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05 Oct 19 UHJ Large Scale Expansion
Universal House of Justice
(c) 2006 Baha'i World Centre
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THE  UNIVERSAL  HOUSE  OF  JUSTICE  

DEPARTMENT OF THE SECRETARIAT 
Bahá’í World Centre    P.O. Box 155    31 001 Haifa, Israel 
Tel: 972 (4) 835 8358    Fax: 972 (4) 835 8280    Email: secretariat@bwc.org  

  19 October 2005 
Transmitted by email:  usnsa@usbnc.org 
The National Spiritual Assembly of 
    the Bahá’ís of the United States 
Dear Bahá’í Friends, 
As indicated in our message to you dated 21 July 2005, the Universal House of Justice 
was pleased to learn of your interest in drawing upon the experience of the Bahá’í world in 
meeting the administrative challenges associated with large-scale expansion.  At its request,  
the International Teaching Centre has prepared the enclosed statement summarizing the lessons 
learned to date in this regard, which, it is hoped, will assist you in your consultations on the 
subject.  In reviewing the points examined in this thoughtful document, the House of Justice has 
taken the opportunity to consider a number of issues related to the efforts of your community to 
pursue the aim of the Five Year Plan.  Deliberate steps have been taken by your Assembly in 
recent months to focus the energies of the friends on the two movements that lie at the heart  
of the Plan, and the prospects for further impressive achievements by Riván 2006 look bright.  
To reinforce these positive developments and to assist you in extending the scope of your 
determined efforts, the House of Justice has instructed us to convey to you the following 
comments. 
The promising pattern of action emerging in clusters throughout the world integrates 
individual initiative and community endeavor in order to embrace an ever-wider circle of 
people and teach receptive souls.  This pattern appears wherever a sizable number of 
individuals who are moving through the sequence of institute courses make a conscious  
effort to translate what they are learning into action, undertaking specific acts of service that 
challenge them to draw upon the knowledge and insights they are gaining and to sharpen the 
skills and abilities they are developing through the courses.  One of the most noteworthy 
outcomes of the institute courses is the emergence of an ever-increasing number of tutors who, 
having themselves studied the courses and struggled to walk a path of service, engage others in 
the study of the sequence, instilling in them the same desire to arise and serve.  In this way, a 
broad base is laid for universal participation, which remains one of the most fundamental goals 
of the Bahá’í community.  You have, yourselves, witnessed this development in the few clusters 
that have reached an advanced stage of growth.  
You have, likewise, observed how the conditions thus created in such clusters have made 
it possible to launch intensive programs of growth, in which large numbers of friends eagerly 
participate in the learning that takes place through successive cycles of activity seeking to 
integrate well-coordinated collective action with effective individual initiative.  And you are 
equally aware of how interaction among three entities—the institute, the Auxiliary Boards, and 
the Area Teaching Committee—in close collaboration with responsive Local Spiritual



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The National Spiritual Assembly of 
    the Bahá’ís of the United States  
19 October 2005 
Page 2 
Assemblies, can help carry the friends from one cycle to another and accelerate the learning 
process.   
Having come to a good understanding of the dynamics of the development of human 
resources, the advancement of learning through progressive cycles of a growth program, and 
the requisite administrative action by institutions and agencies involved at the cluster level, you 
now need to help the American Bahá’í community focus its energies increasingly on fostering 
them.  If some two to three hundred clusters were to achieve the level of activity already 
reached in the Austin and Broward clusters, the present rate of enrollments could multiply 
tenfold.  This is not an abstract possibility, but a practical objective that lies well within your 
grasp. 
Commitment to establishing sound intensive programs of growth in a realistic number of 
clusters across the nation should provide the basis for addressing the many questions associated 
with the necessary adjustment of your administrative and financial affairs to meet the 
challenges of massive expansion.  The situation today is not unlike the one you faced in the 
1970s when, in the ferment of tumultuous social conditions, and as a result of fresh approaches 
to teaching, the membership of the American Bahá’í community tripled in only a few years.  
The demands of growth necessitated a dramatic change in the administration of the community, 
and a vastly augmented National Center emerged, one that served as a hub for a vibrant 
network of committees, departments, and programs.  This administrative arrangement, 
complemented by a few modest enhancements, has served the community admirably for over 
three decades.  The Universal House of Justice feels that an effort of similar magnitude may 
well be needed to put in place administrative mechanisms that will support the work of the 
community during the next stage of its development.  In considering the nature of these 
mechanisms, you will want to bear certain points in mind.  
With learning about the nature of growth unfolding so rapidly at the grassroots, programs 
related to the expansion and consolidation of the Faith can best be managed at the regional or 
cluster level to ensure they evolve in accordance with practical experience.  The efforts of 
national agencies should be examined to determine whether they overlap with the 
responsibilities granted to agencies at those levels.  Where redundancies occur, the programs  
of national agencies may need to be modified significantly, or perhaps be eliminated altogether, 
so as to avoid creating confusion, diffusing focus, or dividing participation among an array of 
programs which, no matter how valuable in themselves, would end up at cross purposes, 
competing for the limited time and energies of the believers. 
Consider, for example, the multiplication of children’s classes.  You have already made 
modifications to your institutional arrangements for this purpose, and these must be carefully 
monitored to ensure efficiency and effectiveness.  The regional institutes are charged with 
responsibility for the implementation and management of the classes, and they require a wide 
degree of latitude to train the teachers, deploy resources, and collaborate with Local Spiritual 
Assemblies.  The work of the regional institutes is being complemented by a national effort to 
provide curriculum and make available resource persons.  However, if collaboration between 
the institutes and the National Children’s Education and Research Center is not close, or if 
teachers in the clusters are directed from the national level, bypassing the institutes, the 
methodical expansion of classes for children, including the outreach to the wider community, 
will be severely impeded.



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The National Spiritual Assembly of 
    the Bahá’ís of the United States  
19 October 2005 
Page 3 
  
Likewise, the spiritual empowerment of junior youth and their older peers is best 
addressed by an institute working in the context of an intensive program of growth.  An 
example is the Project Badi in Florida which involved some forty youth during July of this  
year.  In a setting of this kind, training and practice are combined, enhancing the capacities of 
the youth.  Not only do they contribute directly to the activities of a cycle of a growth program, 
but they return to their home communities transformed by their summer experience, eager to 
serve in their schools and clusters throughout the year.  This experience, if repeated over a 
series of summers, could well equip youth with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required for 
a lifetime of effective action in the teaching field.  Should the number of such projects multiply 
along with intensive programs of growth, it is not unreasonable to assume that the youth will 
take their rightful place in the forefront of the processes of the Plan, attract their peers to the 
Cause, and revitalize the community with an influx of young people.  In such an effort, the 
basic sequence of institute courses constitutes the curriculum for the youth.  Though certainly 
they will broaden their study of the Faith in a number of other ways, a parallel national program 
for their education would sap the strength of grassroots endeavors and leave them ineffectual. 
Plans to reach specific populations—Hispanics, Muslims, etc.—with the Message of 
Bahá’u’lláh and bring them into the ranks of His followers, too, are most fruitful when they are 
administered and directed at the cluster level, close to where the learning is taking place.  Such 
an approach seems to be confirmed by your experience with the national media campaign, the 
effectiveness of which improved markedly when it became more closely aligned with plans of 
action at the level of the cluster. 
While certain national programs may require significant modification or, quite likely, be 
brought to a close, others may need to be reconceptualized so that they can better reinforce the 
processes unfolding at the cluster level.  The work of agencies such as the Office of Education 
and Schools or the Office of Assembly Development may be enhanced by this kind of a review.  
Your deliberations in this respect may also need to extend to the mandate of the National 
Teaching Committee.  Since the establishment of the Regional Bahá’í Councils several years 
ago, your National Teaching Committee has conducted a range of formal studies on issues 
pertaining to the role of religion in the wider community, as well as on certain aspects of Bahá’í 
community life.  In addition to this, however, increasing efforts have been made over the past 
year to evaluate the results of the Five Year Plan through case studies and the detailed analysis 
of data of various kinds.  As the National Teaching Committee strengthens in this way its 
capacity to systematize the lessons being learned through the action and reflection of the friends 
in communities scattered across the country, it will be able to offer the knowledge gained to the 
institutions at all levels and lend further impetus to the movement of clusters nationwide. 
All of this, of course, has implications for the disposition of your financial resources.   
The allocations you have provided this year to the Councils and regional institutes are  
highly commendable.  Despite contributions made directly by the friends for the work at  
this level, where self-reliance in support of the material needs of activities and projects is  
most meritorious, the demands placed upon the National Fund are likely to increase further  
as the number of intensive programs of growth multiplies significantly.  Yet, as noted in your 
comments to the Counsellors that accompanied your proposed budget for 2005–6, most of your 
resources are directed towards fixed expenses.  As you consider the implications for change 
inherent in the structural adjustments discussed above, you will no doubt find the practical 
means to ensure the uninterrupted flow of funds required at the grassroots.



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The National Spiritual Assembly of 
    the Bahá’ís of the United States  
19 October 2005 
Page 4 
  
The American Bahá’í community stands at an important historical juncture.  The insights 
emerging from its own experience, as well as the entire Bahá’í world, endow it with the 
capacity to reach unprecedented levels of activity.  The burden falls on you and the Counsellors 
to exercise wise leadership to ensure this capacity is fully developed.  The Universal House of 
Justice will offer continued prayers at the Sacred Threshold on your behalf. 
With loving Bahá’í greetings, 
Department of the Secretariat 
Enclosure 
cc:  International Teaching Centre  (with enclosure) 
Counsellors Eugene S. Andrews, 
    Stephen Birkland, and Rebequa Murphy (with enclosure)

