Ruhi

A steady flow of individuals through the sequence of courses is required if the training

institute is to prepare the human resources necessary to respond to the demands of the process of growth at ever-higher levels of complexity. The first stage in the development of the institute process in your country drew largely upon the participation of veteran believers. Another considerable advance came when, following the regional conferences in 2008 at the midpoint of the last Plan, there was a marked upsurge in the involvement of the believers and their friends in the institute process. And whilst it is clear that the programs of the institute will continue to be offered to anyone, what is equally clear is that your community is now poised for a major turning point as you labor to realize the potential for the movement of thousands of young people through the sequence of courses. When buttressed by the wholehearted support of the community, such a movement would not only lend impetus to the advancement of clusters throughout the United States, but this focus on working with so significant a number of youth will also naturally shape the next phase of the development of training institutes in your country.

Among the questions to be addressed are how to deepen conversations and expand bonds of friendship within groups of youth, how to foster and sustain acts of service, how to teach those who demonstrate interest in the Faith, and how to combine the activities of the youth within the larger pattern of cluster activities. Central to this inquiry is to learn how to assist as many young people as possible to study the sequence of courses in order to raise their capacity and broaden the scope of their action. Efforts must be redoubled, then, to strengthen regional institutes—enhancing the functioning of their boards, their regional and subregional arrangements, their cluster coordinators, and their tutors. By learning how to raise up and accompany even a few dedicated and effective tutors in each cluster, institutes can provide for the capacity that is required for the movement of a sizable number of individuals through the sequence of courses each year.

It is natural that any given educational program would not appeal to everyone, and clearly participating in the courses of an institute is not a requirement to be fulfilled by all believers. In no way, then, should those who do not wish to take part feel that they are disobeying the directives of the Universal House of Justice. It does ask, however, that everyone, even those not involved, support the institute process and not impede its steady progress.

Let them not fail to appreciate the value of the culture now taken root in the community that promotes the systematic study of the Creative Word in small groups in order to build capacity for service.

Of course, since the outset of the Four Year Plan there have been believers, some with the noblest of intentions, who have preferred to focus on other pursuits. In this regard it seems that the House of Justice has been anxious that they not feel compelled to do otherwise.

The approval of institute or other educational programs is not a task that the Universal House of Justice generally undertakes. Nevertheless, it is well aware that the materials of the Ruhi Institute have played a significant role in the development of most institutes around the world.

The educational process associated with the training institute is, of course, helping to foster the spiritual conditions to which the Guardian referred in “The Advent of Divine Justice,” along with the many others mentioned in the writings that must distinguish the life of the Bahá’í community--the spirit of unity that must animate the friends, the ties of love that must bind them, the firmness in the Covenant that must sustain them, and the reliance and trust they must place on the power of divine assistance, to note but a few. That such essential attributes are developed in the context of building capacity for service, in an environment that cultivates systematic action, is particularly noteworthy.

The establishment of training institutes is critical to such effort, since they are centres through which large numbers of individuals can acquire and improve their ability to teach and administer the Faith. Their existence underscores the importance of knowledge of the Faith as a source of power for invigorating the life of the Bahá’í community and of the individuals who compose it.

The House of Justice feels that it would be beneficial for you to separate in your mind the training institute process, so intimately connected with the promotion of large-scale expansion and consolidation, from the many deepening classes, workshops and summer school courses that form a fundamental part of Bahá’í community life. Their number and diversity actually seem to be on the rise as a result of the institute process. Indeed, you will be reassured to know that, as the believers gain confidence in their capacity to serve through the institute process, a much richer expression of the diverse talents of the friends is beginning to appear in the Bahá’í world -- a richness that bodes well for the future progress of the Cause.

The House of Justice feels that you need to consider this issue in the larger context of the development of the training institute as an element essential to the growth of the Faith, beginning with the Four Year Plan. Given the nature of this agency and the purpose defined for it by the House of Justice, it goes without saying that the emerging training institutes around the world would choose a sequence of courses and offer them to the friends in the territories they respectively serve. To have a large number of believers engaged in the study of these courses, far from a sign of uniformity, is part of the natural dynamics of a successful educational program. That at this point in the development of the Bahá’í community a significant percentage of the training institutes worldwide have opted to initiate their activities with a set of materials that has proven itself effective over many years of experience is a welcome phenomenon.

With regard to institute courses, at no time has the House of Justice expressed the view that participating in the courses of an institute is a requirement to be met by every believer. It does ask, nevertheless, that everyone, even those not involved, support the institute process and not impede its steady progress. However, as a Local Spiritual Assembly, you are quite clearly in a different position than an individual believer. One of the central features of the Four Year Plan was the development of the training institute process as the engine for the growth of the Faith, a feature that will continue to distinguish the global Plans in this latter part of the first century of the Faith’s Formative Age. It is assumed that the Bahá’í institutions at all levels carry out their programs and activities in the framework of the global Plans outlined by the Universal House of Justice, and it prays that, as a result of your close collaboration with other Bahá’í institutions serving -----, you will be confirmed in your endeavors to advance the process of entry by troops.

You indicate that, despite your personal disapproval of the materials being used by institutes in . . . , you feel under an obligation to continue focusing your efforts on the core activities of the present Plan. The House of Justice believes that, given your views, there is no reason for you to feel such an obligation, and you are advised to determine, in the privacy of your own conscience, those ways in which you can most effectively serve the advancement of the Cause.

Believers who have completed the second course should be immediately deployed in home visits.

On assessing the opportunities and needs of their respective communities, the great majority of National Spiritual Assemblies have chosen to adopt the course materials devised by the Ruhi Institute, finding them most responsive to the Plan’s needs. This has had the collateral benefit that the same materials have been translated into many languages and, wherever Bahá’ís travel, they find other friends following the same path and familiar with the same books and methods.”