On Organic Growth: Qualitative always precedes quantitative growth
"Organic growth" uploaded on May 28, 2008 by bemky on flickr
William Hatcher wrote about everything, including the Institute Process. -gw
In any organic process of development, growth is both qualitative and quantitative, but qualitative growth always precedes quantitative growth. Qualitative growth is characterized by two things: specialization and complexification. In the early stages of the development of the Faith, everyone did everything --- public relations, proclamation, teaching, organization, etc. Now we have arrived at the point of complexification where more and more specialized abilities are needed. The training intitutes are conceived precisely for the purpose of allowing for diversified and specialized training, while of course maintaining the important process of deepening in the knowledge and understanding of the Faith in general. The quantitative phase of the current growth process will see a substantial increase in the number of believers in Baha'u'llah. This phase has been characterized, first by Shoghi Effendi and more recently by the Universal House of Justice, as "entry by troops." Thus, the training institutes, and the more effective teaching of the Faith that will flow from them, will not only enrich the quality of Baha'i life, both individual and community, but will also result in quantitative growth.
William S. Hatcher,"The Role and Function of Bahá'í Institutes in The Life of The Bahá'í Community." The William S. Hatcher Library. Used under the terms of the Creative Commons-Attribution-Non-Commercial-No-Derivative Works 2.5 Canada license.
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