Bahá’í Faith in England

“The desire to pioneer arises naturally from deep within the heart of the individual believer as a response to the Divine summons.  Whosoever forsakes his or her home for the purpose of teaching the Cause joins the ranks of those noble souls whose achievements down the decades have illumined the annals of Bahá’í pioneering.  We cherish the hope that many will be moved to render this meritorious service during the… Plan… and act that, in itself, attracts untold blessings.”¹

Home front pioneering has, from the time of the inception of our Faith, been indispensable to accelerating the progress of the Cause. The further development of the Five Year Plan in this land will, likewise, depend on home front pioneers settling in carefully chosen localities. The establishment of the next wave of intensive programmes of growth in 11 clusters in England will require the friends to arise and respond wholeheartedly to the call for pioneers. A list of these clusters appears below, and will shortly be printed in ‘Living Nation’.

¹ Universal House of Justice, 27 December 2005 message

Cluster Profiles for Home Front Pioneers (Feburary 2008)

Dear All,

Amongst all the stories we are gathering from the cluster and news of 2 souls opening their precious hearts to Baha’u'llah, we would like to share the following:

Magical moments and meetings
One friend of a teaching team said.
‘I met a friend who I hadn’t put on my prayer list. Our toddlers attend the same dance group. I was so surprised when she asked me out of the blue, “What Faith do you practice?” I thought that this is the magic of the intensive period in a cycle - people come to you…. I responded calmly, “The Baha’i Faith”. She asked question after question after question. It was a wonderful conversation and she asked for material to read. Now I think her child and her best friends child will be joining our children’s class.’

Turning to prayer
A friend had this experience which she recounted.
‘One of our friends was receptive and although she had her reservations, she loved all the Baha’i activities. When I first approached her about sending her daughter to children’s classes, she was so excited saying, “I have no faith of my own to teach her’, she said, ” so I would love for her to learn something spiritual because I want her to practice a Faith but I have nothing to give her myself”. I home visited my friend and shared a prayer with her- “O guide me, protect me….”. When I read this prayer, my friend cried saying that it was so beautiful to think that her daughter would be guided and protected by a loving Creator. This is the prayer that I now say with the children at the beginning of our children’s class.

One day recently after the children’s class, my friend asked if we could say that prayer for Madeleine, the child who is missing in Portugal. It turned out that it wasn’t possible during the class but after everyone had left, she and I together with our children read some prayers and the children recited that prayer too. Again, she was moved. What I find so wonderful is that people who don’t necessarily consider themselves as religious are indeed so spiritual, and when they’re touched by the Baha’i Faith, they are moved because because it nourishes them in a way that finds them some peace in what is sometimes a very scary world. So when it comes to it and they don’t find a way, they turn to prayer.’

Teaching with confidence
Another friend said,
‘ I’ve been learning Anna’s presentation because I thought it would help me with my confidence. I met up with someone and introduced the themes to her….I hadn’t learnt all the presentation but it went so well that I’ve asked her if I could introduce the next part to her at our devotional on Friday”.

We hope to share more stories with you soon…

….11 days to go…

Much Love…

A Baha’i friend had been praying for an opportunity to share the message of Baha’u’llah with some one at School. A few days of Ridvan had passed and she did not want to let these Blessed days pass without teaching.

She decided that she needed to pray for an opportunity to teach the Faith at school in a way that would not appear too forward. She was very nervous that a discrete enough opportunity would not arise but continued to pray for divine assistance.

In the staff-room she asked about the maths department. She was introduced to a male teacher who seemed unusual and the conversation is roughly as follows:

Baha’i Teacher: where are your from?

Teacher: Africa

Baha’i teacher: Where in Africa?

Teacher: Cameroon

Baha’i Teacher: My sister and her husband live there!

Teacher: In which city do your family live?

Baha’i Teacher: Bamenda

With great joy he said this is where I am from too. Are you family teachers ?

Baha’i Teachers: yes they are.

A lot of suspense and excitement is now being created between them and the other teachers listening to the conversation.

Teacher: Is it David and his wife?

Baha’i Teacher: Yes that is my family.

Teacher : Oh my! They are very good friends! I used to be a Teacher at the same school where they teach and also taught David’s son. They have had me over to their home many times. Are you a Baha’i too?

Baha’i Teacher: Yes Yes I am ( her prayers were being answered)

Teacher: Oh David has taught me a lot about the Baha’i Faith; it is very beautiful all about Love, Unity and World Peace.

Baha’i Teacher: I am so pleased you know my family and they have told you about the Faith. A conversation continued between the two of them with the interested Teachers staying round to listen to more about the Faith.

The two new friends exchanged contact details and the Baha’i teacher intends to have those interested over for a devotional on her birthday.

The Baha’i teacher was overjoyed and Praised Baha’u'llah for His Assistance.

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