National Deputisation Fund
SRL-24735
15 October 2018
19 Mashíyyat 175 B.E.
To all believers in the United Kingdom
Dearly loved co-workers,
It is a source of joy to the National Spiritual Assembly to learn that many friends across the United Kingdom are arising as pioneers, mobile tutors and travelling teachers, and youth are offering a period of service. We know that it is during this “period of special potency”(1) – of which just four, three-month cycles remain – that the “the greatest share of the effort needed to fulfil the goal of the Plan”(2) needs to be exerted.
For the United Kingdom Bahá’í community to make its contribution towards the goal set by the Universal House of Justice of 5,000 clusters across the world having an intensive programme of growth, the National Assembly has concluded that it will be necessary to expand further the pool of dedicated friends arising as pioneers and travelling teachers on a scale that this community has never before experienced. With this in mind, the National Assembly is conscious of the ever- increasing demands on the National Fund and other funds of the Faith.
The enterprise in which the Bahá’í World is engaged, provides an opportunity for every Bahá’í, no matter what their circumstances, to make a contribution. Many are able to respond by moving directly into the field of service, others can play their part by supporting those whose personal situations allow them to arise. This illuminating passage from Bahá’u’lláh throws light upon this:
Centre your energies in the propagation of the Faith of God. Whoso is worthy of so high a calling, let him arise and promote it. Whoso is unable, it is his duty to appoint him who will, in his stead, proclaim this Revelation, whose power hath caused the foundations of the mightiest structures to quake, every mountain to be crushed into dust, and every soul to be dumbfounded….
From these words we understand that the primary responsibility to promote the Faith of God rests with the individual believer. If one is unable to discharge this duty, one can appoint one who will, in his stead, proclaim this Revelation. It is for this reason that a National Deputisation Fund exists, enabling those who wish to financially support those who are able to arise into the field of teaching to do so, and thus partake in the realisation of Bahá’u’lláh’s Mission of uniting the peoples of the world. The National Assembly is calling upon all friends to consider how they might support this Fund at this time.
In its Riḍván message of this year, the Universal House of Justice reminded us that:
The months ahead will also be a time for calling to mind the lives of the Báb’s intrepid followers—heroines and heroes whose faith was expressed in matchless, sacrificial acts that will forever adorn the annals of the Cause. Their qualities of fearlessness, consecration, and detachment from all save God impress themselves upon everyone who learns of their ventures … During the coming period, may their example give courage to the entire company of the faithful—not least to the youth, who are once more summoned to the vanguard of a movement aimed at nothing less than the transformation of the world.
It is the dearest wish of the National Assembly that every believer will find their way of playing their part in this mighty enterprise during these few remaining cycles that are “fleeting opportunities for a stride forward, precious possibilities that will not return.”3
With loving Bahá’í greetings,
Patrick O’Mara, Secretary
1 29 December 2015, Universal House of Justice, to the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors
2 18 May 2016, Universal House of Justice, to all National Spiritual Assemblies