75 handling charge for orders under $5.00. Order from Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 415 Linden Ave., Wilmette, IL 60091. |
Variety Spices Bahá’í Summer Schools[edit]
This year’s Bahá’í summer schools were well attended, and the response of the believers was enthusiastic and positive. Once again, people of all ages and backgrounds had the opportunity to gain a glimpse of the New World Order as they participated in Bahá’í community life in a calm, natural setting.
Protected from the distractions of everyday life, the friends explored the Teachings through classes, work projects, musical entertainment, workshops, devotional programs, outings and quiet personal conversations.
A highlight of many of the schools were the outstanding children’s programs. At Green Acre, the children worked in the large vegetable and flower gardens, visited a local dairy and printed a Green Acre newspaper every Thursday. The curriculum for the children’s classes was well-organized, and there were from five to seven teachers for each session.
“We are proud of the work done by the Children’s Task Force in designing the program this summer. It is exciting to see how much the program has grown in the past few years,” said Dick Grover, administrator at Green Acre.
AT THE the Minnesota Summer School, 45 children took time to tie-dye tee shirts, and studied many subjects from prayer to geography.
At Bosch this year, some of the classes were organized around the family unit in response to the Five Year Plan goal. The whole family spent time learning how to consult, pray, and teach together through such recreational and artistic activities as weaving, folk-dancing, and nature study.
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Davison School grouped its young students according to three developmental levels. They had special visits from the Hand of the Cause of God Zikrullah Khadem, as well as Stephen Jackson, assistant to the Treasurer of the National Spiritual Assembly.
The Louis Gregory Institute conducted the first school program at which local children attended every day without their parents. There was great diversity, with children from as far away as Canada and Michigan.
Bahá’í youth also had an exciting summer. In some schools they developed and implemented their own programs.
AT BOSCH, the participants elected a Youth Council that initiated classes in addition to the regular curriculum. These included seminars in campus teaching and how to teach Christians.
A high point of their summer was a three-day visit from the Hand of the Cause of God ‘Alí-Akbar Furútan. Tapes of the Youth Conference were displayed in the campus library, and many students took advantage of the opportunity to listen to the excellent talks presented.
The Carolinas School featured a half-day bus ride to “Sliding Rock,” where youth and adults slid down more than 50 feet of rock into pools below.
The Minnesota Summer School conducted a youth forum led by a psychologist from the Mayo Clinic. An over-all look at the Bahá’í community and how Bahá’í youth can contribute to it were topics of discussion.
Many of the youth who attended Green Acre this year were members of the work/study program. This full scholarship program allowed them to work four hours a day and also attend classes as students. These youth sometimes organized their own classes with various adult speakers as guests.
A UNIQUE aspect of the summer was the Youth Week. A Youth Task Force, appointed by the Green Acre Council, structured a special week and was responsible for the scheduling of classes and events. These included crafts, folk-dancing and musical entertainment.
The week ended with a concert conducted by Do’a, a bonfire, and midnight snacks and prayers.
The Bosch school conducted its first junior youth program for students between the ages of 11 and 15. The program was facilitated by cabin counselors who ranged in age from 18 to 25. The junior youth and counselors worked together and shared recreational activities.
The youth at several schools sent messages to the Universal House of Justice as well as contributions for the construction of the House of Justice Seat.
The program director at one of the schools praised the youth, saying, “The youth this year were capable of taking the initiative for their own learning and for planning their lives for service. I would be glad to leave the world in the hands of people such as these.”
Summer school activities for adults ranged from workshops on world religions to parent effectiveness training.
A dominant theme of many of the Bahá’í schools was “developing the distinctive characteristics of Bahá’í life.” To this end, one school chose to study the life of the Greatest Holy Leaf, Bahíyyih Khánum.
ONE INNOVATIVE class, conducted by Dr. Ann Schoonmaker at Green Acre, was entitled “Bahá’í Land—A Tour Through Major World Religions.” The class was divided into groups, and each group took the responsibility of preparing an exhibit to illustrate major world religions.
On the last day of classes, exhibits were set up for everyone to see. Each booth included activities that involved the viewers. For instance, the Hindu booth featured Indian dancing, while the Christian booth offered a crossword puzzle on Christian doctrine.
The arrangement of the booths typified man’s search through previous religions to the Faith.
The Green Acre student body was particularly excited about the visit from Ray and Lanelma Johnson, directors of the New Era Bahá’í School in India. The Johnsons showed a film of the Rural Development Project and some slides of the New Era School.
This year’s summer school experience is well expressed by one participant: “For the first time in my life, my heart as well as my head responded to the Message of Bahá’u’lláh.”
Violinist Mariann Smith and dancer Lily Nazerian entertain during the Davison Bahá’í Summer School session.
Southern California youth from Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties participated in a “Weekend Awakening” at San Fernando in August that was planned and implemented by the Los Angeles Bahá’í Youth Club.
Los Angeles Area Youth in ‘Weekend Awakening’[edit]
More than 60 youth ages 11 to 21 from Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties in California gathered at San Fernando in late August for a “Weekend Awakening.”
The Los Angeles Bahá’í Youth Club planned and implemented the entire weekend program including organizing seminars and securing guest speakers. Each youth paid for his or her own meals.
“We needed to come together and begin to be more unified in our thoughts and deeds,” explained Tracy Rucker, chairman of the Los Angeles Bahá’í Youth Club.
“The club wanted the youth to experience something besides the ‘old world.’ We also wanted to bring the races together and provide an atmosphere where non-Bahá’í youth who participated could gain a greater insight into the Bahá’í Faith.”
In addition to fun, food and fellowship, the youth attended seminar sessions on peer pressure, sex and chastity, and the Bahá’í life.
“Other objectives of the Awakening,” said Joya Frank, the Youth Club secretary, “were to stress that pressure also is on us to teach the Cause of God, especially to other youth, and to generate an increased energy and interest in achieving the goals of the Five Year Plan.”
The Bahá’í Groups of Melrose and Fall Creek Townships sponsored a booth in July at the Pike County Fair at Pleasant Hill, Illinois. Hundreds of persons saw the display that presented the theme “The Unity of Mankind” in words and pictures. The booth was built by Virginia and Les Uebner of Melrose Township and Barbara and Grant House of Fall Creek Township. Pike County has been adopted by the two Groups as their goal to open to the Faith by the end of the Five Year Plan.
In Memoriam[edit]
- Eddie Lee Baxter
- Marion, South Carolina
- Date Unknown
- Randy Beaudette
- Bloomingfield, Nebraska
- 1974
- Lloyd Broughton
- Marion, South Carolina
- Date Unknown
- Ed Bryant
- Richland, Georgia
- 1977
- Mrs. Edna Coleman
- Evanston, Illinois
- March 29, 1977
- John H. Coleman
- Evanston, Illinois
- July 2, 1977
- Mrs. Mildred Cossey
- Boise, Idaho
- July 2, 1977
- John K. Fleming
- Evergreen, Colorado
- August 2, 1977
- Arthur Frazier
- Marion, South Carolina
- Date Unknown
- Millard S. “Rusty” Hays
- Mariposa, California
- August 10, 1977
- Robert Holmes
- Edgefield, South Carolina
- Date Unknown
- Mrs. Lucy Johnson
- Key Largo, Florida
- July 15, 1977
- Joseph Leon Kinney
- Handley, West Virginia
- Date Unknown
- Robert C. Lewis
- Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
- May 27, 1976
- Mrs. Janie May Marshall
- Norfolk, Virginia
- August 11, 1977
- Miss Beverly Marzoline
- Las Vegas, Nevada
- Date Unknown
- Mrs. Bessie Myers
- Marion, South Carolina
- Date Unknown
- Ivan E. Osborne
- Pompano Beach, Florida
- August 3, 1977
- Robert R. Reddick, Jr.
- Quincy, Illinois
- Date Unknown
- Colston Rice-Wray
- Los Angeles, California
- March 10, 1977
- Mrs. Lee Sagarin
- Whittier, California
- July 3, 1977
- Mrs. Minnie M. Sharrard
- Troy, Michigan
- August 12, 1977
- M. D. Swearingen
- Chicago, Illinois
- Date Unknown
- Albert Walkup
- Mound City, Missouri
- January 21, 1977
- Mrs. Harriet F. Washburn
- Plainville, Massachusetts
- July 22, 1977
- Jack White
- Anahuac, Texas
- February 1976
- Eath Williams
- Kinards, South Carolina
- December 1976
- Thomas Wright
- Seabrook, South Carolina
- Date Unknown
[Page 8]
Knoxville
Continued From Page 1
Suddenly the eyes of the Bahá’í world were riveted on the South. It wasn’t long before the Deep South Committee was formed to assist the teaching work; later, that committee was succeeded by the Southern Regional Teaching Committee.
Although the vast wave of teaching activity that crested during that memorable period has subsided, the seeds of entry by troops were firmly planted in the South, and the believers there are confident that “the harvest is yet to come.”
Recapturing the spirit and momentum generated at Chattanooga was very much in the minds and hearts of some 275 of the friends from 20 states and the District of Columbia who gathered over the Labor Day weekend for a Southern States Teaching Conference hosted by the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Knoxville, Tennessee.
THE KNOXVILLE conference, held at the lovely Hyatt-Regency Hotel, was planned by the National Teaching Committee in response to a request last June from friends attending a conference at the Louis G. Gregory Bahá’í Institute at Hemingway, South Carolina, that a conference similar to Chattanooga be held to help rekindle the spark that led to the vigorous teaching campaigns of the early 1970s.
Among the speakers at Knoxville were National Spiritual Assembly member Magdalene Carney; Auxiliary Board member Sam McClellan; John Conkling, secretary of the National Teaching Committee; Trudy White, secretary of the South Carolina Regional Teaching Committee; Larry Miller, a business motivation consultant from Marietta, Georgia, and Robert Imagire of the Asian-American Teaching Committee.
The Sunday conference was preceded by a public meeting Saturday evening that included an address by Dr. Odessa Myers; the film, “Sands of Time,” about the presentation by the Bahá’ís of a statue of the great Chief Sequoyah to the Cherokee Indians; gospel and classical songs by Barbara Jones of Atlanta, and an old-fashioned hoedown and square dance to the music of the Unity Bluegrass Band from Illinois.
Miss Carney recounted the evolution of teaching in the South and pinpointed some of the reasons for the loss of momentum following the upswing of the early ’70s.
“ALTHOUGH we brought large numbers of people into the Faith,” she said, “the enrollment process seldom took place. We had boxes full of enrollment cards, but no one to do the necessary follow-up and consolidation work.
“What I mean is that while we had the delivery system, we didn’t have the support system. The few pioneers we had in the South worked so long and so hard that they eventually became burned out.”
Today, said Miss Carney, “we are able to add the missing ingredient by recognizing that declaration and enrollment is a two-stage process.
“It is absolutely necessary,” she said, “that we have a solid, firm foundation of stable local communities to prepare for ‘entry by troops.’ Otherwise, the troops might crush the Administrative Order.”
The National Assembly, she said, is “unreservedly committed to carrying out every goal and plan that the Universal House of Justice proposes for us.
“RIGHT NOW, winning the Five Year Plan goals is uppermost. Everything else is on the back burner.
“The National Assembly has shown how serious it is about helping the teaching work and forming new Local Assemblies by pledging $100,000 from this year’s National Center budget to establish a homefront deputization fund to assist those who settle in goal communities.
“The ball is in your court now. The National Assembly wants to hear of victories.”
One of the things that has been learned in South Carolina, said Mrs. White, is that we must teach all strata of society.
Operation GRASSROOTS, she said, is a proclamation-teaching campaign designed to reach everyone in the state with the Message of Bahá’u’lláh.
THE PROCLAMATION through billboards, mailers, newspaper ads and brochures begun in March will be followed by a period of intensive teaching and deepening.
Operation GRASSROOTS, said Mrs. White, has led to around 75 declarations so far, “and we haven’t even gotten to the teaching phase yet.”
Mr. Miller spoke of effective teaching methods, saying that if we are to regain the sort of momentum that followed Chattanooga, “we must stamp out criticism from the Bahá’í community. Criticism is a cancer that leads to caution, and caution leads to calamity.
“The heroes and heroines of the Faith,” he added, “were bold, not cautious.”
Participants at the Knoxville Teaching Conference kick up their heels to the lively music of the Unity Bluegrass Band from Illinois.
If we wish to motivate the Bahá’í community to teach, said Mr. Miller, “we must provide leadership. Local Assemblies need to show the way by their actions, by their example, rather than by their words.”
Mr. Conkling pointed out that the Five Year Plan goal of 1,400 Local Spiritual Assemblies by Riḍván 1979 could almost be won simply by organizing and deepening the more than 400 Groups in the U.S. that presently have nine or more members. Of these, more than 300 are in the South.
In terms of size, the Knoxville conference far surpassed the Chattanooga conference of eight years ago.
Hopefully, it will also surpass Chattanooga in teaching victories.
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Coming Next Month in The American Bahá’í |
UN Reports Bahá’í Activities[edit]
Bahá’í communities, by supporting United Nations special events, are bringing favorable attention to the Faith from members of the UN. Reports of Bahá’í observances of these events have appeared in the NGO-UNICEF newsletter, which has a worldwide readership.
The days observed annually are Universal Children’s Day (October 3), United Nations Day (October 24) and Human Rights Day (December 10).
Kits containing information about these observances are available from Dr. Wilma Brady, Bahá’í National Representative to the United Nations, 345 East 46th Street, New York City, NY 10017. Reports of community activities should be sent to the same address.
The worldwide Bahá’í community has been officially recognized at the UN since 1947. Accredited representatives of the Faith are permitted to attend UN conferences.
Ties with the UN became stronger in 1970 when the Bahá’í International Community was granted consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). In 1976, consultative status was gained with the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).