CommuNIqué - Newsletter of the Bahá'í Community in Northern Ireland
Issue 145 - 13 Asm 166 BE - 1 September 2009 CE

 

NORTHERN IRELAND NEWS

 

SUMMER SCHOOL 2009

Another wonderful week of summer school sprinkled with a lot fun, learning, socializing and great entertainment. Speakers from all over came to conduct courses for the adults and the youth making the learning experience at the school wonderfully inspirational and leaving a spiritual mark on the hearts of all the attendees. The courses were on Parenting, Science and Religion, the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Turning Point (Selected Messages of the Universal House of Justice) and the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. The feedback on the last day from all of the courses was astounding, and it seemed to me that everyone really got a lot out of their sessions and really appreciated the time given by all of the speakers. Also organized for the youth and junior youth were a multitude of activities, such as step dance and cartoon drawing amongst others.


MOBILE TEACHING TEAM

The Northern Lights Area Teaching Committee formed a mobile teaching team comprising of its secretary and three other members. Its aim was to assist the friends in the cluster to fulfil their aspirations in service to the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh.

During the two week expansion phase the mobile team assisted where wanted with the plans of many individuals, family’s and teaching teams. Some of the activities that took place were: neighbourhood outreaches for starting a devotional gathering open to all neighbourhood, outreaches for expanding a current children's class open to all, musical firesides in different communities, and visiting the friends and consulting about the state of the cluster and what activities they may wish to get involved in. The experiences and learnings from these activities will be shared in the relevant cluster newsletter and at the reflection meeting.


MUSICAL FIRESIDES

Recent musical firesides in both the Seven Valleys and Northern Lights clusters have proven very effective in drawing to the attention of our friends, neighbours, co-workers the basics of the Bahá’í Faith. A ‘musical fireside’ is simply a presentation about the basics of the Bahá’í Faith that incorporates video, photos, songs and prayers.

A typical outline of the evening: -

  • A welcome to all those present for coming to hear an introduction to the Bahá'í Faith.
  • Prayer is sung
  • Video clip about the plight of the world
  • Introduction to the Bahá’í Faith, followed by an outline on the following subjects: Bahá'u'lláh, God, the Eternal Covenant, the Manifestations of God, This is the Day. Each subject is followed by a song.
  • Group discussion, comments and questions
  • Refreshments

For more information on musical firesides contact the Bahá'í Council or your ATC.

 

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