Teaching teams use variety of approaches

 

The third story from the recent expansion phase of New York City (A) is all about teaching teams and shows there are a variety of approaches that teams can take to teach the Faith.  Home visits, direct teaching, core activities, and of course lots of prayers—everything leads to making closer connections with our neighbors and community of interest.

We formed 3 teams of 2 and 3 people and visited the parents in the building whose children are participating in the weekly children’s class held there.  The response of the parents we visited was enthusiastic, and the children can’t wait to remind their parents of the next class. . . .

After the home visits, we gathered together to reflect, and then decided to pay a visit to one of our contacts, who lives in the building and has an office just around the block.  We went to his office and he was pleasantly surprised from this group visit and was most enthusiastic.  He quickly invited us in.  A family member was visiting him, who was also very enthusiastic and asked to be given an introduction to the Bahá’í Faith.  So one of the teaching team members shared a direct presentation.  It was a good meeting and we can’t wait to be back.

That evening, there was a devotional gathering at the home of one of the teaching team members.  One of the seekers present read the prayers avidly and said, “These prayers are so beautiful—I just want to keep reading them!”

The next day, we focused our outreach on our Spanish-speaking contacts.

Another teaching team took the following approach both days of the weekend:  They gathered together to say lots of prayers and then set up a table on the street to directly teach interested passerby.  This was followed by a devotional gathering in the evening for interested seekers to attend.