Core Activities of every Bahá’í community
Across the globe, Bahá’ís and their friends and neighbors are putting Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings into action through the Core Activities, Public Discourse, and Social Action. These collaborative grassroots efforts focus on empowering individuals of all ages and backgrounds to recognize and develop their spiritual capacities.
Through an educational process characterized by service, reflection and consultation, participants in these activities channel their collective energies towards building networks of friendship and mutual support on their block, neighborhood, village and beyond.
CHILDREN’S CLASSES
-Drawing on the teachings of the Bahá’í Faith, the classes aim to inspire in children a love for God and the Founders of all the great religions.
-By studying sacred verses and talking through the questions that children face in their lives, these classes help children apply spiritual principles such as love, unity and justice to their own lives.
-These classes include short lessons, games, and art activities.
JUNIOR YOUTH SPIRITUAL EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMS
-A learning environment where pre-teens can form their moral identity and develop skills which empower them to channel their creative and collective energies towards the betterment of their communities.
-To respond to the needs of youth and teens at a pivotal point in their development, the Bahá’í s of Chicago offer the junior youth spiritual empowerment program.
-This program is aimed at building the capacity for moral reasoning and channeling the energy of young people between the ages of 11 and 14, and is carried out in schools, community centers and neighborhoods in Chicago and across the United States.
-Training and hands-on accompaniment is offered for those who wish to become junior youth spiritual empowerment program mentors and volunteers. New programs are being launched across the city.
STUDY CIRCLES
-Small study groups where adults and teens come together to examine core spiritual concepts and translate them into action.
–Study circles are group study and activity sessions that delve into various aspects of spiritual and religious life, including the life of the spirit, arising to serve humanity and nurturing the spiritual growth of children and junior youth.
-The purpose of Bahá’í study circles is to cultivate and expand participants’ knowledge, spiritual insights, and skills to enable them to contribute to the betterment of society, starting with their own neighborhoods.
DEVOTIONAL GATHERINGS
-Devotional meetings are where the spiritual foundation of a community can be strengthened through prayer, song, cultural sharing and mutual support.
-The heart of a devotional meeting is the sharing of prayers and passages from Holy Scriptures in song, chant, reading and reverent recitation.
-Devotional meetings reflect the cultural backgrounds of the participants and create an uplifting, spiritual atmosphere. They often take place in the homes of Bahá’ís or their friends, inspiring and energizing all who participate.
Social Action
Bahá’í efforts of social action seek to promote the social and material well-being of people of all walks of life, whatever their beliefs or background. Such efforts are motivated by the desire to serve humanity and contribute to constructive social change. Together they represent a growing process of learning concerned with the application of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, along with knowledge accumulated in different fields of human endeavour, to social reality.
Public Discourse
At any given moment, and in social spaces at all levels of society, there are a range of ongoing discourses concerned with various aspects of humanity’s wellbeing and progress: discourses on such subjects as the equality of women and men, peace, governance, public health, and development, to name but a few. Individual members of the Bahá’í community—whether through their involvement in the life of the local community, their efforts of social action, or in the course of their studies, occupations, or professional activities—strive to participate fruitfully in such discourses, learning with and from others and offering their personal insights, informed by the Bahá’í teachings, to the unfolding discussions.
