“Among the greatest of all services that can possibly be rendered by man to Almighty God is the education and training of children.”

The family is the nucleus of the human society and education and support of the Children in the community is a high priority for the Bahá’í s as the values supported help shape future generations.  The aim of education of the children at an early age is so they grow up free from all forms of prejudice, recognize oneness of humanity and appreciate the nobility and dignity of every human being.

Children’s classes nurture the tender hearts of children and help them to build the foundation of life as a spiritual being. The classes require the children to think, reflect, and apply spiritual laws (such as ‘treading the path of justice’) to decisions in their lives. Great attention is given to the development of spiritual qualities and to those beliefs, habits, and behaviors that are essential to our nobility as spiritual beings and shared among all Faith communities.  Focus is on fostering respect and positive attitudes and enabling the ability to make better decisions,

All of these classes focus on developing morals, virtues, and other spiritual tools that the future citizens of this world will need to increase the process of building peace. The program is currently offered to children aged 2-11 and hosted in various community centers and participants’ neighborhoods in over 200 countries around the world.

The program puts the learning into practice by using virtues, free play, crafts, music, and dance, as these are some of the ways we have found to be successful in building the capacity of every participant.

Junior Youth Empowerment program

Junior youth – or those between 12 and 15 years – are at a crucial stage in their lives when they are defining their identity and values. Junior youth groups offered by the Bahá’í community address the needs of these young people by helping them to develop a strong moral identity and to empower them to contribute to the well-being of their communities.  The JY empowerment program is a global movement that motivates the young people to work with their parents and their communities to contribute to the well being of their neighbourhood and the world at large. 

Through this practice, these junior youth are able to exercise their individual perceptions, enhance their powers of expression, and reinforce positive moral practices that will serve them throughout their lives. Although the moral concepts are in alignment with the teachings of the Bahá’í Faith, the program’s content is not religious in nature and has been designed for a diverse range of junior youth, thereby addressing the needs of the greater community. 

The program is currently hosted in various academic institutions, community centers, and participants’ neighborhoods in over 150 countries around the world.

In addition to personal prayer and meditation, Bahá’í communities hold regular devotional gatherings for collective worship. These gatherings unite people in prayer and awaken their spiritual susceptibilities.

Because there are no ritual and no clergy in the Bahá’í Faith, devotional gatherings are often held in peoples’ homes or in public places and they are diverse in their form. Prayer and reflection upon sacred scriptures is at the heart of such programs, and music,Devotional Gathering Music singing, poetry are often incorporated as well.

Bahá’í devotional gatherings are intended to embrace the attitude of prayer and practice of devotion that is universal to all religions, and they are open to people of all beliefs and backgrounds.

Study circles bring groups of people together to deepen their understanding of the Bahá’í teachings through systematic study. This involves structured group discussion of passages from the Bahá’í writings that encourage reflection on one’s moral purpose and capacities for service.

Within a study circle everyone is encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning in an environment that is at once serious and uplifting. Study circles are facilitated by trained tutors, who have completed the sequence of courses and now accompany others through the same educational process.

Study circles are one of the core activities of Bahá’í community life, and they are designed to imbue participants with a feeling of personal responsibility for the advancement of their communities, nation and world. They happen in Bahá’í communities all around the country and anyone is welcome to join – regardless of religious or cultural background.    Through the process of action, reflection, consultation, and accompaniment, study circle participants around the world have become increasingly committed to the vision of individual and collective transformation, and to building the foundation for a global community centered on service and worship.