From the Office of the Treasurer
25 November 2019
3 Qawl 176 B.E.
GC-34408
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Contents
– From the Office of the Treasurer
– How to contribute
– Construction advances on historic first national Bahá’í House of Worship
To all believers in the United Kingdom
Dearly loved Friends,
Earlier this year, the National Spiritual Assembly announced that the cost of the Bahá’í Training Centre and the Temple land would be approximately £2.5m each, requiring £5m to be raised over the coming months. In the next few days, the purchase of the Bahá’í Training Centre will be completed. The funds that are needed for this special project and the others currently underway in the UK are now urgently required to avoid depleting precious reserves.
The National Assembly was delighted at the response of the friends to raise funds for the projects – during the summer period and in the run up to the Bicentenary – which saw a total of £364,257 being contributed. This has meant that since the beginning of this year the contributions to all of these projects has been £745,787, but an even greater sacrifice is needed:
The universal participation of the believers in every aspect of the Faith – in contributing to the Fund, in teaching, deepening, living the Bahá’í life, administering the affairs of the community, and, above all, in the life of prayer and devotion to God – will endow the Bahá’í community with such strength that it can overcome the forces of spiritual disintegration which are engulfing the non-Bahá’í world, and can become an ocean of oneness that will cover the face of the planet.1
Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1963 to 1986, p.179
Through universal participation, the goals of the plan can be achieved and through sacrificial contributions the structures needed to support widespread growth can be raised. Thus, once again, the National Assembly is calling the believers to reflect on whether their contribution can be even greater to the Fund:
…There can be no limit to one’s contributions to the national fund. The more one can give the better it is, especially when such offerings necessitate the sacrifice of other wants and desires on the part of the donor. The harder the sacrifice the more meritorious will it be, of course, in the sight of God. For after all it is not so much the quantity of one’s offerings that matters, but rather the measure of deprivation that such offerings entail…2
From a letter of the Guardian to an individual believer, 31 December 1935
To assist with raising these funds, and to promote the other projects upon which our community is embarking, a series of gatherings will be called in the coming months in communities around the United Kingdom to provide an opportunity for the friends to consult with members of the National Assembly and to reflect upon their own capacity to contribute to the advancement of the Plan.
With loving Bahá’í greetings,
Darren Smith,
Treasurer
How to contribute
By post to:
National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United Kingdom, Finance Office, 27 Rutland Gate, London SW7 1PD
Or by bank transfer:
Bank Name: Nat West
Sort Code: 60 04 04
Account No: 18188443
Account Name: NSA – Fund account.
(If using this method, please also send an email to office.treasurer@bahai.org.uk providing your name, details of the amount, and the date of the transfer, and indicate that your contribution is for “The International Collaboration Fund”.) Or online at https://resources.bahai.org.uk/welcome/donations/
Construction advances on historic first national Bahá’í House of Worship
In Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, the excavation work is completed, and the Temple’s foundation is now being laid. Read more, here >
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