Stories from around the country
National Spiritual Assembly
nsa@bahai.org.uk
21 October 2015
6 ‘Ilm 172 B.E.
To all believers in the United Kingdom
Dearly loved Friends,
With just half a year remaining in the current Plan, we are delighted to share some more accounts of the efforts being made by the friends in the UK to spread the healing Message of Bahá’u’lláh and to invite waiting souls to walk a path of service to humanity by engaging in core activities. We hope you find these lovely stories to be both enjoyable and inspiring!
First Milestone Gatherings
Over the weekend of 17 & 18 October, the Bahá’í Council for England brought together friends from clusters that are striving to establish a nascent programme of growth or have recently established one. They met in two locations – Harrogate and Southampton. The purpose of the meetings was to reflect and plan, together with their supporting Bahá’í Institutions, on how to move from their current situation to a stronger one.
The efforts being made in these clusters by the believers, most of whom live in remote areas with very small communities, are truly heart-warming. Many stories were told. The friends in Lincoln have set themselves a challenging goal of starting two Book 1 study circles (Reflections on the Life of the Spirit) with the aim of accompanying participants to start their own devotional meeting. To this end, one Bahá’í family is reaching out to friends and neighbours and is inviting them to send their children to an existing children’s class. Parallel to this, a devotional gathering will be arranged for the families from which a Book 1 will hopefully emerge. In addition to this, a group of friends in Lincoln set a goal a few weeks ago of having nine people attend their devotional gathering, and they too plan to invite participants in the devotional to join a Book 1 and to begin walking a path of service.
Another group of Bahá’ís in Cumbria is actively working in a particular neighbourhood to establish a children’s class, for which some friends including youth are to be trained as teachers. In the Isle of Man, a pioneer who recently settled there has established two devotional meetings – one with participants from an interfaith meeting and another with some friends and neighbours – and is working to establish a programme of growth. A Book 1 is also going to start soon!
These gatherings were exceptionally loving, positive and encouraging. It was particularly wonderful to hear from one of the participants from Cumbria, who has lived there for around 40 years, recount how the community has in recent times experienced an unprecedented degree of loving support from outside through the settlement of pioneers and year of service youth; through the visits of travelling teachers of all ages, singly and in teams; and through the constant loving accompaniment from representatives of institutions such as the Auxiliary Board members and Area Coordinator.
Starting Children’s Classes in Greater London
In one neighbourhood the children’s class teachers prepared leaflets about the children’s class and junior youth activities, describing them as part of a community based programme that is “owned” by the community. The leaflets focused on fostering a love of God in the hearts of the children, mentioned that the classes are organised by the Bahá’í community, and included the official Bahá’í website (www.bahai.org). These were delivered to homes in the area and were followed up with visits to meet families to consult on the participation of their children or junior youth. The teachers met many of their neighbours who they had not spoken to before. They explained how children’s classes are offered as a service to the community, helping to establish unity and harmony through the development of virtues and an emphasis on serving others. Many of the teachers shared that building true friendships with the parents has been key to inviting their children. They also felt that the children’s class programme needed to be presented very honestly in this initial conversation – including the intent to foster a great love for God in the hearts of children, through the sharing of Bahá’í principles, Bahá’í quotations, prayers and stories of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. This opened up the opportunity for concepts such as the principle of unity, progressive revelation and the need for spiritual education to be explored with the parents from the outset.
They also shared an exercise where parents were given cards describing the influences that their children are exposed to in growing up (e.g. family, school, peer groups, advertising, media, pop music, etc.) The parents were offered green cards with a virtue and red cards mentioning the lack of these virtues. They were asked to choose which of the above influences helps their children to develop the virtues mentioned on the green cards and which of them actively discourage them as represented by the red cards. This exercise was found to be very useful in raising consciousness in the parents as to how many negative influences surround children and how crucial spiritual education is.
Having a good knowledge of the junior youth programme was also very useful for the children’s class teachers in their conversations with parents. It enabled them to not only explain what the children will learn in their class but also share a vision of what the programme looks like when the children become older as part of a continuous education programme. This was very effective as many parents were concerned about the years of adolescence.
With loving Bahá’í greetings,
Patrick O’Mara,
Secretary