TRAVEL TEACHING – Service to the Community.
CommuNIque queries the Home Front Pioneering and Travel-Teaching Service, an agency of the National Spiritual Assembly
Newsletter: The February article described travel teaching as the forgotten "Third Condition" and "the circulation of the blood in the body of the Faith". What did you mean?
TTS: Well, it was ‘Abdu’l-Báha who said there were three conditions for the success of our efforts: firmness in the Covenant, love and fellowship among the believers, and, thirdly, "teachers must continually travel to all parts...." [Tablets of the Divine Plan –pp51-53] without all three, therefore, it seems our progress is bound to be slow. When you think about it, few of us would be Baha’is today if it were not for the systematic efforts of travel teachers and pioneers sometime in the past. The impetus for all this systematic effort comes from the example of ‘Abdu’l-Báha’s own travels through Europe and North America, and the fourteen letters written by Him during the darkest days of World War I which collectively comprise the Tablets of the Divine Plan. The Guardian described these as the Charter and Master Plan for the spread of the Faith - we ought to know about them.[Citadel of Faith p 113] Have you noticed the newspapers recently have been full of the perils of flying - apparently sitting still in one place for too long can cause ‘deep vein thrombosis‘ or clots. There’s probably a message there for us Baha’is!
Newsletter: Well, none of us wants to be a clot, but what does a travel teacher do?
TTS: Almost anything! A travel teacher is just someone who goes to other localities to help with the teaching. They may go to help with a fireside, or a deepening, they may go just to visit a neighbouring isolated believer or they may sit in a park or a cafe and try to make fresh contacts for the local community. Of course, they may have special subjects they like to speak about and can give public talks and meet prominent people in the areas they go to ... it depends on what they feel comfortable doing. As in everything else, ‘Abdu’l-Baha provides a perfect example for us in His travels: He met people from every walk of life, He spoke at every sort of meeting ... and He just chatted with the friends, and even just comforted them if they were grieving. As He said in the Tablets of the Divine Plan,[p.53] it boils down to, "Fellowship, fellowship! Love, love! Unity, unity!". Nothing deterred Him. Whatever He did, He did with love and consideration for the friends: in the words of the prayer, He "gladdened the hearts". That is the key.
The TTS web site, if you can access it (), has more advice to both travel teachers and communities planning to receive them –
the secret is: don’t just turn up, consult about what you can do beforehand. The other great source of practical advice is the Teaching and Consolidation Manual. First produced in 1948 during the UK’s first Six Year Plan (which saw the establishment of Ireland’s first local Assembly), and updated since, it is the best 25p’s worth available. At that price, everyone could afford one.
Newsletter: So does anyone who wants to travel teach have to go through you?
TTS: Not at all! We are there to try and help if you need it - usually if you want to make a larger, long trip. We are an advisory service, that’s all. There’s nothing to stop you making your own arrangements consulting your Bahá'í Council or your Auxiliary Board member as to the most useful places you could visit. We’d like to hear about your trips though – it helps us to know what’s happening.
Newsletter: What about preparation and qualifications for travel teaching?
TTS: The Writings make it clear the only essential preparation is a desire to serve: the Báb told His followers, "heed not your weaknesses and frailty", ‘Abdu’l-Báha said, "One must never consider one's own feebleness, it is the strength of the Holy Spirit of Love, which gives the power to teach", [Paris Talks p.39] and the Guardian wrote, "If the friends always waited until they were fully qualified to do any particular task, the work of the Cause would be almost at a standstill! But the very act of striving to serve, however unworthy one may feel, attracts the blessings of God and enables one to become more fitted for the task." [Compilation of Compilations no.1711 p.222] Martha Root, whom the Guardian called the foremost travel teacher in the first Bahá’í Century, had a saying: "Step aside and let Baha’u’lláh do it". Of course, none of this means we should not deepen and prepare as best we can: as Muhammad is reported to have said, we should trust in God but tie our camel. But, whatever you do, speak with the believers in the areas you will be visiting, ask what advice they have and how can you best help, and let them know what skills and talents can you offer. Remember, a fresh face in a fresh area can often work wonders. And the effort makes us spiritually stronger.