Adelaide conference explores themes critical to period of youth 

About 160 young people from South Australia have gathered at the Adelaide Baha’i Centre of Learning to explore the importance of the period of youth and make plans for the spiritual and material advancement of their home communities. 

Taking material from the 2013 world youth conferences, the two-and-a-half-day event explored themes including the period of youth, early adolescence, fostering mutual support and assistance, and contributing to the advancement of civilisation. 

Youth conference representative Navah Heidari said the overarching vision of the conference was to elevate the vision of the youth, generate enthusiasm for service, and assist them “to reflect, to commit, to steel themselves for a life of service.”¹

Featuring prayer, music, discussion and art, Navah said the program included sessions for reflection, study, and also action. 
 
“Each day of the program began with a plenary session which allowed all participants to come together to share in prayer and music,” she said. “This would then be followed by a large group session of about 80 participants where an initial read and study of each theme would occur.  

“Following this, we would break into small groups based on locality to delve deeper into the statements and accompanying questions, and experiment with different mediums of art.” 
 
Navah said the highlight of the program for many was the evening sessions which were dedicated to the sharing of arts. “This would encapsulate skits, music, illustrations that were done throughout the day based on the material, but also many cultural dance performances that were prepared and then taught to the conference so that we could all participate.”

At the end of the conference, each locality planned a path forward for their area. Many set goals to start devotional gatherings, children’s classes, junior youth groups, and study circles as well as targets for conversations to have with fellow youth about the importance of this period of their life.  

“Each locality also had to set a time to come together within the following seven days to finalise these plans with the hope that the fire of the conference could be used to help move the efforts forward,” Navah said. 

1. Universal House of Justice, Message dated 8 February 2013, to the Baha’is of the world[↩]