The education of children

The education of children is an important component of the Bahá’í Faith. All Bahá’ís are encouraged to help in the effort to raise children into spiritual beings.

According to the explicit divine Text, teaching the children is indispensable and obligatory.

It followeth that teachers are servants of the Lord God, since they have arisen to perform this task, which is the same as worship. You must therefore offer praise with every breath, for you are educating your spiritual children.
- Abdu’l-Bahá

It is important to mention that Baha'i children's classes are not classes of indoctrination. Even though children are instructed in the principles, teachings and basic beliefs of the Faith, the emphasis is on learning to think, to reflect and to apply spiritual laws to the life of the individual and society. Especially during the early years of childhood, great attention is given to the development of spiritual qualities and to those beliefs, habits and behaviors that constitute the essential attributes of a spiritual being.

As to thy question regarding the education of children: it behoveth thee to nurture them at the breast of the love of God, and urge them onward to the things of the spirit, that they may turn their faces unto God; that their ways may conform to the rules of good conduct and their character be second to none; that they make their own all the graces and praiseworthy qualities of humankind; acquire a sound knowledge of the various branches of learning, so that from the very beginning of life they may become spiritual beings, dwellers in the Kingdom, enamoured of the sweet breaths of holiness, and may receive an education religious, spiritual, and of the Heavenly Realm. Verily will I call upon God to grant them a happy outcome in this.
- Abdu’l-Bahá

The desire to avoid indoctrination or catechism should not, however, lead to laxity in religious instruction. Disregarding religious education for children and leaving them to acquire their own standards and beliefs, supposedly by free choice, from their interactions with society, will lead to moral disintegration and chaos. There is no reason to suppose that a new generation of children will be able to create a better world without education. Humanity, left to its own devices without divine guidance, has produced nothing more than chaos, injustice and suffering.

If you are interested in starting a children's class in your neighbourhood or helping other children in a class that is already in progress, please send a request to ATC OF PORT LOUIS OR CALL YOUR LSA

hOME VISIT

Bahá’ís believe that community interractions should play a big role in the life of every individual Bahá’í. The community is seen as a group of united individuals who arise to work for the common good of people both within and without its boundaries.

A community is of course more than the sum of its membership; it is a comprehensive unit of civilization composed of individuals, families and institutions that are originators and encouragers of systems, agencies and organizations working together with a common purpose for the welfare of people both within and beyond its own borders; it is a composition of diverse, interacting participants that are achieving unity in an unremitting quest for spiritual and social progress.
-The Universal House of Justice

To achieve this level of cohesion in a community, Bahá’ís are encouraged to form personal relationships with each other. The Bahá’í writings state that it is not enough to show frienship in love alone. Bahá’ís are encouraged to let their hearts burn with love for all who may cross their paths. This love and devotion was evident in the lives of the early Bahá’ís during the time of Baha'u'llah.

So intoxicated were those who had quaffed from the cup of Bahá'u'lláh's presence, that in their eyes the palaces of kings appeared more ephemeral than a spider's web... The
celebrations and festivities that were theirs were such as the kings of the earth had never dreamt of...
Many a night, no less than ten persons subsisted on no more than a pennyworth of dates. No one knew to whom actually belonged the shoes, the cloaks, or the robes that
were to be found in their houses. Whoever went to the bazaar could claim that the shoes upon his feet were his own, and each one who entered the presence of Bahá'u'lláh could affirm that the cloak and robe he then wore belonged to him. Their own names they had forgotten, their hearts were emptied of aught else except adoration for their Beloved... O, for the joy of those days, and the gladness and wonder of those hours!
- God Passes By.

REFLECTION on the 13th cycle

50 CI and 2 declarants so far thats a good challenge to our cluster and yesterday

the ITC work-out a plan of consolidation

the ATC is doing a great job and taking the challenge and with determination moving ahead

with all our love we support them in this great task

this excepts may help us understand the urgency of our work

"There can be no doubt as to the urgencies of the times and the pressing needs we see all around us. Our task cannot be taken lightly. We need to sustain the spirit and maintain our focus and commitment. We should not merely participate in Bahá'í activities but take ownership of the Faith individually and work collectively in core groups in creating a rich pattern of Bahá'í community life, setting in motion a process of collective transformation and reaching out to the society around us."

and the appeal to youth

((as the diverse rays of the sun being focused through a magnifying glass to ignite a spiritual fire. Moreover, in this great spiritual undertaking, the youth are called upon the House of Justice: “But it is to the many young people among you that we make this special appeal: significant progress will not be achieved without your wholehearted support.”

......

new approach to children’s classes: Instead of offering to families to start a children’s class (and then looking for a teacher), to do the converse to look for an individual in the neighborhood who wanted to teach the class (with accompaniment from the friends)

to build on existing strengths in the zone For example, the children classes and pre-youth to work to strengthen other core activities around it.

Immediate and unstoppable enthusiasm for teaching

This story from the Southeast region just came across our desk and it is INCREDIBLE. Let me say that again: it is INCREDIBLE. First, you have a series of new believers, immediately and eagerly sharing the Message of Bahá’u’lláh with their friends as soon as they declare. Look at the chain of teaching: A teaches B who teaches C who teaches D who teaches E—all in a short period of time. See the sheer enthusiasm and joy of the new believers. And see how openly and simply they are sharing the Message and inviting their friends to become Bahá’ís (in a variety of venues). Most of all, this conveys the stories of people who have experienced the sweetness of teaching.

Earlier this year F took a bus to return to his hometown. The passenger sitting beside him began a conversation with him and introduced the Message of Bahá’u’lláh. By the end of their bus trip, F had recognized the significance of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation. . . .

Shortly afterwards, F met J casually and started talking to him and shared the Message of Bahá’u’lláh. F makes friends easily and brought J to a fireside where J declared his Faith. Right away, J joined the local direct teaching project and he told a lady they were teaching about the reason why he became a Bahá’í. He shared that when he became a Muslim he did so because he was so attracted to prayer. When he heard about Bahá’u’lláh, it was a natural step for him. He told her that the “prayers are unlimited” and “the growth is unlimited”. The lady he was teaching declared as well. Her friend came into the room and she said to her friend: “I am going to join the Faith—would you like to?

F’s enthusiasm for teaching is not stopping. This past weekend he participated in a Black Men’s Gathering in the Triangle, NC cluster. He told the Bahá’ís and seekers there that we should “get bullhorns and tell everyone about Bahá’u’lláh”. He returned home and was on fire from the weekend’s spirited and uplifting gathering. He got together with his long-time friend, S, and started talking to him about the Faith. They went to a local fireside and F asked his friend, “So, is it time? Are you ready to become a Bahá’í?” S said that he needed to first get his life in order. F said, “No. The question is, do you believe that Bahá’u’lláh is the Messenger of God for today?” S said, “Yes, I do.” F’s response was, “Then you are already a Bahá’í.”

Yesterday, F was on the phone with the Auxiliary Board member who serves his cluster and told her, “I have S here with me and he is listening to us talk.” The Board member heard S’s enthusiastic “Alláh’u’Abhá!” She asked him, “So S, what are we going to do about this cluster? He responded, “We are going to teach the Faith to everyone in the cluster.”

A pure and open attitude

from teaching.bahai.us by Teaching blog

The act of teaching is challenging. It is challenging to those who teach the Faith, and challenging to those who hear the Message. Bahá’ís do not impose the teachings on those who do not wish to hear them; nor do we timidly keep the Faith hidden to ourselves. Rather, we joyfully share the Faith in a spirit of openness and fellowship with people of all religions.

Numerous times I see stories of Bahá’ís who offer to share the Faith with someone whose initial reaction is to say, “I already have my own religion/my own church.” The friends have found that generally, this statement does not indicate the person has no interest whatsoever in hearing about the Faith (and it also isn’t an invitation to start a debate!). The friends have learned to respond with sensitivity and love, which leads to building further connections. In the course of our teaching, we encounter those who want to join the Faith, and we also encounter those who decide not to join. Again, we respond with love and openness and welcome them into whatever activities they wish to be a part of. This brief story from Lancaster, PA (A) is a perfect example of this attitude of openness.

Yesterday, we visited a neighborhood to share the Message. We met one man, and began introducing the Faith with “The Bahá’í Faith is a world religion whose aim and purpose is to unity all the people of the world in one common faith.” He replied politely, “That would be wonderful, but I don’t believe that can happen until Christ has returned.”

I then asked him how we will know when Christ returns unless we keep our eyes, ears and hearts open. I asked if he would be willing to listen further. He said yes, so we shared all of Anna’s conversation with him. When we asked him, “How do you feel after hearing this wonderful news?”, he gave a radiant smile and said, “I feel good. I feel very happy.” He then said he is not ready to change his religion but would very much like to come to a devotional gathering to share the sacred. I told him about several gatherings this week; he will attend the one in my home this weekend.

Nothing--not even success--stops them from keeping onteaching

from teaching.bahai.us by Teaching blog

There are several reasons to rejoice at this report from Chester County, TN (C). First, it is an example of a collective, direct teaching effort in a C-stage cluster—and a very enthusiastic one at that! Second, it shows the continuing influence and transforming effect of the series of Regional Bahá’í Conferences held last December. Third, it shows a beautiful partnership between an A-stage cluster and its C-stage neighbor that is empowering in BOTH directions. The friends from the C-stage cluster support a new A-stage cluster during its newly-launched intensive program of growth, they gain experience and confidence by assisting with the teaching there. Then they go back to their own cluster and begin teaching there! (And they are supported by their friends from the A cluster.) Finally (what number are we on now?) the friends do not rest on their laurels after their initial heartening results (reaching the minimum number of Bahá’ís necessary to form a Local Spiritual Assembly), but keep onteaching!

How the First Spiritual Assembly was formed in Chester County, Tennessee

After returning home aflame from the Regional Bahá’í Conference called by the Universal House of Justice held in Atlanta in December, the believers in Henderson and Chester County, Tennessee set out with a gusto to fulfill our pledges to the Memphis IPG. (Our community is small, but we had pledged to assist with this nearby A-stage cluster.) We committed to travel teach, to help enliven their reflection meetings and celebrations with music, and to be prayer partners for their neighborhood teaching teams. . . .

The result: Immediately we made stronger friendships and became more confirmed by the Holy Spirit that we were being assisted and supported, and we saw declarations of new believers in Memphis. To our joy, the Memphis teaching teams were inspired to travel teach to our community and accompany us in our efforts to visit homes and share the Message using Anna’s conversation. On December 29th we our first new Bahá’í, a youth of 19, enrolled.

We increased our travel teaching trips to Memphis to once a week through March and April, and continued direct teaching in our home community on weekends. On April 12th with the enrollment of a mother and her daughter we suddenly realized we now had grown from 4 adult Bahá’ís and 1 youth to 9 adults—enough to form a Local Spiritual Assembly. Breathlessly, we contacted our Auxiliary Board member with the news. She coordinated with us and her Assistant so we could make a joint declaration on April 20th. [In a community where there are exactly 9 adult Bahá’ís, a Local Spiritual Assembly is formed by “joint declaration”; if there are more than 9 adult Bahá’ís, an election is carried out to choose the members of the Local Assembly.] Past experiences inspired us to begin beating the bushes and find a 10th Bahá’í so we could possibly have an election.

We committed to direct teaching every day for 5 days until the deadline. We made a list of 9 people and sent their names to the Universal House of Justice for prayers. The names were of people who had either been through Anna’s Presentation and had actually said they believed but hadn’t enrolled yet, or had otherwise asked for return visits. Saturday, we went to the home of one of these individuals and met her husband instead. He told us that she wasn’t there and that he was too busy to visit with us, but we could come back another day.

Monday April 20^th arrived, and we had had no luck catching up with the people on our list, though we have tried many times in the last 5 days. It was 1:00 pm and our friends were saying, “Well you have done your best; maybe you need to prepare for the joint declaration.”

“No,” we thought, we still have some folks to contact. We stepped out of our apartment and suddenly there were all 9 of the people on our list standing around their apartments in every direction we looked! We didn’t know which way to go first! We prayed, then my mom said, “Let’s go see __ (our very first contact when we returned from the conference in December). We marched over singing under our breath, “We are the people of Baha… firmly we walk the path of God!”

Then we say the man we met on Saturday, standing in his doorway with the door open. He was dressed up, and his house was spotless. It was obvious that he wanted us to come to see him. He shouted, “Good! You are here. I can talk to you today. Come in and sit down.” I then knew we were on our way!

Two hours later, he declared his belief in Bahá’u’lláh. We told him about the election that would be held at 7 pm. He said, “Okay. I will give you my ballot now, because I won’t be available this evening.” By 4:00, off we went to make ballots and to deliver them to everyone in time for the meeting. That night we had 5 people attend the election and had collected 3 additional absentee ballots.

Although we didn’t have this man’s name on the list we had sent to the House of Justice, God had prevailed. We ended up having 9 adults who voted, and now we have our new Local Spiritual Assembly for Chester County.

Prayer Campaign

by Omalley Ehren Abel

On the eve of our cluster's launch to A-stage status, I am pondering how to sufficiently explain the bounty and blessings of a community-wide prayer campaign.

I have put together a bookmark to give the friends at the Reflection Meeting. On one side, I've put the chosen prayer (Teaching Prayer for the Southern States). On the other side, I want to put a blurb about the value of prayer campaigns. Here is where I'm falling down. In my head I understand what prayer campaigns can bring to a community but when it comes to writing it down, I can't seem to put my thoughts together.

What I came up with I largely "borrowed" from another blog dedicated to an A-status cluster's activities. I loved what it said about the nature of a cluster-wide prayer campaign: "Offering ardent daily prayers... for receptive souls in the cluster and for Baha'i teachers to arise courageously to directly teach the Faith."

I love the idea of "offering ardent prayers." I wonder if all our prayers were "ardent," would we be that much more successful in our endeavors?

Accompanying the seeker at each stage of the journey

by Teaching blog

The friends who serve at the regional level to respond to seekers who call the 1-800-22-UNITE phone line or send inquiries through the www.bahai.us Web site are truly dedicated. These “regional specialists” are there to meet the needs of seekers and new believers. If a seeker wants information about the Faith, they provide it. If a seeker wants to meet Bahá’ís, they connect them to believers near them. If seeker wants to become Bahá’í, they take the necessary steps so that the seeker can enroll. Or if someone declares online but then decides that they want more time to investigate, their wishes are respected, and the regional specialist is a resource for them. The regional specialists do not do this in isolation, but work closely with Local Spiritual Assemblies and cluster entities to ensure that interested individuals can be put in touch with Bahá’ís and core activities.

This story from a C-stage cluster in the South Central region is a wonderful example of how accompaniment, patience, and regular follow-up by the regional specialist helped the friend meet the needs of a seeker. . . .

__ declared online using the new online registration process. After speaking with her, the regional specialist realized that she was still considering herself a seeker rather than a new declarant. The regional specialist noted:

We just talked. She needs a little more time and will talk with a Bahá’í she knows at her place of work. She had already registered online, so her status was changed from “registrant” to “seeker” in the database. She has read up on the Faith on the Web.

The regional specialist didn’t stop there but continued to show support to her new friends.

I emailed her and offered assistance with questions, sending books, etc., and informed her of local activities and events. Further contact revealed that she is not ready to declare just yet, but is very interested in furthering her investigation.

__ has become friends with her, and they have found they have very much in common regarding background and interests.

The regional specialist kept in contact with the local community through the Local Spiritual Assembly and learned more about this seeker’s investigation.

J called with terrific news today. __ declared, and is helping out at the Bahá’í Center right NOW, and is involved in community life there. Yá-Bahá’u’l-Abhá!

Neither the regional specialist nor the local community gave up. Their C-stage cluster is on its way to further growth and learning with this approach to teaching!

13th cycle IPG PORT LOUIS

Be detached from the results . . .

by Teaching blog

For anyone who’s ever felt a little discouraged when their efforts don’t seem to achieve results, here is something that will surely lift your spirits. As these animators of a junior youth group in Fort Collins, CO (A), found out: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. What dedication! What steadfastness! What reliance and faith in Bahá’u’lláh! Well, that’s what the animators used; their first two participants did the rest.

Despite our best efforts, our junior youth group in Fort Collins got off to an unexpected slow start. After meeting with a few junior youth and their parents in the close-knit community, the animators of the group attempted to hold the first meeting the following day at the community’s club house. Waiting with great anticipation, nobody showed up. But determined to hold our first meeting, we revisited the homes we visited the day before. We were unsuccessful in finding anyone interested. . . .

Trying to figure out what we did wrong, I was reminded by my co-animator that we need to be detached from the results and put in our best efforts and Bahá’u’lláh would do the rest. A few weeks later, revitalized and determined, we once again visited with junior youth in the community and their parents, further explaining the group and inviting them to come the next day. We felt better about our meetings this time around and once again we waited at the clubhouse with great anticipation. Fifteen minutes after our planned meeting time, nobody had showed up and the feeling of discouragement had started to settle in once again. One of the animators suggested that we give it one last shot to revisit the houses, but this time we focused on remembering to be detached from the results. Two animators decided to stay at the meeting venue while the other two headed off to visit people.

As soon as we started walking towards our first residence, we were hesitantly approached by two junior youth aged girls. I was reluctant to think they had come for the junior youth group because they were not anyone I recognized from the previous day’s visits. They kept walking towards us and one of them asked, “Are you doing the youth group?” I couldn’t believe it! These were our first two participants! And what Junior Youth they were. We invited them to come with us to invite more kids their age. Willingly they accepted, and just a half hour later and a few rounds of the neighborhood, there were 10 kids walking with us towards the clubhouse. You should’ve seen the look on the two animators’ faces as all the kids walked up!

Astonished, we gathered the ten kids aged 10-16 (and one 6 year-old sibling who we just couldn’t turn down when he asked, “Can I come too?”). We sat in the circle and introduced ourselves and the idea of the junior youth group. The group dynamic was better than we could’ve ever imagined. The youth were happily participating in discussion and team-building games. We even had two more youth join us that had seen the group while riding their bikes. Feeling blessed we thanked the youth for coming and invited them to come back the following week and to invite their friends.

Since that first meeting, we’ve had three more meetings with a total of 18 different junior youth aged 10-16, an average of about 12 youth showing up at each group, with new faces showing up each week. This week we will be embarking on our first community service project, gathering sunflowers from a local friend’s garden and delivering them to some of the elderly in the community. The week after, we plan to start our first lesson in Breezes of Confirmation.

We always hoped for a group like this, but realized that it can only be achieved through our best efforts and being detached from the results, leaving the rest in Bahá’u’lláh’s hands. Yá Bahá’u’l-Abhá!