BOREA would like to thank the many communities (88 to date!) who have returned the questionnaire on SACRE (Standing Advisory Committee on Religious Education) and other RE activities. This questionnaire was sent out in the last quarterly mail out. If your community has not yet returned it, please do so as soon as possible. Even if your answers to all the questions are negative, please fill it in and return it, as this will help to give us a better picture of the situation throughout England and Wales and enable us to be of greater assistance to the communities. BOREA is currently collating all the findings and these will be published later.

It is appreciated that communities want to get involved in their SACRE as soon as possible. This was evident from the large number of positive discussions which the BOREA members had with members of many communities at the National Conference in Scarborough recently. BOREA is in the process of making recommendations for Bahá’í communities on how to get involved with SACRE; special attention is being given to those which have more than one community per Local Education Authority. These guidelines should be out in the near future.

In the meantime, before making any new approach to your Local Education Authority, please contact the Bahá’í Office of Religious and Educational Affairs; even if your LEA approaches your community, please advise BOREA and appropriate guidance will be provided.

"They that have forsaken their country for the purpose of teaching Our Cause - these shall the Faithful Spirit strengthen through its power. A company of Our chosen angels shall go forth with them, as bidden by Him Who is the Almighty, the All-Wise" (1)

Matodzi is valiant in restraining his cynicism. His colleagues at the Technical College of Venda (in rural South Africa) are suddenly interested in his Faith, and he is tempted to remind them that last week, when there wasn’t a white European sitting beside a Bahá’í exhibition and trying to defend himself against a barrage of questions, they weren’t all that interested. The European in question (myself), more used to a Bahá’í display generating one or two interested enquiries an hour, is slightly overwhelmed by a crowd of roughly twenty seekers surrounding his tiny exhibition and keeping him talking for almost six hours solid. Granted, the questions are not always friendly. Granted, students with an axe to grind are elsewhere in the college telling everyone sanctify themselves from the European with the Satanist display. But on the whole, interest of any kind is better than apathy. Matodzi remains an oasis of calm as he gets the Venda Inquisition.

Matodzi’s village is also rather surprised that I am staying at his house. Over the course of the week, I only see one other white person, and none in the village. Everyone is very pleased to see me - the children jump up and down and scream "White man, white man, good morning, good morning" - and one student asks to have his picture taken with me. I readily agree, and sneak a Bahá’í magazine into the picture.

Nevertheless, by the end of the week I am ready to shake the dust off my shoes and exit. For instance, one student, Tshivalavala, is seriously interested in the Faith, but every time he comes to speak to me about it, a large crowd develops and private conversation is impossible. He waits a little while, sees that the crowd is taking up my attention, and wanders away, perhaps not to try again. I find myself speculating whether Bahá’u’lláh’s chosen angels could persuade these seekers to simply go away for a while, because I cannot find it in myself to turn seekers away. Yet they never lose interest, even after the twentieth person inquires about the Bahá’ís’ position on baptism. I am eventually forced to leave without seeing Tshivalavala again.

As we drive out of Venda I am wondering how we could have handled the situation better. Matodzi is his usual calm self, and we discuss for some time the mechanics of the teaching project, if to continue, how to continue, and so on. "Oh, and this guy, Tshivalavala, he declared while you were busy" Matodzi remarks. "Did you get to meet him at all?" I am valiant in restraining myself. Angels are chosen, it appears, for their ability to be far subtler and cleverer than those they assist.

Barry Thorne

1 Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings, p334, CLVII, BPT, Wilmette, Illinois

Around the world there are many Bahá’í communities who are now grappling with the task of incorporating the Bahá’í concepts of social and economic development into their regular pursuits.

One such British community, Wychavon in Worcestershire which has been doing this for the last ten years, was persuaded to share its experiences with the delegates at the recent conference on social and economic development, organised jointly by BASED-UK and the International Environment Forum at Sidcot Family Summer School. Let us look at what they have been doing.

To begin with, individuals from the community were already involved with the Pershore Peace Group and the local branch of Amnesty International. The impetus for social and economic development came from three women, who targeted a community centre which had a range of activities for young and old including a crèche and coffee bar. They asked if they could do anything to assist and it was suggested that they run the coffee bar. They decided to make this something that Bahá’u’lláh would have been proud of and to use ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as their example. So they made inexpensive but tasty food, had clean tablecloths and offered a friendly service.

They learnt that there was a local group which was trying to start a project for the homeless and agreed to donate the profits to this. They kept a low profile offering only money and consultation when asked, the purpose now being to serve the wider community rather than "teach" the Faith. The Bahá’í friends supported the coffee bar; they began to serve more ambitious food and as the project grew, so did people’s skills. The group gained internal strength from working together every fortnight for two years on a project that served the community.

When Agenda 21 appeared in 1993 they all studied the Rio Agreement and four of them got involved on local Agenda 21 committees. The friends gradually introduced the principles of Bahá’í consultation in to the committee meetings. Such procedures were readily accepted and culminated in the Bahá’ís sponsoring a workshop discussion on environmental issues.

By now there were many ongoing activities and the friends realised that a heightened level of love and unity needed to be generated for these to be sustained. This led to them taking an in depth, honest look at themselves, which was sometimes difficult.

Each year they celebrated Bahá’u’lláh’s Birthday in a big way and invited different groups of people who were serving the community, such as town councillors, charity or health care workers, to join them.

They identified the two power bases in their town, the Town Council and the Church and set about establishing links. In consultation with the Pershore Christian Council the Assembly enabled local Christian groups to make their One World Week event a much larger community gathering. They also gave their support to various other community projects in the town.

The most recent involvement of the community has been with the setting up of the Vale Credit Union which aims to serve the small scale financial needs of the local community.

At the Sidcot BASED session they were compared with another similarly active community who had later run out of steam, and asked what they thought had most contributed to their sustainability. The following seemed to be important factors -

They started small, expanded gradually and didn’t try to rush. Constant planning and reviewing.

Everyone was involved and they tried to acknowledge and recognise what each was doing. Regular fireside and deepening sessions. An honest look at themselves and the discipline of their Bahá’í lives was felt to be required. Although busy, they kept a balance between Bahá’í, family, and work activities. They didn’t become involved in everything they were asked to. Initially the plan was to teach, but they quickly made service their aim (plenty of teaching opportunities then presented themselves - during the period three adults and nine youth declared ….

Can we (and local Spiritual Assemblies and Groups) look at this case study and learn anything from it?

Are some of our communities already doing local service/social and economic activities that have arisen out of local consultation?

It would be wonderful to hear about experiences that have developed from "natural stirrings at the grass roots" in other communities around the United Kingdom. PLEASE let us know what else is happening out there already!