April 7, 2016

 

To the American Bahá'í community

     for the Feast of Jalál

 

Dearly loved Friends,

 

As the Ridván Festival fast approaches, the National Spiritual Assembly feels inspired to share with you wonderful reports we are receiving on two important fronts.

 

First is the news that the number of clusters with programs of growth in operation continues to increase―the total at this writing is 610! And while efforts are being made both to establish new programs in still more clusters and to strengthen existing ones, believers throughout the country are coming together to discuss the objectives of the new Five Year Plan. The Regional Bahá'í Councils are organizing meetings of the friends in groupings of clusters to consult on the spiritual and practical implications of the guidance provided by the Universal House of Justice. That guidance will obviously have great influence on the form our individual and collective services will take in the years leading up to 2021 and the completion of the first century of our beloved Faith’s Formative Age.

 

To add to the bounties already received this year, March 26 brought us two more momentous messages from the Supreme Institution―one addressed to the Bahá'ís of the world, the other to the Bahá'ís of the United States and Canada―each of them noting with great joy the centenary of the revelation by ‘Abdu'l-Bahá of the first of the Tablets of the Divine Plan. Though already circulated to the entire community, the two messages are attached for your convenience. We hope you will take the occasion of this Feast to read and discuss them both, for they will aid immeasurably in strengthening our unity of purpose and steeling our determination to further the divine mission this community was given a century ago.

 

Be assured of our abiding love and of our prayers for your happiness and well-being in the festive season soon to begin and throughout the year.

 

                                          With loving Bahá'í greetings,

                                          NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF

                                          THE BAHÁ'ÍS OF THE UNITED STATES

                                          Kenneth E. Bowers

                                          Secretary