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In its 2007 Ridvan message, the House of Justice wrote:
"The first year of the Five Year Plan bears eloquent testimony to the spirit of devotion with which Bahá’u’lláh’s followers have embraced the framework for action presented in our message of 27 December 2005 and their commitment to advancing the process of entry by troops. Where this framework has been applied coherently in all its dimensions in a cluster, steady progress is being achieved, both in terms of the participation of the believers and their friends in community life and in terms of numerical growth, with some clusters reporting enrolments in the hundreds every few months and others in scores. Vital to this development has been a heightened awareness of the spiritual nature of the enterprise, together with an increased understanding of those decision-making instruments that are defined by the principal features of the Plan."
In that message of 27 December 2005, it wrote:
The elements required for a concerted effort to infuse the diverse regions of the world with the spirit of Baha'u'llah's Revelation have crystallized into a framework for action that now needs only to be exploited.
So the purpose of the framework for action is a concerted effort to infuse the diverse regions of the world with the spirit of Baha'u'llah's Revelation.
Our 26 December 1995 message, which focused the Baha'i world on a path of intense learning about the sustained, rapid growth of the Faith, described in general terms the nature of the work that would have to be undertaken in meeting the challenges ahead. As a first step, Baha'i communities were urged to systematize their efforts to develop the human resources of the Cause through a network of training institutes. While every national community took measures to create institutional capacity to perform this essential function, it was not until the outset of the Five Year Plan that the significance of a well-conceived programme of training became widely appreciated. The introduction of the concept of the cluster made it possible for the friends to think about the accelerated growth of the community on a manageable scale and to conceive of it in terms of two complementary, reinforcing movements: the steady flow of individuals through the sequence of institute courses and the movement of clusters from one stage of development to the next. This image helped the believers to analyse the lessons being learned in the field and to employ a common vocabulary to articulate their findings. Never before have the means for establishing a pattern of activity that places equal emphasis on the twin processes of expansion and consolidation been better understood. Indeed, so consistent has been the experience with intensive programmes of growth, implemented on the basis of this understanding in divers clusters, that no cause for equivocation remains. The way forward is clear, and at Ridvan 2006 we will call upon the believers to steel their resolve and to proceed with the full force of their energies on the course that has been so decidedly set.
It looks to me like the framework for action is about intensive programs of growth, implemented on the basis of a steady flow of individuals through the sequence of institute courses and a movement of clusters from one stage of development to the next, in a concerted effort to infuse the diverse regions of the world with the spirit of Baha'u'llah's Revelation. I note that it says "implemented on the basis of," and not "exclusively limited to."
In presenting to you the features of the coming Five Year Plan, the subject of your deliberations in this conference, we will review the record of recent accomplishments of the Baha'i world and indicate how current approaches, methods and instruments should be carried to this next stage. What the analysis will make evident is that the wholehearted response of the individual believer, the community and the institutions to the guidance they received five years ago has raised their capacity to new levels. The continued development of this capacity will remain essential to the aim of advancing the process of entry by troops--the focus of the Baha'i world through the final years of the first century of the Formative Age.
It looks to me like the framework for action is about developing the capacity of the individual believer, the community and the institutions, for a concerted effort to infuse the diverse regions of the world with the spirit of Baha'u'llah's Revelation.
After the introduction, there are four headings:
- The Individual
- The Community
- The Institutions
- Intensive Programs of Growth
It looks to me like the framework for action is about the roles of individuals, communities, institutions and intensive programs of growth, in developing our capacity for a concerted effort to infuse the diverse regions of the world with the spirit of Baha'u'llah's Revelation.
The Individual
- Attitudes and qualities to be developed: sense of initiative and resourcefulness; courage and audacity; consecration, zeal, confidence and tenacity; spirit of enterprise.
- A sequence of courses that seeks to build capacity for service by concentrating on the application of the spiritual insights gained through profound study of the Writings.
- Intense effort to extend the training to hundreds of thousands more over the five years of the Plan.
- A steady increase in the exercise of individual initiative, disciplined by an understanding of the requirements of systematic action in advancing the process of entry by troops, pursued in a humble posture of learning within the framework defined by the Plan.
- Closer association with people of many walks of life, engaging them in earnest conversation on themes of spiritual import.
- Sharing a portion of Baha'u'llah's Revelation, adapting the presentation to the seeker's needs, employing direct teaching methods that draw on the Writings to offer the message in a manner both forthcoming and inviting.
- Learning to assist others also striving to tread a path of service.
The Community
- Steady multiplication of study circles, devotional meetings and children's classes.
- Enrollment of a percentage of new believers in the institute courses.
- A graceful integration of the arts into diverse activities.
- Home visits.
- Cluster reflection meetings.
- Learning woven into the fabric of decision making.
- Strengthening appreciation for systematic action: a unified vision of growth based on a realistic assessment of possibilities and resources; strategies that lend structure to it; plans of action commensurate with capacity; necessary adjustments while maintaining continuity; building on accomplishments.
- Opening certain aspects of community life to the wider public.
- A nurturing environment in which each individual is encouraged to progress at his or her own pace without the pressure of unreasonable expectations.
- Collective action governed more and more by the principle that Baha'u'llah's message should be given liberally and unconditionally to humanity.
- Endeavours being made to reach receptive populations with the teachings of the Faith.
- An uncompromising appreciation for a diversity of backgrounds and for the strength it confers on the whole.
- Maintaining focus on the Plan, without neglecting special needs and interests, and without dropping any essential activities.
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