Perhaps the most reasonable explanation about the Men of the House of Justice was given to me in a personal conversation with Bill Hatcher. He suggested, which is all anyone can do from our positions of ignorance, that the emancipation of women would be resisted by traditional cultures around the world if it was seen, or argued to be simply a “feminist agenda”. The principle of the full emancipation of women in the Baha’i World Faith is driven at the highest administrative level by men.

I will also take this opportunity to express my dismay and bewilderment at the tone of some of the comments I have read in this forum. There is a very good reason why the future is “unknown and unknowable” – it is in the Hands of the Creative Spirit of the Universe and will most likely bear little resemblance to anyone’s opinion.

Great chart. Thanks for putting it together. I believe there is one error though, Hugh Chance retired in 1993.

Steve, I would say a great *addition* to what we have been doing, although by defining new priorities, we are obviously attracting people into new activities and crowding out (temporarily) from many previous activities.

The structure of the elected and appointed pillars will continue unabated, but now, the teaching work is being systematised and organised. This new activity does not need to be systematised on administrative structures as before, but on practical basis of who can meet easily and work in small groups, within neighbourhoods, families and friends.

In France it is working beautifully well and the teaching work is showing unprecedented growth. Fire-sides, study circles, children’s classes, devotional prayers are flourishing, and new Baha’is are no longer abandoned to themselves but swiftly empowered into activities.

Dozens of previously inactive baha’is and non-Baha’is are taking the teaching work into their own hands. This is especially important amongst youth. Previously hardly 50% of kids from Baha’i families were becoming active, whereas now kids are dragging their parents into activities.

Are you sure? My understanding is that the concept of clusters was introduced for general consumption by the House in 2001:

“During the coming months, you will be helping national communities, whose circumstances differ widely, to formulate plans for systematic growth. There are many countries where increased institutional capacity, particularly at the level of the region, now makes it possible to focus attention on smaller geographical areas. Most of these will consist of a cluster of villages and towns, but sometimes, a large city and its suburbs may constitute an area of this kind. Among the factors that determine the boundaries of a cluster are culture, language, patterns of transport, infrastructure, and the social and economic life of the inhabitants. The areas into which a region divides will fall into various categories of development. Some will not yet be open to the Faith, while others will contain a few isolated localities and groups; in some, established communities will be gaining strength through a vigorous institute process; in a few, strong communities of deepened believers will be in a position to take on the challenges of systematic and accelerated expansion and consolidation.”
9 January 2001, from THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE to the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors

I remember when that letter came out, and I thought, “Well that’s a big change from what we’ve been doing.”

ka kite
Steve

[quote post="488"]Sorry, but when was the last time you were involved in your cluster activities?![/quote]

Yay cluster meetings, one of the reasons I became inactive. Who wants to go to badly run happy clappy meetings where they make you do skits all the time, sing happy clappy songs, and draw pretty pictures, all the while getting badgered into dragging your poor innocent friends along to dreadful Baha’i activities for the sole purpose of conversion, doing more and more Ruhi, and praising the lord until the cows come home or entry by troops happens (the former is more likely). Yeah right!

[quote post="488"]Projects and teaching efforts have been based on the needs of the clusters (much smaller than regions!) for more than 10years![/quote]

Bollocks! Needs of the clusters never came into it. It was always 5 year plan, 5 year plan, 5 year plan, and a bunch of dumb spuds up the front with their Ruhi pyramid preaching Ruhi, devotional meetings, and kiddies classes. And the concept of clusters has not been around for over ten years, it came into being during the last 5 year plan.

[quote post="488"]The core activities are not to the exclusion of other activities and they have been named as “portals to entry by troops”…[/quote]

Bollocks! many good activities have been sacrificed in the name of the “three portals”.

[quote post="488"]what’s wrong with focusing on opening our devotional meetings, children’s classes, study of the Word of God (Study Circles), junior youth groups to all the people?…[/quote]

Oh yay, just what society needs, more born again Christians, oops, sorry Baha’is, preying on, oops, praying for their souls. When will we start door knocking? Oh no! for shame! we’ve already started! When will we start hand clapping? Oh no! for shame! Thats what we do at Cluster meetings! When will we start talking in tongues? oops, better keep quiet about that, but I’m sure some bright spark somewhere will be going “what a good idea!”

[quote post="488"]many had been doing that for years now the World Centre is asking all the friends to develop experience in these areas and to share their successes with others so that a new Baha’i can faster and with more confidence and skill be involved in the life of the community and its expansion and consolidation….[/quote]

Aka develop novel (if it is remotely possibly in the Baha’i Faith) or use existing indoctrination techniques (Aka Ruhi = Truth Study) for preying on the weak minded just like many charismatic churches. Watch out! watch out! Here come the drooling hoards of lobotomised Baha’i zombies on the prowl, wanting to feast on our flesh! Wife! wife! get me the shotgun now!

[quote post="488"] that the past 10 years of guidance regarding the “advancement in the process of entry by troops” [/quote]

Rebranded from Entry by Troops because no masses were entering the Faith. Bugger, that really bolloxed up the Baha’is grand plans for conquest. When the world is fighting against obesity, Baha’is are promoting it because their definition of a person of capacity is someone with a large appetite for Tardiq (crispy bits in Persian rice if you didn’t know) [I borrowed this from somewhere, can't remember where, but if you invented the definition, full credit to you].

[quote post="488"]urgency of the times that we are living in [/quote]

Wooo, sounds like a Jehova’s Witness now. Good God! Knock knock! Hello! Do you believe the world is getting worse today? Join the Baha’i Faith. Would you like to read our Watchtower, oops sorry, Ruhi magazine?

[quote post="488"]and lack of appreciation of the maturity of the friends around the globe to take charge of the Faith in their back yard without meeting with this or that LSA or committee… [/quote]

Yes because we’re all horrible intellectual philosophisers with covenant breaking and independent thinking tendencies with a large capacity for Tardiq! Hence Ruhi and cluster meetings to break our spirits, lobotomise our brains and fill our minds with trash.

Welcome to the real Baha’i Faith. Bright and glossy on the outside, rotten and ugly on the inside. You can shove your clusters and portals up where the sun don’t shine!