Flaxmere charts their course towards Bicentenary

Through systematic planning, a team residing in the Flaxmere suburb of Hastings has succeeded in generating several devotional gatherings and other activities. Their example is worth learning from.

Flaxmere currently has a core nucleus, which consists of eight members (five adults and three youth). The nucleus meets every fortnight on a Tuesday to reflect and plan for the local core activities — including core activities for the bicentenary of the Birth of the Báb.

For the past two cycles they have been studying various materials including:

Ruhi Book 4—the unit on the Life of the Báb
Letter dated 3 May 2018 to the Continental Counsellors from the International Teaching Centre
Training Institutes: Attaining a Higher Level of Functioning — a document prepared by the International Teaching Centre
Selected material regarding sustaining 50-100 participants in the junior youth spiritual empowerment programme

Planning conversations

The team used a concentric circle chart to aid them in the process of determining who they could speak to — and has identified 77 people to have conversations with and invite to the bicentenary and core activities in Flaxmere. Many teams around the country have used similar charts.

You may wish to try creating a similar chart, like the Flaxmere team. You can base it on the chart above, either for team planning or even for individual plans.

There are different ways this can be one, but one method is to write the names of team members in the innermost circle. Moving out into the next circle, write the names of friends who are to be reached out to for conversations. If you like, note the number of friends and perhaps keep track of the number of conversations your team has the capacity to generate.

Some teams may prefer to finish the chart at this point — and some may wish to expand even further. From the initial group of friends, think of the family and contacts they may be connected to, and list them in the outermost circle. Lines could be drawn to show more clearly who will be speaking with whom.

Devotional gatherings leading up to the bicentenary

Children’s Class Whanau Devotions — Prayers and Pancakes — Wednesday 2 October at 10am. Special invitations have been made and given to each child’s family.
Youth Devotions — Every Sunday leading up to the bicentenary week - Sundays at 11am. Theme: the Life of the Báb.
Musical Devotions — Sunday 20 October at 11am, special invitation to community of interest working within the core activities in Flaxmere.

Activities planned for the bicentenary

Collective Arts evening — 3 and 17 October — inviting all youth and junior youth to an arts evening, creating art using selected quotations from the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh, which is to be presented on Tuesday, 29 October
Presentation and celebration of the life of the Báb — Tuesday, 29 October. Including dinner and presentations (poems, artwork and story telling). Open to all — all Flaxmere core activities’ participants and families, also open to Bahá’í community who are available to attend.
Parents’ Lunch Date - Wednesday 30 October — For parents who are available to attend, conversations about the life of Bahá’u’lláh and the community building process, current status and reality of Flaxmere, etc.
Family Quiz Evening — Wednesday 30 October — Fun evening, open to all.