Newsletter of the Bahá'í Community in Northern Ireland
Issue 70 - 16 'Azamat 159 BE - 1 June 2002 CE
FROM THE BAHÁ'Í COUNCIL FOR NORTHERN IRELAND
MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
TO: The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the
United Kingdom
DATE: 5 May 2002
The Universal House of Justice was pleased to receive your email letter of 17 April 2002, together with its enclosure, informing it of the NawRúz message received from the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. The appreciation expressed in that letter of the contribution of the believers in Northern Ireland is noted with interest, and surely can be attributed to the sustained and dedicated efforts in the external affairs field by the friends in that region.
Department of the Secretariat
Seven Local Spiritual Assemblies Formed at Ridván.
Given the boundary changes the numbers of Assemblies in the rest of the United Kingdom fell from well over 200 to 127. We in Northern Ireland have done extremely well to be able to form seven at Ridván. We formed in: Belfast, Carrickfergus, Castlereagh, Londonderry, Newtownabbey, Newtownards and North Down.
What is a Study Circle?
A study circle is one element of distance education system administered by
the institute, designed to take its programme for the development of human
resources to the local level. It usually consists of four or more friends in a
given locality, who, with the help of a tutor, study the programme's sequence
of courses together at their pace. Some groups may meet once a week others may
meet for a weekend every so often. The tutors and those participating in the
study circle decide this. On completion of a book, all of the members may go on
to study the next book together or some may leave the group and join another at
a later time. The same tutor may stay with the group from one book to the next.
It is possible for the tutor to change after the completion of a book. Some
members of the study circle may be invited to train as tutors at the end of the
book or as they have completed the main sequence.
[prepared by the Training Institute]