Bahá’í Council for England – News Update
9 May 2019
12 Jamál 176 BE
To all believers in England
Dearly loved Friends,
The Baha’i Council for England is delighted to share with you some heartfelt reflections from a ‘pioneer’ university student in London.
With abiding love,
Marco Milone,
Secretary
During his visit to the United Kingdom in the summer of 2018, Dr Javaheri asked the youth attending university to see themselves as pioneers – to think of themselves as serving in a pioneer post for three years, and as such, to consider every aspect of how they live, how they act and how they serve the Faith.
Reflections of a ‘Pioneer’ Student in London
In September 2018, I attended a gathering for university students where we talked about what it looks like to walk a path of service while in university. Prior to the gathering, I had been thinking of how and what to invite my five flat mates and other university friends to, but wasn’t sure what we could do altogether as a group of friends to serve.
At the gathering, the idea of creating spaces for university students came about, and so we agreed that I would ask my flat mates if we could host whatever the activity in our house once a month or so. I was so overwhelmed with joy when my flat mates very lovingly and excitedly agreed! As they had attended a few gatherings the previous year, they probably knew what joy such gatherings could cause to the attendees’ hearts. At the time, I was not sure what to tell them the gathering was going to be like, mainly because I myself did not know, so I just said we would host gatherings for university students where we could explore different topics we encounter in life, and mentioned to a few of them that these gatherings would be more interesting when large groups attended and asked them to invite others, and which some did.
After a few months of gatherings—discussing parts of the youth conference materials and integrating more prayers and music and other arts like drama and film— it seemed that the team of organizers, consisting of a few Bahá’í students, would not be able to continue planning due to several reasons, and after some consultation we concluded that we could ask a few of the gatherings’ participants to assume ownership with the remainder of the organizing team. We noted that two, both flat mates, had attended every gathering so far. I asked both to join the planning sessions, but at the time neither felt they could contribute as they felt they were not familiar enough with the Writings, nor had the proper experience, to plan the gatherings. I wasn’t sure what to do, but then realized that, in a way, we had already been reflecting together, however briefly, after every gathering about how things went or could improve. Realizing this helped us see that anyone with the desire to see improvement and strive for excellence could help with planning, and the ability and skills to serve would come with time and experience, which includes mistakes. Upon further reflection with the other organizers, we realized another of the participants – who one of my flat mates had invited– showed great interest in the gatherings and their content, and decided we could invite her as well. She agreed!
After arranging a date for the first planning session, I spoke with the three about studying Book 1 in the sessions as a tool to aid us in our service. I was nervous about this, as I did not know how to introduce it properly, but having the support of someone who was learning about starting study circles with youth, I tried to prepare how I could describe its purpose and to begin the study circle. I felt even happier and more excited when this same friend also agreed to join our sessions. We have had three sessions now (and hence three gatherings), and since the pace was a bit slow, we had spoken of the idea of having a day long intensive. Although there were varying levels of interest in the intensive, we managed to have a really lovely one to which one of them came, and with whom we agreed to have another in the summer. After the break is over, we will be able to continue having the gatherings. And even though, sadly, I will be moving out next year, it seems as though the gatherings, which have recently been drifting to be more and more similar to devotionals, will not be leaving with me.
I guess some of the next steps for the next school year is to understand more abouthow we can systematize the regularity of the gatherings, to see how we can invite more of our friends to them, and to learn how we can progress more through Book 1, if deemed fitting, with a true understanding of its ability to help us tread the path of service we are walking together.