Dear Friends,
History is being made this Summer by our youth throughout Northern Ireland. With the gathering momentum throughout the world of many more of the friends moving through the sequence of Ruhi Books, organized by the Training Institutes, some of the youth asked if an intensive course might be organized during the Summer of 2004.
This was enthusiastically taken up the NI Youth Committee who worked extremely hard to put it all together. We owe a debt of thanks to Colette, John, Jenna, Nason and Soha.
This intensive campaign has been named SPEARHEAD and has consisted of up to twelve youth at any one time studying in the Hackney house. Youth need lots of ‘fuel’ to keep them going! Happily Hushang, Zhenia, Mahvash and Mahan have all turned their hands to cooking thus supplying the much needed fodder.
Many positive comments have resulted e.g. “I got a lot more out of it. It’s made me a stronger Bahá’í.” “It has led to more in-depth discussions and brought the youth closer than ever.” When one youth as asked what they would like to do when it’s over she said “I want to be a tutor of all the books.”
The Universal House of Justice reminded us: “…..that a systematic approach to training has created a way for Bahá’ís to reach out to the surrounding society, share Bahá'u'lláh's message with friends, family, neighbours and co-workers, and expose them to the richness of His teachings. This outward-looking orientation is one of the finest fruits of the grassroots learning taking place. The pattern of activity that is being established in clusters around the globe constitutes a proven means of accelerating expansion and consolidation. Yet this is only a beginning.” (Letter 7 Jan 2003)
Indeed this is only a beginning and, as one youth said, “In the future they’ll look back at this and see that this was the very first Intensive Youth Campaign in Northern Ireland”. History in the making!
With warmest Bahá'í greetings, Bahá'í Council for Northern Ireland.
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