Systematic Growth in Advanced Clusters

1
Systematic Growth in Advanced Clusters

• May 2004

2
X
3
X
4
X
5
Cycle of Growth
Community building
Training
Once this pattern is established, it is possible
to act systematically to increase its
effectiveness.
Intensive teaching
6
Cycle of Growth
Community building
Training
Suppose you want to build up the pattern of
activity to achieve 50 new believers in a year
50 new believers
Intensive teaching
7
Cycle of Growth
Community building
Training
To achieve this level of growth, how many
contacts should be added to your community of
interest?
50 new believers
Intensive teaching
8
Cycle of Growth
Community building
Training
Study circles 20 Childrens classes
20 Devotional meetings 20
300
To achieve this number of contacts, how many core
activities will you need to establish?
50 new believers
Intensive teaching
9
Cycle of Growth
Community building
Training
Study circles 20 Childrens classes
20 Devotional meetings 20
To establish this number of core activities, how
many people will have to complete the institute
courses?
50 new believers
Intensive teaching
10
Cycle of Growth
Community building
Training
Study circles 20 Childrens classes
20 Devotional meetings 20
These numbers are all estimates. Experience in
your cluster will enable you to devise more
realistic numerical projections.
50 new believers
Intensive teaching
11
Battambang, Cambodia 2002
Includes all ages
12
Battambang, Cambodia 2003
Includes all ages
/- 300
191
1195 609 359 253 53
41
19 35 29
13
Battambang, Cambodia 2004
Includes all ages
/- 300
191
1195 609 359 253 53
41
19 35 29
1325 670 431 301 79
47
24 44 38
/- 1000
661
14
Broward County, Florida, USA 2002
B cluster
15
Broward County, Florida, USA 2003
B cluster
/- 50
7
121 42 30 8
16 17
17 3 8
16
Broward County, Florida, USA 2004
A cluster
/- 50
7
121 42 30 8
16 17
17 3 8
145 66 32 14 21
19
27 5 13
/- 150
14
17
Your Cluster
18
What are the current challenges?

• Are there a sufficient number of tutors?
• Is the training effective?
• Are the friends being encouraged to enlist in the
  institute courses?
• What is the appropriate balance between study
  circles and centralized courses?

19
What are the current challenges?

• How can intensive training be organized?
• Are core activities being multiplied?
• How do we increase the participation of
  non-Baháís in the core activities?
• How do we achieve some initial increase in
  growth?
• Do reflection meetings facilitate learning and
  contribute to the progress of the cluster?

20
What are the current challenges?

• What previous experience do we have in effective
  teaching?
• How do we effectively teach interested
  participants of the core activities?
• Can we form teaching teams?
• How do we reach receptive populations?
• Do we invite seekers to become Baháís?

21
Cluster Administration

• Institute

• Area Teaching Committee

Institute cluster coordinator
Secretary or cluster facilitator
22

• The following is an excerpt from an International
  Teaching Centre letter to a member of the
  Continental Board of Counsellors regarding the
  progress of the Cause in another country
• We were delighted to learn of the progress of
  these advanced clusters, particularly the rise in
  the number of individuals who have completed the
  sequence of institute courses. It is encouraging
  that such a sustained focus on the priority
  clusters has helped to move some of them into the
  position where intensive programs of growth can
  be launched in the near future. To continue to
  ensure that conditions become propitious for
  substantial expansion and consolidation, the
  believers will no doubt wish to redouble their
  teaching efforts, so that they are able to
  attract significant numbers of seekers to their
  core activities and to refine their approaches
  for intensifying the teaching work with this
  ever-growing community of interest.

23
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