The Training Institute Board and Children’s Classes

O God! Educate these children. These children are the plants of Thine orchard, the flowers of Thy meadow, the roses of Thy garden. Let Thy rain fall upon them; let the Sun of Reality shine upon them with Thy love. (‘Abdu’l-Bahá)

The holding of Children’s Classes is one of three activities that the Universal House of Justice has particularly asked Bahá’ís to place at the core of our community life, and there have been encouraging increases in the number of classes being set-up and expanded across Scotland; we now have 14 regular classes with total attendance of about 100. But, with 127 people having completed Ruhi Book 3 (Teaching Children’s Classes), there’s still much untapped potential for increasing this precious service to our local communities. You (yes, you!) can help.
It is difficult to overstate the personal responsibility and priority placed on this by the Faith:
The Supreme Pen enjoins upon all to instruct and educate the children (Bahá’u’lláh, Tablet of Ishraqat, Seventh Ishraq)
...in God's sight, the best of all ways to worship Him is to educate the children... (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Selections from the writings of Abdu’l-Bahá, §144)
According to the explicit divine Text, teaching the children is indispensable and obligatory (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Compilation of Compilations vol. I, p. 273)

Overall activity levels are high in many of our communities with, at any one time, about 130 adults and youth attending study circles, and nearly 200 attending devotional meetings; recently we’ve also seen our first Junior Youth program start-up in the Forth/Clyde cluster. Of the core activities, children’s classes remain the least widely implemented, and in some clusters (including the priority Forth/Clyde cluster) there are very few. It really isn’t just “indispensable and obligatory” for others, and even if you don’t think you’ll be that good at it, the only way to ever change that is to practise!
To assist with setting-up new children’s classes, a support-pack* has recently been produced which gives a very good, brief starting point: e-mail ian@fozdar.com to get a copy. You can also contact Venus Carew (01387-262321, venuscarew@onetel.com) and/or Ian Fozdar to discuss the subject. We can also put you in touch with others around Scotland (there are now all shapes & sizes of classes, from Lerwick to Elrick to Edinburgh) who have been running classes, very possibly in similar circumstances to you.

Good luck.
* Please do request the support pack before starting up the class, as it contains much good guidance on practicalities such as where to get materials, legislation on child protection and safety.