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"We invited them and they almost jumped off the couch"

The Black Men’s Gathering is an organization of Bahá’í men of African descent who come together on a regular basis in chapters throughout the United States, Europe, Australia, Canada and the Caribbean to share their experiences and to strengthen their commitment to the Bahá’í Faith. Recently a forum was held for individuals who lead chapters of this gathering. One of the activities at this event was an in-depth study of and consultation on the use of Anna’s presentation, which helped the participants gain confidence in using the presentation in their teaching activities. Here is a brief report from one individual at the Black Men’s Gathering Leadership Forum about what happened with Anna’s presentation after returning to his home in Greenville, SC (B). This experience also shows the power of directly and lovingly inviting someone to embrace the Faith.

Dearest ___,

I just wanted to share our results with Anna's presentation here in Greenville since returning from the gathering. Dad and I have shared it with 3 seekers and we have 3 new Bahá’ís! We picked who we thought was the most receptive in our community of interest and invited two of them to the center on Saturday evening and told them we wanted to share something with them. We got through the section on the Báb and then had some refreshments and then invited them to become Bahá’ís!!! They immediately and excitedly almost jumped off the couch with Yes! Yes! Yes! and shared with us how special they felt to be invited to become Bahá’ís in such a way. On Sunday evening we met with third person we had thought of and shared Anna's presentation again breaking at the same spot for refreshments, inviting them to become a Bahá’í and with the same results!

These new Bahá’ís were seekers in our Saturday morning African drum class and have recently been attending our Sunday Devotionals and adult class. We have another Anna's presentation scheduled for tomorrow at 7:30 pm

I really felt the workshop on Anna’s presentation at the Leadership Forum was Great! I feel so much more comfortable using it now.

Will keep you posted on our progress,

Much Love to you,

j

Update on direct teaching in Spokane

Here is an update about the direct teaching effort in Spokane, WA (*C), which involved a coordinated effort of teaching teams, friends carrying out support activities, and a drumming session in the park! The teaching teams found numerous people interested in learning more about the Faith and requesting additional visits, and have learned many insights from their experience. Here are some additional comments from one of the friends:

What is direct teaching? One purposefully presents the Baha’i Faith in a systematic way to family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers, or in a door-to-door teaching campaign.

Before going out to do this door-to-door teaching, we reviewed the Ridvan 2008 message from the beloved Universal House of Justice as well as quotations on the power of “Utterance,” and said MANY prayers. Dear members of the Auxiliary Board, the Northwest Regional Baha’i Council, and the Spiritual Assembly of Spokane supported us!

What did we learn?

· Try to ascertain what the person’s needs are and then address those. Maybe they need to empty themselves first. Choose parts of the presentation that seem needed.

· Don’t be afraid.

· The person who makes eye contact with the seeker should do the presentation, while the other team member prays.

· Have at least one female on the team. A team of two guys could seem threatening to women who answer the door.

· Age diversity is good in a team.

· A follow-up fireside can be focused on something from “Anna’s Presentation”.

· When the door opens, what do you say? Basically give the introduction to Anna’s Presentation. “We are Baha’is, followers of Baha’u’llah, members of the Baha’i Faith, a new religion whose purpose is to unite all the people of the world in one common purpose, one universal Faith.”

· Don’t make a big deal of saying your name. Say your name and shake hands.

· Give CONCEPTS not facts. These are most important.

· For home visits give the “Gift of Prayers”, or other printed prayers.

As for follow-up:

· The friends in Spokane have spent the week following up on requests from all of these seekers.

· A Junior Youth Group is being held at the Library every Tuesday.

· More drumming in the park is happening on weekends.

Please pray for this teaching work!

Another direct teaching effort will be held in Spokane August 22-24^th. Please join us and learn with us about this wondrous effort!

With Loving Greetings,

M

Encouraging the friends in service

Within the Five Year Plan, teaching flourishes in an atmosphere of encouragement. That is what makes this message from the area teaching committee of Lower Maine / New Hampshire (A) so exciting You can see how an area teaching committee offers both encouragement and updates to the friends. One interesting point is that the area teaching committee has identified the acts of service associated with the Ruhi courses are identified as a way to build the capacity of the believers and an effective means to carry out the consolidation work.

The "building process" to which [we] are consecrated is "the one hope of a stricken society.

Message of the Universal House of Justice, dated December 27, 2005

Dearly loved coworkers in the field,

The area teaching committee (ATC) is endeavoring to keep everyone abreast of the activities and developments of the Expansion Phase of the 7th cycle of growth for the Lower ME/NH Cluster. Praise Bahá'u'lláh, 5 new Bahá'ís have been found in the Portsmouth and the Portland areas during the first 9 days of the expansion phase!

We're so very grateful to all of the friends who have arisen to engage in direct teaching activities and to visit the new believers to help strengthen their newly kindled Faith. The collaborative support of the Local Spiritual Assemblies and the prayers offered by many of the believers in the cluster have and will continue to sustain these meritorious efforts.

A very special thanks to the Green Acre Youth Service Corps volunteers who, on their only day off last week, sacrificed recreation and rest to participate in an active refresher course. They then went out to the field and found newly waiting souls to teach using Anna's presentation.

The ATC is hopeful that tutors of study circles will offer to accompany the participants to arise and offer their acts of service using the methods and approaches from the sequence of Ruhi courses, as they are bringing about the most rewarding results! The consolidation phase is an excellent opportunity to do the practices from the Book 1, studying prayers with believers, and from Book 2, presenting the deepening themes.

As for the last few days of the expansion phase, we are encouraged to reach out to our friends, families, neighbors, co-workers, schoolmates, the person we’ve just met at the bookstore, etc. We can try to do what we can to present the fundamental verities of the Faith to them in a manner that is both forthcoming and inviting.

The area teaching committee is ready to accompany you in considering and arranging home visits to friends of the Faith that you know. Please contact us if we can be of further assistance to you.

With loving Bahá'í greetings,

Your area teaching committee

A study circle takes root

Throughout the country, the friends are finding that the core activities play a key role in the consolidation process for new believers. Here is a report from Manchester, NH (A), which describes a study circle that was started with some newly-enrolled Hispanic Bahá’ís. As with teaching, prayer, focus, and an attitude of learning are all helping the friends make progress.

We introduced the study circle idea by reviewing the idea that Baha'u'llah had come to help us learn how to build a new civilization, and that all over the world people are taking these spiritual institute courses to develop the capacities to serve their fellow human beings. We mentioned that this first course was designed to help participants learn the skills to study and learn prayers with their friends and neighbors, and to offer prayer gatherings to the wider community. When asked if they'd like to participate in this course, they both agreed.

We started with the unity prayer that we had begun studying the previous week, and all recited the first couple of lines through "great purpose" so we could all memorize that much, and reviewed that the reason Baha'u'llah had come was to unite our hearts and help us to be as one human family.

The questions and answers took longer than they might have in English, but generated animated discussions.

In the course of the study, another friend we'd not met entered and sat in on the study circle, we offered him a book and he joined right in the discussion. After a few minutes we offered to interrupt the session to give a short introduction to the Baha'i Faith, which he agreed to - the first part of "Anna's presentation" through the first quote, which he said he responded positively. Then all agreed that they'd prefer to carry on with the study circle for now, rather than go more into an overview of the Faith. For the first time, I was clear in my mind that this is the consolidation phase, and we can do more expansion later.

Soon a seeker showed up who also lives in the house. We hadn't seen him for several weeks, but he had previously expressed a strong interest in the Teachings. He joined the study circle and the discussions and the questions.

There was animated discussion and deepened understanding of the teachings. We only got through the first two sections, but we are most grateful that the study circle is finally underway.

It seemed as though Baha'u'llah brought them all there. Scheduling beforehand times to meet don’t always work in the way we would expect them to, but somehow, it seems Baha'u'llah "sent out a search party" and brought them all in. This is just another example of our utter need for the confirmations of the Holy Spirit.

Thank you for all your prayers and support of these initial efforts to learn how to teach directly and join in learning about how to consolidate.

Warmest love,

Your cluster institute coordinator

Increased capacity = continued sacrifice without burnout

Here is an exciting and intriguing report from San Diego, CA (A), which has recently launched another cycle of its intensive program of growth. During the latest expansion phase, the cluster was visited by friends from several different clusters. Some were from C-stage clusters, others were from places that have already experienced large-scale growth. All found an inspiring and exciting learning experience in a receptive neighborhood in the cluster.

A friend involved in this effort has noted: “It was a beautiful and close collaboration between the cluster agencies and two of the Local Spiritual Assemblies in the cluster which made this huge accomplishment possible. It was a massive amount of work and full of new learning. Indeed the capacity of the team in San Diego is being increased continuously.” Here is the report from a member of the area teaching committee. You can see the sacrificial effort to sustain core activities, the connections building among the Bahá’ís as a result of the core activities, and the optimism for the future.

We took the friends to one neighborhood and introduced some of them to the new Bahá’ís or to see the children’s classes and then described to them the characteristics that make it a receptive neighborhood.

One visitor was invited to come here to record all the songs from Ruhi Books 3 and 3A in Spanish. Exhausting as it was, it rallied the children and junior youth and established a village center of activity. This effort became the service project for our junior youth group and the different children and junior youth from all our families started to meet each other and connect. So in a way, this was the embryonic beginnings of how our families will come to know each others as Bahá’ís. It also helped activate one of the Spanish speaking youth who has started helping out with children’s classes and junior youth as a result.

The first day at the reflection gathering, teams formed and then three believers were responsible for three teams each, mentoring and coordinating them. This was the only way we could think of to accompany so many people.

In addition to coordinating the teaching teams during the expansion phase, we still have our core activities in this neighborhood—Ruhi study circles, children’s classes and junior youth groups—that we feel are very important for us to maintain and continue doing with the new Bahá’í families. It took so much determination and repeated visits to establish these activities that, now that they have begun to take hold, it is a crucial time for us to strengthen them. We are weaving in youth and others to assist us, and all in all, it is going really well.

Each expansion phase at the beginning feels like we just gave birth and the mother is exhausted but blissful because of sacrifice. However, the teaching work and being systematic is what will ensure that we continue to sacrifice but not burn out because our capacity increases and more and more people are being empowered to serve.

Anna's presentation in Persian now available

On the “Resources” section of this site (right margin, down the page), a new link has been posted. This provides a link to Anna’s presentation in Persian, as well as other resources in several languages.