| The chrysalis effect: reflections on Baha'i community transformation
By Beth Lew, Aotearoa Institute Natonal [sic] Coordinator. Recently I was asked to try and explain to my community the purpose and relation- ships of the new institutions that have risen up in response to the Five Year Plan. How do these institutions, specifically Aotearoa Institute, Cluster Institute Coordinators, Cluster Growth Committees and the Cluster Reflection Meeting collaborate with the Local Spiritual Assemblies in our cluster? Meditating on this as I prepared my presentation, I came upon a chrysalis of a butterfly. It seems to me that this is an appropriate symbol of where we are right now in our current state of growth and development. The Universal House of Justice states "...since the beginning of the Four Year Plan, the entire Baha'i world has been undergoing a profound change in culture required by the single focus of the global plans in this latter part of the first century of the Faith's Formative Age— advancing the process of entry by troops.” So here we are in a process of transformation. It’s like the Baha’i community is going from being a caterpillar to a butterfly. The transformation is happening from the inside out—just as happens to the caterpillar. All the structures that the butterfly needs for life are present in the caterpillar. It has eyes, antennae, legs, digestive systems, a heart etc. It’s very good at munch- ing its way around. You could say the Baha’i community is a bit like this. We have all the structures in place that Bahá’u’lláh envisioned, that Ahdu’l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi defined and encouraged. We have Local and National Assemblies, we have consultative processes, we have the Fund, we have summer schools, etc. We’ve been pretty good at munching our way around the country and setting up Local Spiritual Assemblies in lots of localities. But like the caterpillar we haven’t really been able to multiply ourselves very successfully. And like the caterpillar we really don’t know what we will look like or be capable of in the future. But it’s probably going to be pretty amazing. So here we are right now, with all these new processes happening, and all the old ways of doing things—our comfortable old Bahá’i culture—changing all around us. As individuals, the Universal House of Justice has asked us, every year as far as I can remember, to use our initiative, to seek opportunities to teach the Faith and help bring about entry by troops. Some of us rise to this challenge and encouragement the best we are able. Still the growth has been slow in many countries and unsustainable in others. So the Universal House of Justice has decided that what we need is a way to build capacity, empower individual initiative and create a system for confirming seekers and helping them become empowered teachers of the Faith—immediately. The first step: the individual going through the Ruhi courses offered by Aotearoa Institute. If you are a visual per- son, imagine our pyramid with seven levels and an arrow starting at the bottom and pointing to the top. This is where youth have an important part to play. (Imagine a lightning bolt hit- ting the pyramid!) Because they are younger and more flexible, the youth will grasp the lessons and vision of these new processes more rapidly and with greater ability to implement these lessons in their lives. Communities need to be encouraging the youth to participate in the courses, and then listen to their ideas carefully. From my own experience as a long-time Bahá’i involved with the Ruhi courses, it seems very easy for me to think I understand a new process but when I look back at my actions and responses in current situations I can see that I’m often operating from my old patterns and understandings. Youth are far freer from this handicap. The role of the Auxiliary Board members is crucial in this development of the Institute process as well. Think of a big shiny heart pumping love and encouragement over the pyramid as well as the rest of the Bahá’i Community. The International Teaching Centre tells us that those communities where the Auxiliary Board members and the Counselors are intimately involved in the institute process—where they are the tutor trainers of a country, or the institute coordinators of a region, or involved heavily in tutoring, or helping to guide cluster reflection meetings—those communities are experiencing the greatest growth and success. Their dedicated devotion and service to the Faith, their ability to study the guidance, to see the global picture makes their service in this arena vital for our growth and development. So what about these clusters? What is this about? There are a lot of processes happening here but the one that stands out for me is that working in clusters is helping us develop a culture of learning: We've got these “two essential movements” — getting people through the sequence of courses and then growing our clusters through different levels of capacity from C to B to A. We’ve got cluster reflection meetings that help us capture the learning that is happening in short amounts of time and then to effectively inspire and guide individual initiative and action. All of this happens at the grass roots where people can be more receptive to local needs and opportunities. Now as we have people moving through the pyramid of courses, we are getting more and more human resources available for service to the community and humanity. (In your imaginary pyramid—put little lines radiating out from all the levels and out of the top of the pyramid). In order to develop and utilize this new capacity we need to be systematic and some new institutions have developed in order to assist this growth. First we need Cluster or Area Institute Coordinators who help encourage people to go through the sequence and train more people to become tutors, they promote the multiplication of study circles, they keep track of who is doing what and when it’s happening, and they collaborate with the Auxiliary Board, with Assemblies, with Cluster Growth Committees, sharing what they know and what they’re learning. In areas experiencing significant growth, a new structure to help manage this growth has appeared called the cluster teaching or cluster growth committee. The International Teaching Centre advised our National Assembly last year that they might want to consider appointing Cluster Growth Committees to help deploy some of the human resources that are moving through the sequence of courses. Some countries have found that having this committee has helped to avoid a plateau effect, where all the available Bahá’is have gone through the courses but haven’t been able to put into practice what they are learning perhaps because a lack of impetus, organization or leadership. So the Cluster Growth Committee is meant to help focus the energy of people who have finished Book I and could be holding devotional meetings, or have finished Book 2 and could be visiting inactive Baha'is or new believers and sharing deepening classes. Those who have finished Book 3 and may need encouragement and assistance in linking up with children’s classes where they can help. These committees are deploying people as they’ve finished the Institute courses and they are helping keep the cluster reflection meeting on track. I think of this as a giant magnifying glass or crystal that captures the light and energy of lots of rays of light (newly trained human resources) and focuses the light on areas of need. The Auxiliary Board Members are involved in this systematic management as well—collaborating with the institute coordinators and the cluster growth committee, helping with setting the vision and encouraging their assistants to be role models of service. What about the Assemblies? Where do they fit in? In Building Momentum the House of Justice is quoted: All of this opens thrilling opportunities for Local Spiritual Assemblies. Theirs is the chal- lenge, in collaboration with the Auxiliary Board members who counsel and assist them, to utilize the energies and talents of the swelling human resources available in their respective areas of jurisdiction both to create a vibrant community life and to begin influencing the society around them. Intensive growth depends upon encouraging individuals to carry out a rapidly increasing number of core activities and other endeavours and Local Spiritual Assemblies have been instrumental in this process. Though their inspiration and support, a host of individual and collective actions have resulted. By recognizing and facilitating the initiatives of the many friends proceeding through the institute courses, as well as of other devoted servants in their communities, the Assemblies are assuming a style of leadership urged by the Guardian: The first quality for leadership, both among individuals and Assemblies, is the capacity to use the energy and competence that exists in the rank and file of its followers.” Because the planning environment has now broadened to the level of the cluster, often involving several. Local Assemblies and the active participation of the believers in formulating short-term goals, an Assembly’s scope of interest has begun to stretch beyond its boundaries. Its vision is expanded, its re- sources magnified and its opportunities enlarged. So there is a lot for Assemblies to do. (Think of them as big umbrellas, sheltering and nurturing the believers as they develop their new capacities.) They can encourage their members to go through the sequence of courses so they can develop a good understanding of what capacities are being developed. They can attend cluster reflection meetings and be aware of what the needs are across the cluster and what initiative is being offered and what needs to be encouraged. They can utilize the 19-day feast for discussion about the two essential movements and encourage and support individual initiative. They can collaborate with the Cluster Institute Coordinator, the Cluster Growth Committee the Auxiliary Board and the other Assemblies in the Cluster, studying the guidance from Building Momentum together, looking at what capacity has been developed and then set- ting realistic goals and providing direction for the community. So changing from the inside out, we’re looking around us at new institutions bud- ding out in all directions. We’re not sure how they’re supposed to work, we throw some energy into them, watch them stretch, ponder on their significance but most of all, wonder can this really be happening? Entry by troops is really just around the corner! P. 10, Sept 2004 New Zealand Baha'i News |
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