Summoning the Spirit of the Ten Year Crusade - The Southeast Region’s Prayer Campaign to Meet the Goals of the Nine Year Plan
“The series of global Plans that began at Riḍván [2021] will last a full twenty-five years. It will carry the ark of the Cause into the third century of the Bahá’í Era and conclude at Riḍván 2046.” Universal House of Justice, December 30, 2021
Historical Precedent
During the Ten Year Crusade initiated by Shoghi Effendi in 1953, the goals imparted to the Bahá’í world included “doubling the number of countries within the pale of the Faith, involving the opening of 41 countries in Asia, 33 countries in Africa, 30 countries in Europe, 27 countries in the American Continent, or 131 in total; and the opening of the remaining "chief virgin territories" around the globe.”
During the period 1953-1963, 131 countries were opened to the Faith, and 56 National Spiritual Assemblies were established.
Significant goals achieved during the Ten Year Crusade were undoubtedly attained in part with the power of prayer. One reminisces of the days where the Hands of the Cause were charged with the goal of raising the number of National Spiritual Assemblies in the world. Recounting the process of raising the National Spiritual Assembly in Canada, Hand of the Cause Mr. John Robarts shares how a prayer campaign played a central role in the success of this goal. Today, we can be inspired by hearing Mr. Robarts describe this process in his own words.
The Current Plan
Called an “historic mission” in the Universal House of Justice’s letter of 30 December 2021, the goals of the present series of plans, including the current Nine Year Plan, calls us to a level of commitment and sacrifice comparable to that of the Ten Year Crusade. Within the Southeast region, 43 clusters are projected to advance from their current level of growth to the next milestone of progress by Ridván 2026. For a brief explanation of the concept of milestones based on the letters of the House of Justice, see the appendix of this newsletter.
Inspired by the example of the prayer campaign for the Ten Year Crusade mentioned in Mr. Robart’s talk referenced above, the Regional Bahá’í Council has embarked on a prayer campaign, using the same four prayers called upon during the Ten Year Crusade. We invite every child, junior youth and adult to supplicate the Blessed Beauty to assist and sustain individuals, families, agencies and institutions across the region to gain these advances. Join us in the recitation of the prayers below, every day until the end of the of the Nine Year Plan at Ridván, 2031:
- Tablet of Ahmad
- Prayer for the Southern States
- Long Obligatory Prayer
- Recitation of the Greatest Name 95 times
Other ideas on how to participate:
- Hold gatherings to explore the meaning of these prayers
- Recite the prayers, as appropriate, in reflection spaces, children's classes, family devotionals, committee meetings, meetings of cluster/regional agencies and institutions
- Discuss the prayer campaign and your experiences with these special prayers at Feast
- Call a community member to tell them about the campaign and encourage them to participate
- Create a prayer campaign in your community to offer these prayers around the clock
- Invite friends participating in children’s classes, junior youth groups or study circles, to make prayer beads as they discuss the prayer campaign. Distribute these to friends and family in the community
“We hope to have impressed upon you, in these pages, that the present-day capacity of the Bahá’í community, combined with the discipline it has achieved through adherence to a coherent framework for action, has prepared it for an extensive, rigorous test of all its resources, spiritual as well as material. The Plan that will shortly commence—the first major undertaking in a sacred twenty-five-year venture, generational in its scope and significance—will make demands of the individual believer, the community, and the institutions reminiscent of the demands that the Guardian made of the Bahá’í world at the outset of the Ten Year Crusade. If, by the grace of Almighty God, the friends should succeed in reaching the heights of heroism to which they are now summoned, history will assuredly pay tribute to their actions in terms no less glowing than those with which it honours the glorious deeds that decorate the annals of the first century of the Formative Age.” --Universal House of Justice, December 30, 2021
APPENDIX
More about programs of growth:
“Invariably, opportunities afforded by the personal circumstances of the believers initially involved—or perhaps a single homefront pioneer—to enter into meaningful and distinctive conversation with local residents dictate how the process of growth begins in a cluster. A study circle made up of a few friends or colleagues, a class offered for several neighbourhood children, a group formed for junior youth during after-school hours, a devotional gathering hosted for family and friends—any one of these can serve as a stimulus to growth. What happens next follows no predetermined course. Conditions may justify that one core activity be given precedence, multiplying at a rate faster than the others. It is equally possible that all four would advance at a comparable pace. Visiting teams may be called upon to provide impetus to the fledgling set of activities. But irrespective of the specifics, the outcome must be the same. Within every cluster, the level of cohesion achieved among the core activities must be such that, in their totality, a nascent programme for the sustained expansion and consolidation of the Faith can be perceived. That is to say, in whatever combination and however small in number, devotional gatherings, children’s classes and junior youth groups are being maintained by those progressing through the sequence of institute courses and committed to the vision of individual and collective transformation they foster. This initial flow of human resources into the field of systematic action marks the first of several milestones in a process of sustainable growth.” --28 December 2010 – Universal House of Justice to the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors
The Universal House of Justice, in its letters to the Bahá’í world and its institutions, uses the term “milestones” to identify points along a continuum of growth in clusters. In this context, "growth" might be conceptualized as the flow of human resources into the field of systematic action. For brevity, we have paraphrased descriptions of milestones drawn from various letters of the House of Justice, which are cited at the end of this newsletter.
The first milestone portends the emergence of a programme of growth where some combination...however small in number of devotional gatherings, children’s classes and junior youth groups are being maintained by those progressing through the sequence of institute courses. There grows a commitment to the vision of individual and collective transformation fostered by these activities.1
Within this landscape of unfolding processes, emerging structures, and enduring fellowship, that moment which has come to be known as the “launching” of an intensive programme of growth represents conscious recognition that all the elements necessary to accelerate the expansion and consolidation of the Faith are not only in place but also functioning with an adequate degree of effectiveness.2 This stage in a cluster’s advancement is known as the second milestone.
For the movement of a population to have come this far demonstrates that the process which brought it about is strong enough to achieve and sustain a high degree of participation in all aspects of the capacity-building endeavour and manage the complexity entailed. This is another milestone for the friends to pass, the third in succession since the process of growth in a cluster was begun. It denotes the appearance of a system for extending, in centre after centre, a dynamic pattern of community life that can engage a people—men and women, youth and adults—in the work of their own spiritual and social transformation.3
1Universal House of Justice to the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors - December 28, 2010
2Universal House of Justice to the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors - December 28, 2010
3Universal House of Justice to the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors - December 29, 2015
