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Kian Glenn has both an opportunity and a problem. Many of her acquaintances on the north side of Chicago would like to work for social change. “In my circles there’s a strong sense of need to do some kind of action,” she says. They include “friends in more corporate work who aren’t feeling fulfilled and [...]
An ongoing process of action, reflection, consultation, study and the application of those learnings through further action is marking efforts nationwide to share the vision and teachings of Baha’u’llah with friends and neighbors. Witness these three recent examples shared with The American Baha’i: Guidance translates to action Baha’is serving the King Estates neighborhood of south [...]
Key points from “The Nature of Systematic Learning,” a panel discussion at the recent Rabbani Trust Conference in Orlando, Florida, with George Costant, Natasha Bruss and Kaveh Shahidi: George Costant, Social Action Desk of the National Spiritual Assembly Related to the need for systematic learning, ‘Abdu’l-Baha wrote: “Know that nothing which exists remains in a [...]
As we build our capacities to serve God and humanity, Nichole Agarwal of Riverside, California, commends to our attention the example of Kathryn Kim. A newly registered Baha’i who was raised in a nonreligious home, Kim has told Agarwal that through the Faith she found her channel to serve humanity. Indeed, she spends many hours doing [...]
There’s a reason Nwandi Lawson titled her workshop at the recent Rabbani Trust Conference in Orlando, Florida, “It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” She hopes each of us becomes the kind of neighbor the late Fred Rogers was to generations of young television viewers and their parents. “Doesn’t he just epitomize neighborhood?” asks Lawson. [...]
Often a Baha’i or a Baha’i-sponsored activity will touch a heart or mind, or both. It will spark within an individual the longing to learn more, engage further in some way — begin a spiritual journey, perhaps, that can be nurtured. Here are three recent examples reported by Baha’is around the country: Sharing a love [...]
Accompaniment is learning in the company of another. That’s how one attendee summed up what was learned in the workshop “How Accompaniment Can Help Us Teach and Better Serve the Faith” offered by Wendy Yap at the recent Rabbani Trust Conference in Orlando, Florida. Simple yet profound, because behind the statement lie a number of [...]
“A process of community development … needs to reach beyond the level of activity and concern itself with those modes of expression and patterns of thought and behaviour that are to characterize a humanity which has come of age. In short, it must enter into the realm of culture.” — Office of Social and Economic [...]
You’re taking a year off from college and trekking to sunny, tropical French Guiana in service to the Baha’i community for 10 months. Imagine the adventures. Photo Gallery Anisa Norris leads a children’s class at the Baha’i center in Acarouany village, French Guiana. Photo courtesy of Anisa and Jasmine Norris Click to enlarge and browse [...]
There’s strength in numbers. Also, diverse talents and backgrounds. Photo Gallery San Jose children’s class participants strike a pose. Photo by Joan Burt Click to enlarge and browse a gallery of related photos. Those factors have combined to produce 10 thriving teaching teams in the cluster of communities within Florida’s Pasco and Hernando counties. Team [...]
Photo Gallery Some members of a New York City junior youth group pose with groceries they collected. Photo courtesy of Lev Rickards Click to enlarge and browse a gallery of related photos. It’s easy to see why efforts by Baha’is to build community where they live revolve around the core activities of children’s classes, junior [...]
Recent growth of the Baha’i Faith in the Triangle cluster of North Carolina is closely tied to the evolution of the Spiritual Assembly serving one of its communities, Carrboro. Photo Gallery Several members of the Spiritual Assembly of Carrboro are among those pictured at a local Holy Day celebration. Photo courtesy of Nathan Shepherd Click [...]
Baha’is, and people who spend any amount of time around them, know that the teachings of Baha’u’llah are about building a way of life. It’s a way of life that brings hope and a refined character to the human soul and creates a pathway toward peace and justice in the neighborhood and beyond. For the [...]
All ages are learning together in the Creighton neighborhood of Phoenix, Arizona. Photo Gallery Collecting cell photos before her Jr. Youth Group is an effective way to keep distractions at a minimum. Photo courtesy of Marilyn Sanchez Click to enlarge and browse a gallery of related photos. The children are refining their character. The junior [...]
If they didn’t before, parents and relatives who felt the embrace of a Cleveland Heights, Ohio, junior youth group at a Sept. 20 gathering now know they are part of something with extraordinary potential for good. Just as other adults of all backgrounds discovered before them. Adults such as Shani Meeks, whose son Payton joined [...]
Summer service project offers spiritual solutions. Photo by Harry Ortgies Relationships planted the seeds for Baha’i core activities at a homeless shelter on Long Island, New York. Relationships helped them sprout, too. And service by the youths of a Baha’i summer project helped nurture them to full flower. It all started when April Lowry was [...]
A Junior Youth Group in Los Angeles takes a break during a service project. Photo courtesy of Ailene Huang Ailene Huang recalls how “scary” it felt at first for some Baha’is venturing into low-income neighborhoods to share the teachings. She also knows that after a while it became second nature as they grew both in [...]
The word devotion has taken on an entirely new meaning for Gabriela Denise Frank since the Seattle-based writer took part in a Baha’i gathering on the north side of Chicago. Frank also visited the Baha’i House of Worship in suburban Wilmette and joined in an intercommunity Baha’i picnic on the shore of Lake Michigan before [...]
The question posed in an email to American Baha’is was this: How well are we embracing the participation and perspectives of friends of the Faith, including spouses who are not registered Baha’is? Susan Le Mar was happy to report she and her husband “have been trying to translate the Word into reality through nightly family [...]
In its message to the Baha’is of the world at Ridvan 2011, the Universal House of Justice detailed the nature and character of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s interactions with people of all stripes in His travels through Egypt and the West a century ago. The Supreme Institution explained its great hope “that frequent recollection, during this centennial period, [...]
Baha’is were there for Brett Emmons when he expressed interest in the Baha’i Faith, undertook its study, and took training courses aimed at increasing his ability to serve humanity. Now, still accompanied by others, he is sharing the teachings with others and sparking in them a flame of love. Hundreds of miles away, Ibrahim Sillah [...]
Julie Heath and her husband lived and served the Baha’i Faith in Central Asia as pioneers for two stretches of several years each, starting in 1999. Both times she was able to start children’s classes and junior youth groups, using capacities built through Ruhi Institute training. In one neighborhood she brought in a group of [...]
There’s been something new learned — and something new to try the next time — with every children’s class session offered by Baha’is in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Fairfax County East, Virginia, in the NoVA East cluster. The results haven’t been spectacular, but slow and steady is how you build a sustainable core activity. [...]
Need, meet opportunity. Photo Gallery An intensive Book 3 coincides with children’s camp in Oregon. Photo courtesy of Marcia Veach Click to enlarge and browse a gallery of related photos. Participants in a Portland, Oregon-area intensive study of Book 3 (Teaching Children’s Classes: Grade 1) of the Ruhi Institute training sequence found an ideal venue [...]
It’s a good cluster reflection gathering when attendees are able to discover the reality of a situation, identify solutions and resources, and agree on a plan of action. That’s what Baha’is in the New Hampshire cluster of Baha’i communities did when they consulted about the needs of junior youths in the city of Manchester. Discussion [...]
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