The American Bahá’í/Volume 9/September Special/Text

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The American Bahá’í September, 1978 (Special Teaching Edition)

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[Page 1]

SOUTH CAROLINA LEADS THE NATION IN ASSEMBLY FORMATIONS

Nearly thirty new and restored Assemblies have formed in South Carolina since Riḍván. The Regional Teaching Committee reports that the state has almost reached its goal set in January of 90 Local Spiritual Assemblies. Many of the Assemblies are being developed in areas where they were first formed during the Nine Year Plan. With a new understanding of the mass teaching/mass consolidation process, the Regional Teaching Committee believed that these Assemblies can be maintained although it may be a number of years before frequent and regular assistance will not be required — but progress is being made. Within one week after the formation of the Varnville Assembly, this new Institution adopted and opened a new locality. Varnville is currently having regular teaching activities, holding Feasts and children’s classes. This is an example of the mass teaching/mass consolidation process where newly formed Assemblies immediately take on teaching goals and projects to develop their local communities.

GEORGIA MOVES INTO HIGH GEAR

Georgia, which had formed only one Assembly since Riḍván, has moved into the forefront of action in the achievement of commitment and results. Since the Gainesville Assembly formed early in the year, the state has formed four more Assemblies — in College Park, Macon, Roswell, and Newton County. After a joint meeting with the National Teaching Committee in Atlanta, the District Teaching Committee in North Georgia rededicated themselves to achieving even greater victories for the Five Year Plan than the formation of the twelve Assemblies assigned to their District. So eager were they to proffer great victories that a team of teachers was dispatched that very weekend to the Atlanta suburb of East Point. The team taught the Message until there were enough adult believers to form an Assembly there. They then moved on to Covington and Conyers. While in Conyers, the team decided to follow up on the location of some believers with mail return addresses and discovered that a sufficient number of them had moved to the County so that an Assembly can be formed there as well.

These victories are being won mostly through the efforts of two full-time teaching teams of three each and three part-time teams who assist on weekends. Financial support has been generously offered by the resident believers. One student decided to contribute his semester tuition to support the teaching team; he will be working this semester instead of attending school. Another believer in a goal locality sent $500 to assist the teaching efforts.

With this impetus, the District Teaching Committee is confident far greater victories can be won before the end of the Five Year Plan.

[Page 2]

SPIRITUAL FOUNDATION FOR TEACHING

Most of the projects currently under way around the nation are coupling teacher training or similar institutes with the “Each One Teach One” and team teaching concepts. After having spent a portion of their day deepening and praying, the teachers divide into teams and disperse to find and teach the waiting souls. “It is interesting to note,” said one of the National Teaching Committee’s resource persons assisting with training institutes around the country, “that the aim of the teachers is not to force people to hear about the Faith, but rather to make friends with whom they can immediately share the Faith.”

Following are excerpts from a letter received by the National Teaching Committee which tell of the importance of spiritual preparation for teaching and the spiritual transformation which can occur when an individual arises to serve the Cause and places his trust in God.

“My life changed in El Centro, California, last month ... it was the first time I can really say that I have felt the spirit. It was clear and evident to me when I left that I had been sent there not to teach, but to learn. And learn I did, for there a long-time question was answered ... My question: ‘Why is our teach­ing here so difficult? Why are there none or very few believers? And why can’t I teach effectively?’ It became so clear to me why — we are teaching but not spiritually preparing ourselves. Spiritual preparation most always comes through intense and constant prayer — prayer from the heart and the use of special prayers many times. Prayer is our channel to Bahá’u’lláh, He kindles our fire and gives us guidance. We have been trying to teach without the spirit. It is the spirit that quickens souls. Just being a Bahá’í is not enough — we must be overflowing with the spirit and love of our Faith and prayer is how we receive it. How else can we arrive at the state of absolute detachment, pure heart, loving spirit and full enkindlement that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá tells us we must have? We must also meditate, act on our decisions and persevere.

“I have always been a little shy and silent person. Now I am overflowing with spiritual ecstasy, I cannot be silent. I believe I have found our missing ingredient to our area’s (and most assuredly other’s) teaching recipes — insufficient amounts of prayer, naturally resulting in a lack of enkindlement and possibly a lack of spiritual love ...

“Since I have been using ... prayers, two friends of mine have asked me to teach the Faith without my asking! And before I was always sad because I never had anyone to teach!

“It is the waiting souls we must find to save the Five Year Plan. These are the ones who as soon as they find the spiritual essence they are waiting for, will embrace it immediately. They are in every city. We must make ourselves pure and selfless channels so that Bahá’u’lláh can guide us to them. Perhaps we have come in contact with them before, and if they cannot feel the spirit from us, heaven forbid, they won’t join us! We must also plant seed, too, among the ‘unripe.’ Both are important.

“One of the things that was impressed upon us (was) that we are not the ones bringing believers to the Faith, Bahá’u’lláh does the work. We are only the instruments, the pure channels taking the first step. (Read The Individual and Teaching, pp. 20-21.)

“The Concourse on High is waiting for us. Unseen divine assistance is waiting for just one soul to take the first step.”

[Page 3]

HANDS OF THE CAUSE VISIT TEACHING SITES

During August 21–31, Hands of the Cause Mr. Khadem and Mr. Robarts traveled to various places in the country visiting mass teaching/mass consolidation projects then in progress. Mr. Khadem met with the newly formed Local Spiritual Assembly in Lemon Grove, California, and held a general meeting with its community. He also held two meetings with the believers in San Diego. During his journey to the West Coast, Mr. Khadem joined the believers on three Indian Reservations where he gave public addresses and held meetings with the Bahá’ís. The Reservations he visited were the Pala and Campo Reservations in California and the Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho. In October, Mr. Khadem will travel to New York to visit the teaching projects under way there.

Mr. Robarts traveled from his home in Canada into the Southern states where he visited with the teaching teams and new believers in various locations including Atlanta, Georgia, and Columbia and Orangeburg, South Carolina. Mr. Robarts concluded his trip with a special session at the Louis Gregory Bahá’í Institute.

MASSACHUSETTS REAPS VICTORIES — SMALL TEAMS WIN GOALS

Reports from the Massachusetts project coordinator and various teachers on the teaching project sites indicate that the state is assured of winning its assigned goals. Thirteen goal areas have been selected for special concentration of teaching efforts and where Assemblies are to be raised before the end of the Five Year Plan. If this is achieved, the District will have exceeded its assigned Assembly goal by five.

The teaching project began in Watertown which was a Group of seven adult believers. During the stay there, one new believer was enrolled and two homefront pioneers have committed themselves to move there to help form the Assembly. So on fire with the Cause was the new believer that he immediately began holding firesides in his home and joined the teaching team during the remainder of the team’s stay in Watertown.

The next stop, which would last for twelve days, was in Framingham. The teaching efforts resulted in ten enrollments, which brings the Group up to thirteen adults. The District Teaching Committee is following up with consolidation to establish the Assembly. The new believers represent a wide diversity of backgrounds including Spanish-speaking, Filipino, Black and Oriental origins. One of the new believers, of Chinese descent, joined the team during its stay in Framingham and indicated that she must study the Faith very carefully because she wants to go to China and teach 900 million people about Bahá’u’lláh — for Whom she knows they are waiting. When another seeker was told how many more Bahá’ís were needed to form a Spiritual Assembly in Framingham, he replied, “Well, now you need one less — count me in.” A third new believer literally fell into the arms of some teachers when he lost control of his bicycle while crossing a bridge. The teachers used the opportunity to tell him about the Faith and he declared.

There are many more such success stories for the Massachusetts teaching project. These results come from a teaching team that is comprised of only five full-time teachers and three to four part-time teachers who aid on weekends. Throughout the country, the results are being gained by small numbers of teachers who focus first on a goal Group, bringing it to Assembly status, then moving on to the next goal. It is through the generous support in a variety of ways from the teachers, the local believers and various institutions of the Faith that these victories have been made possible.

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TEACHING IN TAOS COUNTY, NEW MEXICO — GROUP NEARS ASSEMBLY STATUS

A week-long intensive teaching effort in Taos County, New Mexico, resulted in two enrollments and the rediscovery of two other believers who had been out of touch with the Faith. With the commitment from two other believers to homefront pioneer to the goal Group, the District Teaching Committee is confident that the Taos County Assembly will be forming soon.

THE INVITATION: GAINING COMMITMENT AND ENROLLMENT

As an aid to the numerous mass teaching/mass consolidation projects currently in operation, the National Teaching Committee held a special conference in Atlanta, Georgia, August 11–13. Called to attend the meeting were twenty-five project coordinators from various Southern, Northeastern and Central states. A major thrust of the program revolved around the invitation to join the Faith and the enrollment process.

Presentations and consultation on the subject of enrollment pointed out that one of the main contributors to the apparent lag between the reported high volume of declarations and the proportionately low number of actual enrollments is that the teachers are not asking the seekers to join the Faith.

“We must ask the seekers to become Bahá’ís,” said Larry Miller, Vice-Chairman of the National Teaching Committee and Chairman of the conference. He said we must invite our friends to join the Faith and encourage them to make a commitment to Bahá’u’lláh. That way, they will know that there is in fact something to be a part of, something with which to identify.

Also discussed was the urgent need for coordination and cooperative collaboration among the Assemblies and District Teaching Committees dealing with the enrollment of new believers. It was noted that it should be clarified at the beginning of the teaching projects which body will process enrollments in goal Groups that have been adopted by a Local Spiritual Assembly.

“The most important thing,” Mr. Miller said, “is that some administrative body take action on processing the enrollments before the commitment is lost.” Reemphasized was the understanding that the Assemblies and District Teaching Committees do not themselves have to meet with each new believer or declarant. Many efficient provisions were suggested. One example was appointing representatives and/or committees to ascertain the readiness of the declarants to become Bahá’ís. Delegation in some form or other appeared to be the only effective method of dealing with large volumes of declarations and enrollments.

The conference also covered the area of requirements for enrollment. The National Teaching Committee commented that, obviously, the best source for guidance in this sensitive area is found in Guidelines for Local Spiritual Assemblies where a letter written on behalf of the Guardian is cited. The letter states: “The essential is not that the beginner should have a full and detailed knowledge of the Cause, a thing which is obviously impossible in the vast majority of cases, but that he should, by an act of his own will, be willing to uphold and follow the truth and guidance set forth in the Teachings.”

“There are no specific requirements or mandatory classes to be attended to be qualified for enrollment into the Faith,” Mr. Miller said. He indicated that while this is so, such booklets as God’s New Age and On Becoming a Bahá’í are particularly helpful during the enrollment process. He reminded the friends of the two essentials required for enrollment that are denoted in Guidelines for Local Spiritual Assemblies which are “understanding the station or reality of the Manifestation, and the recognition of Bahá’u’lláh in that station.”

[Page 5]

ASSEMBLIES REACH ONE THOUSAND SEVENTY-EIGHT IN NUMBER

Based on formation papers submitted to the Bahá’í National Center coupled with several telephone reports, the number of Assemblies in the United States has risen to 1,078. The National Teaching Committee feels confident that the American Bahá’í community can reach and even exceed the interim goal of 1,100 Assemblies by District Convention, October 1. With this goal achieved, the American believers still have the task of raising up yet another 300 Local Spiritual Assemblies before the end of the Plan with no losses to those already formed in order to fulfill our assigned goal of 1,400 Assemblies.

TEACHERS ARISE IN ILLINOIS — WIN GOALS ONE AT A TIME

Setting the pace in the state, the District Teaching Committee for Southern Illinois has organized regular weekend teaching projects in various locations throughout their District. The teachers and consolidators work in the goal area until the desired goal is achieved — reports indicate that it usually only takes the one weekend. During the weekend of September 10–11, approximately 70 Bahá’ís joined together in Decatur under the cooperation of the Local Spiritual Assembly and the District Teaching Committee. In the course of the weekend, the teachers received 46 interest cards. Twenty-eight individuals in Decatur and ten in a nearby unopened locality declared their belief in Bahá’u’lláh. The goal there was to incorporate the Assembly. On the following weekend, eighteen teachers went to the city of Centralia, an unopened locality that sits in two unopened counties. People in both the goal counties declared. The District Teaching Committee is working very closely with the teaching teams to ensure immediate and careful consolidation and follow-up.

CALIFORNIA VICTORY MARCH CONCLUDED — TEACHING WORK CONTINUES

As of early September, the California Victory Team concluded its statewide Victory March. But this has not brought an end to the teaching work in California. Those members of the team who are available for the fall are being scheduled through the District Teaching Committees into various locations throughout the state to continue assisting the teaching and consolidation work. The California Regional Teaching Committee states that the number of Groups with nine or more adult believers and where Assemblies can be formed immediately has increased to twenty-seven. The work ahead for the believers in the state is clear and the task is a formidable one. Continued prayers for the success of their endeavors in California are requested by the Regional Committee.

THREE STATES SHOW MORE THAN 100 PER CENT NET INCREASE IN ASSEMBLIES

South Dakota, Wyoming and Nebraska have each seen a net increase in Assemblies during the Five Year Plan in excess of 100 per cent. South Dakota has grown from having two Assemblies at the beginning of the Plan to its current seven Assemblies. Wyoming came into the Plan with two Assemblies and now has five. Nebraska started the Five Year Plan with three Assemblies and to date has raised up another four to give the state its present seven Assemblies.

FIRST NORTH AMERICAN BAHÁ’Í NATIVE COUNCIL SCHEDULED

October 7-8, the Continental Indigenous Council will be holding the first North American Bahá’í Native Council. The event will take place at White Swan on the Yakima Reservation in Washington. Representatives from the United States, Canada and Alaska will be in attendance. Hand of the Cause of God Mr. John Robarts and Counsellor Angus Cowan will be special guests. All Native North American believers are encouraged to attend.

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NATIONAL ASSEMBLY CALLS FOR DISPERSAL TO AID IN WINNING LOCALITY GOALS

FOLLOWING MESSAGE ADDRESSED TO ALL COMMUNITIES WITH 50 OR MORE BELIEVERS:

WE ARE MOVED TO ADDRESS ANXIOUS APPEAL TO INDIVIDUAL BELIEVERS IN LARGE BAHA’I COMMUNITIES LIKE YOURS, THE HOUR HAVING STRUCK FOR THE BEGINNING OF A MIGHTY MOVEMENT OF PIONEERS TO FILL REMAINING LOCALITY GOALS AND THEREBY TO COMPLEMENT ARDUOUS STRIVINGS OF FRIENDS NOW ENGAGED IN VARIETY OF TEACHING PROJECTS THROUGHOUT COUNTRY. WITH OVER 1100 LOCALITIES YET TO BE OPENED THE NEED TO DISPERSE HAS BECOME ACUTE. FIVE YEAR PLAN HANGS IN THE BALANCE. PRIMACY OF AMERICAN BAHA’I COMMUNITY AS BESTOWED IN SACRED TEXTS THREATENED IF IMMEDIATE RESOLUTE ACTION IS NOT TAKEN TO FILL ALL REMAINING GOALS ON HOME FRONT. THEREFORE, HOPE-FILLED, WE REACH OUT NOW TO THE INDIVIDUAL BELIEVER FOR SOME RESPONSE THAT WILL GUARANTEE INDISPENSABLE TRIUMPH, A TRIUMPH THAT WILL HAVE MEANING NOT ONLY FOR OURSELVES BUT ALSO FOR ALL OTHER BAHA’I COMMUNITIES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD WHICH LOOK TO THE AMERICAN COMMUNITY FOR LEADERSHIP IN THE SUCCESSFUL EXECUTION OF EVERY PHASE OF ’ABDU’L-BAHA’S DIVINE PLAN.

WE ANXIOUSLY SOLICIT ASSISTANCE OF ALL CONTINENTAL COUNSELLORS, AUXILIARY BOARD MEMBERS AND THEIR ASSISTANTS. URGE NATIONAL TEACHING COMMITTEE, REGIONAL AND DISTRICT TEACHING COMMITTEES, AND LOCAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLIES FIRST TO CARRY FORWARD THIS CALL THEN TO FACILITATE QUICKLY AND EFFICIENTLY THE OFFERS OF ALL WHO RESPOND. THINK WHAT ONE BELIEVER CAN DO AT A TIME LIKE THIS. HE OR SHE ALONE BY OPENING A NEW LOCALITY TO THE FAITH CAN ACHIEVE ONE SIGNIFICANT GOAL OF THE FIVE YEAR PLAN. WHAT AN OPPORTUNITY FOR ETERNAL BLESSINGS.

NO OBSTACLE, DEAR FRIENDS, MUST BAR THE WAY; NO PROMISE OF TOMORROWS POSTPONE YOUR MOVE. OPPORTUNITIES FACING YOU NOW HOLD GOLDEN POSSIBILITIES NOT TO BE DEFERRED. GOD WILLING BY DISTRICT CONVENTION DAY, 1 OCTOBER, THIS GIGANTIC MOVEMENT OF PIONEERS WILL HAVE BEGUN.

CONTEMPLATING THE ZERO HOUR RAPIDLY APPROACHING, WE REFLECT ON YEARS PAST WHEN SOMBER CIRCUMSTANCES DISCOURAGED THE HEARTS, CLOUDED THE OUTLOOK OF THE AMERICAN BELIEVERS. YET IT HAS BEEN AT SUCH TIMES THAT THE GUIDING VOICE OF THE BELOVED GUARDIAN SUMMONED THEM TO THE PATH OF VICTORY, “HOWEVER ARDUOUS THE TASK! HOWEVER FORMIDABLE THE EXERTIONS DEMANDED OF THEM! HOWEVER DARK THE DAYS WHICH THAT COMMUNITY, BEWILDERED, PERPLEXED AND SORELY TRIED MUST, IN ITS HOUR OF TRAVAIL, TRAVERSE! HOWEVER SEVERE THE TESTS WITH WHICH THEY WHO ARE TO REDEEM ITS FORTUNES WILL BE CONFRONTED.”

HEAR HIM NOW: “I ADJURE THEM,” WAS HIS SOLEMN APPEAL DURING THE WANING DAYS OF THE SECOND SEVEN YEAR PLAN TO A STRUGGLING AMERICAN COMMUNITY, “BY THE PRECIOUS BLOOD THAT FLOWED IN SUCH GREAT PROFUSION, BY THE LIVES OF THE UNNUMBERED SAINTS AND HEROES WHO WERE IMMOLATED, BY THE SUPREME, THE GLORIOUS SACRIFICE OF THE PROPHET-HERALD OF OUR FAITH, BY THE TRIBULATIONS WHICH ITS FOUNDER HIMSELF, WILLINGLY UNDERWENT, SO THAT HIS CAUSE MIGHT LIVE, HIS ORDER MIGHT REDEEM A SHATTERED WORLD AND ITS GLORY MIGHT SUFFUSE THE ENTIRE PLANET—I ADJURE THEM, AS THIS SOLEMN HOUR DRAWS NIGH, TO RESOLVE NEVER TO FLINCH, NEVER TO HESITATE, NEVER TO RELAX, UNTIL EACH OBJECTIVE IN THE PLANS TO BE PROCLAIMED, AT A LATER DATE, HAS BEEN FULLY CONSUMMATED.”

WITH LOVING BAHÁ’Í GREETINGS,

NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE BAHÁ’ÍS OF THE UNITED STATES

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The National Spiritual Assembly wired a special message to more than forty Assemblies with communities of fifty or more believers. The message addressed the urgent need for home front pioneers to help win the remaining locality goals throughout the country.

More than 1,100 localities still need to be opened to the Faith in order to win our assigned goal of 7,000 localities.

The National Spiritual Assembly in its message says that it is now reaching out to the individual believer to make a commitment to help win this important goal of the Five Year Plan.

We are warned by our National Assembly that the Five Year Plan hangs in the balance and that we stand a chance of failing to win all our assigned goals.

This is an opportunity for the individual to personally or with his or her family fill a significant goal of the Five Year Plan. One need not be an adult to fill this goal. Youth, after consultation with their families, could also move to an unopened locality and help the Plan.

The National Assembly also cautions that in no way can the American believers rely on the efforts of the home front pioneers alone to fill all the remaining locality goals. The hoped-for flood of pioneers must be coupled with an increase in our teaching efforts to open these localities to the Faith.

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Communities are beginning to respond to the call. One family in Ohio opened their letter, “Dearest Bahá’í co-workers, we shall move.” They closed, “Marching forward to an arena of service that will come to us for so short a time.”

[Page 7]

EAST TEXAS #1 PRESSES FOR TWELVE ASSEMBLY FORMATIONS BY OCTOBER 1

In an effort to help the nation reach 1,100 Assemblies by District Convention, the believers in Eastern Texas #1 are striving to raise up nine additional Spiritual Assemblies by October 1 — Convention day. Achievement of this goal will mean the successful completion of their assigned Assembly goal with a surplus of one. Three Assemblies have been formed already in Ennis, Hurst, and Karnack.

ENROLLMENTS INCREASE NATIONWIDE

The intensified teaching efforts on the part of the believers across the nation are beginning to bear fruit. Enrollments during the last few weeks have doubled the number received during previous weeks. Since the many mass teaching/mass consolidation projects began in early June, we have witnessed the enrollment of some 885 new believers. We have been averaging between 60 and 70 enrollments per week. During the week of September 7-14, 144 new believers were enrolled among the ranks of Bahá’u’lláh. Most of these enrollments have come from California and South Carolina, where they enrolled 54 and 17, respectively.

While this news of increasing enrollments is uplifting, the National Teaching Committee has noted that not only must this level be maintained, but it must be increased to assure complete victory for the Five Year Plan. In these last few months of the Plan, we must endeavor to find ways to augment the summer teaching work, increase the effectiveness of our teaching and bring our efforts to a conclusion.

LETTER TO THE TREASURER

Dearest Friends:

Alláh-u-Abhá! I am writing on behalf of my husband, Thomas, and myself. We know not how to put our feelings into words and letter. I have just returned from the first week of the Mass Teaching Project in Watertown, Massachusetts. Thomas remained here in Belchertown supplying us with constant prayers and love.

It is nearly impossible to express the feelings of that week. The blessings promised to those who arise came showering down. The love and unity within the teaching team must surely be felt throughout the state and the nation; the feelings are so overpowering!

Upon my return, we felt it was time to make a financial sacrifice for the Faith. We are sending this check as a demonstration of our love for the Cause, our faith in Bahá’u’lláh and the mass teaching work, and the joy which we feel.

Our lives were truly transformed by the experiences of these weeks. Never before had I understood to the depth of my heart and soul the duty that Bahá’u’lláh has given us — to teach! I now understand the urgency of the hour and truth of His words that the confirmations will be many for those who arise.

With this gift of our hearts go our prayers for the field coordinators, the teaching team and our Bahá’í brothers and sisters throughout the world.

Bahá’u’lláh’s army is on the march!

Rosanne and Thomas Buzzell

Belchertown, MA

[Page 8]

NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY TO MEET AND TEACH IN NEW YORK STATE

On the weekend of October 13-15, the National Assembly will be holding its Assembly meeting in Rochester, New York. On Friday evening, members of the National Spiritual Assembly will give firesides in various homes of resident believers. Bahá’ís are welcome to attend these firesides as long as they bring a non-Bahá’í with them. The purpose of the firesides is, of course, teaching. On Saturday afternoon from 3:00 to 6:00, the National Assembly will hold a general meeting for all Bahá’ís.

EACH ONE/TEACH ONE — FOR ASSEMBLIES

With the formation of nearly sixty new and restored Local Spiritual Assemblies, the National Teaching Committee is promoting a system that is felt will assist in the preservation of the victories won for the Five Year Plan, as well as speed the achievement of further goals during the remaining months of the Plan. The Committee is encouraging each newly formed or restored Assembly to immediately adopt an extension teaching goal wherein its community can concentrate its teaching efforts with the goal of raising up another Spiritual Assembly. It is based on the “Each One/Teach One” concept of teaching but applied to Assemblies — each Assembly helps establish a new Assembly.

Such action taken by an Assembly will enhance the spiritual health of both the Assembly and its community. It will also augment the administrative strength and capabilities of the Assembly and will directly contribute to a victorious completion of the Five Year Plan by adding to the number of needed Assemblies.

The spiritual growth of an Assembly and its community can be a product of deepening combined with action on the part of those being deepened. In this case, teaching, which involves deepening, expansion and consolidation, is the mode for fostering spiritual health.

Administratively, an Assembly is strengthened through adopting an extension teaching goal in that as the body of nine meets to create and implement a teaching plan for its goal locality, it will gain experience in consultation, decision-making, delegation of tasks and numerous other facets necessary to administrative development.

Several new Assemblies have already adopted goal areas and currently are engaged in teaching activities in them. Two such Assemblies are Burns, Oregon, which has adopted Haines, and Varnville, South Carolina, which has adopted Brunson.