New believers and old arising to serve in Knoxville

The good news can’t get any better than this. Here is a truly exciting report from an individual in Knoxville, TN (A), sharing some highlights from a recent teaching effort. Particularly noteworthy is that more and more of the friends—both new believers and old—are arising to participate in the teaching activities.

Dear friends,

We have wonderful news from our teaching effort:

7 of our newest believers are all participating in Ruhi Book 1, and 4 of them are about to start studying Book 2

There are now 15 additional people helping out on a regular basis for the teaching work. . . .

We have a well-established neighborhood children’s class attended by 29 children from the community. It is so much fun doing those classes! We follow the Hidden Gems program. There are many families from all around the world whose kids attend. We plan to start another class in another neighborhood.

With the help of a few dedicated college youth, we have our first ever neighborhood junior youth group. The college youth have become very active through the loving encouragement of the area teaching committee.

All of the new Bahá’ís from our last teaching effort are participating in the institute process, except for one family that moved out of the cluster.

Most important: Many of our new believers have arisen to serve, volunteering for the neighborhood children’s class, hosting devotional meetings at the Bahá’í Center, and teaching the Faith to their neighbors.

With love,

A

Innovative children's class in the park leads to "friends forever"

Here is a delightful report about an innovative approach to a children’s class in New Hampshire (A). You see the integration of children’s classes with teaching efforts with reaching out to neighbors. The result is much joy and new “friends forever”.

“Sundays in the Park” was a pilot program for neighborhood children’s classes held in a park for eight weeks in July and August 2008. The Book 3 curriculum was used. Graduates from Ruhi Book 3 were the teachers, each rotating and committing to teach two classes. The rotation was a great way to mobilize human resources.

Students included both children from the Bahá’í community and 8 to 18 other children from nearby apartments who come from several different countries. Some parents also attend these classes with their kids. This is a very receptive population. . . .

Classes included memorization of prayer, sacred writings, a story, song and game. Children were eager and attentive to learn quotations and prayers. Visuals and role play were helpful in assisting with English. Each new child returned home with color pages and box of crayons.

There are now 9 new believers associated with this effort. One of the friends visited families and highlighted themes from Anna’s presentation in their own language. All the children have continued into fall classes. We also hope to continue home visits and begin a weekly class for parents, as well as a junior youth group.

Rotating teachers and assistant teams each week was a successful approach. It enabled us to mobilize human resources and help them do the practice components of the Ruhi Books. These teachers and assistants not only taught the classes but were accompanied on home visits, sharing Anna’s presentation as prayer partners or presenters. During the children’s classes, the assistants were essential to help monitor children, maintain focus and discipline, and meet specific needs.

The friends have found it absolutely essential to accompany the children to and from the park each week where the class was held. This was a must to ensure attendance and safety!

When one of the children visited the Bahá’ís at their home, they went into the backyard. Once they were seated on the lawn chairs, she suggested “it was time for prayers”. Clearly she has made this connection from the children’s class.

The teachers felt they would never have met these precious families had they not participated in the intensive teaching effort in the spring. A team had initially met two individuals from the neighborhood at a laundromat. They feel they have met people who have enriched their life and with whom they will be friends forever.

"Reverse Home Visit" in New York City

Over and over again, the experience of the friends has been, “Go to where the seekers are.” Well, here’s an exception to the rule coming from New York City (A), where a Bahá’í was surprised to receive what I’m going to have to call a “reverse home visit”! This experience helped inspire one of the new believers into arising to start teaching.

One of the friends was talking to a new believer in the apartment lobby where they lived when the new believer’s neighbor approached them and asked if they were talking about the Bahá’í Faith. The friend had told this individual about the Faith some time ago but had forgotten about the encounter. So they made arrangements to meet at this neighbor’s apartment later that day. . . .

But they delayed getting to the appointment, so in the meantime this neighbor and her roommate, so anxious were they to hear about the Faith, took it on themselves to visit the Bahá’ís at this friend’s home. And so when the Bahá’ís stopped by their home on their way to the appointment, they found their neighbors in their living room with the friend’s parents!

The two individuals were very interested and spent over four hours conversing with their Bahá’í neighbors. They heard Anna’s presentation and had many questions. They were very interested to come to devotionals, as well as attend a study circle. At the end of the evening they were given a declaration card by their teachers in case they wished to sign it.

The new believer was quite moved by this teaching encounter. He is now enthused about becoming active, and has offered to hold a devotional at his place. He will be starting Book 1, and is working on bringing his son to a children's class.

Building momentum in Iowa

The momentum is building up in Ames, IA (B) on a number of fronts. You can see it in increased activity, new contacts, new confidence, and new insights. Here is a brief report shared by an individual believer:

While summer months were slow, the pace of teaching is picking up, as evidenced by the number of new friends in study circles, including 3 from the community of interest, and a new children’s class, in which all of the students are also coming from the community of interest. Two “mini” teaching activities have been held, resulting in increased confidence and capacity among the believers. More of the friends are beginning to see themselves as teachers and more people who have completed the tutor training are beginning to tutor study circles.

I keep learning again and again how important it is to visit the tutors and to walk with them on the path of service. Also, while it is of course important to focus my efforts to support those who are already eager to move forward in understanding and action, I need to also remember to give attention to the other friends, as it eventually leads to their arising to serve as well.

The fruits of collaboration

This report from an A-stage cluster in the Central region is full of gems. Here is a cluster where the various institutions have learned to collaborate and work together, where the friends have made steady progress in raising up human resources and accompanying them to serve to the utmost of their capacity, where the Local Spiritual Assemblies are taking a leading role in all the work. And no matter what their achievements, the friends are continually striving to learn more.

Although the summer vacation period interrupted the intensity of the efforts in some zones of the cluster, other zones took great advantage of the period by starting junior youth groups or children classes. In the future, advance planning, such as summer programs for children and youth, will help to insure consistency in the teaching efforts.

We have managed to make use of almost all our human resources (tutors, children’s class teachers, animators of junior youth groups); now the challenge is to maximize their time. . . .

Follow-up with new Baha’is has been less intensive than we had hoped. Adjusting to their schedules and priorities has been a challenge, but the core team and Local Spiritual Assembly are reflecting on how to address this challenge.

One junior youth group has formed from an earlier effort where a group of young people learned about the virtues with the Bahá’ís. Now the friends are able to make use of the animators materials with this group.

We are now in the process of increasing the number of zones in which there are teaching activities. More Bahá’ís are engaged in teaching by participating in home visits, study circles, children’s classes, junior youth groups, devotional gatherings and firesides.

Teaching teams are gathering together and studying the guidance and planning projects in their neighborhood, and then consulting about the progress made and lessons learned.

The core team has given support to surrounding clusters by increasing their understanding of the Plan and by encouraging their involvement, as well as supporting multiplication of the core activities. As a result, about 8 of the friends from surrounding clusters are now involved. Direct teaching efforts and children’s classes have started in nearby communities.

Accompaniment of the Local Spiritual Assemblies by our Auxiliary Board member to work in a collaborative and coordinated way has been one of our main goals and has brought a wonderful outcome. The level of commitment of the 4 Local Spiritual Assemblies in the cluster has increased notably. Since they have started to serve on teaching teams and be more focused on the Plan, they are also much more involved in teaching and multiplication of core activities, as well as home visits to the members of their communities. The loving collaboration and coordination among the institutions is a strength in the cluster. Of course there is still so much to learn but we can already see nice progress.

We have started to take advantage of the Nineteen Day Feast as a resource for encouraging the friends and accompanying them in their consultation about planning, follow-up, and lessons learned.

The cluster institute coordinator role is so critical in an A-stage cluster, and so different from one cluster to another. The spirit of teamwork among the institutions has been vital, and we hope to continue learning about it.

Baha'i Center a portal in Plano

Here is a brief progress report from Plano, TX (A) shared by an individual believer. The friends are making use of their Baha’i Center to help directly share the Message with those who are interested.

We have begun to see changes in the level of involvement of the Local Spiritual Assemblies in the process. Assembly members are beginning to arise as individuals and serve in the teaching arena.

The Plano Baha’i center serves as a portal each Sunday morning with devotionals held, to which members of the wider community frequently visit. We have begun giving Anna’s presentation to individuals who attend and wish to learn more about the Faith. This has resulted in 2 declarations to date, as well as entry of interested individuals into the institute process.

Learning how to start more children's classes

Here is a succinct but telling report from Fairfax, VA (A) describing some of the insights gained about starting children’s classes. The friends are drawing from not only their own experience, but also from the experience of other clusters.

We have had an increase in the number of our children’s classes due to the initiative taken by our parents in starting classes for their own children and the children of their neighbors. We have also learned that when someone declares their belief in Baha’u’llah, it is important to start an informal Ruhi Book 1 study circle with them immediately. Without this component, it is very challenging to reconnect with the new believer and start children’s classes for their children. After reading all the good news from other clusters and learning from their experiences, we are going to implement this approach in our cluster.