The following statement has been prepared by Mr. Albert
Vail, secretary of the National Teaching Committee, and outlines the plans of
the five regional chairmen for the coming year:
“At the recent National Convention at Green Acre it was
resolved that we make an effort to build the Temple such as has not yet been
known and that we teach the Cause with a universality, a wisdom, a spiritual
radiance and power which will ignite all America. Shoghi Effendi has told us in
many letters that now is the time to make a superhuman effort to teach the
Cause and to live a life pure and severed and radiant and divine ‘so that the
power of God in us may fill the world with all its glory.’
“The new National Teaching Committee at its first meeting,
after the Convention at Green Acre, worked out a series of plans to make this,
if possible, the greatest teaching year in all Baha’i history. First of all, it
was realized that we need many more teachers. As ‘Abdu’l-Baha wrote some years
ago, ‘There is need of a thousand teachers, each one severed from the world,
attracted by the Holy Spirit in the Celestial Concourse and joyful through the
Kingdom of God and in perfect sanctity, holiness and sufficiency (independence
of spirit.)’
“A series of teaching conventions in each of the five
districts outlined by the Master in His great Teaching Tablets will help to call
forth, inspire and equip these teachers.
“At Green Acre there was started immediately after the
Convention a series of conferences upon methods of teaching which proved very
successful. Out of these conferences was born a class for practice work in which
the younger and older believers made addresses before the class, thus gaining
practical experience for the great work of presenting the Cause to all types of
people with wisdom and with spiritual power. It is hoped that ultimately there
will develop at Green Acre a summer school of religion for the study of the
divine philosophy, of comparative religions, of contemporary religious
movements, English composition, public speaking and the best methods for
presenting the Glad Tidings of the Kingdom to the present-day world.
“It is suggested that, in accordance with the instructions
of ‘Abdu’l-Baha in the last of the great Teaching Tablets, each Assembly
organize classes for the training of teachers, ‘so that blessed souls of the
older ones from among the believers may gather the youths of the love of God in
schools of instruction.’
“The spiritual teachers of the future are the children of
today; therefore the National Teaching Committee has asked a group of believers
who have had special training in the education of children to make suggestions
as to the best methods of training our Baha’i children into the radiant
teachers of tomorrow.
“To assist classes and individuals in their preparation for
the glorious work of teaching, the National Teaching Committee is preparing a series
of outlines of study in the various branches of the great field of Baha’i
knowledge, such as interpretation of Scripture and prophecy, the application of
the universal principles to the world today, and the specific methods of
teaching. There will be outlines suggesting how to present the Cause to each of
the groups in society, how to present the Baha’i proofs, outlines concerning
the spiritual life and spiritual preparation for the work of teaching.
“A splendid outline of study for Baha’i classes and for
individual preparation will come from the press during October and be
distributed by the Publishing Committee. It is called ‘God and His
Manifestations,’ and has been prepared by Mrs. J.W. Gift, Peoria, Illinois. It
is just the course of study for which all our American believers are asking, a
guide to the intensive study of our divine Revelation in its many details. It
contains sections upon the need of a Manifestation, His nature, His powers, the
signs of His coming, the proofs by which He is recognized, His influence upon
civilization. This outline may be had from the Publishing Committee or the
local Assembly librarian or from Mrs. Gift, for twenty-five cents a copy, or
three dollars and twenty-five cents a dozen.
“But the first step for all the believers in preparing for
this great campaign is to study anew the Master’s Teaching Tablets, which are
to be found in the ‘Unveiling of the Divine Plan,’ in Baha’i Scriptures,
chapter nine, or in Volume Ten of the ‘Star of the West’; and let us repeat each
day the prayer for our particular region and turn to the Abha Kingdom for
guidance and see if we cannot be of those who rise to travel and teach the
Cause in the regions where it has not yet been proclaimed.