Learning how to have spiritual conversations with youth 

A group of families in the Torres Strait cluster has been learning about how to engage in spiritual conversations with youth following a brief visit by two Auxiliary Board members who travelled to Waiben (Thursday Island) from Papua New Guinea in support of the community-building work. 

Appointed by the Continental Boards of Counsellors, Auxiliary Board members serve specific geographical areas and territories within their continental region. Together with the Counsellors and their assistants, Auxiliary Board members work to stimulate the growth and vibrancy of the Baha’i community, promoting the development of its spiritual, intellectual, and social life.

Sharing their experiences from PNG, the Board members opened new ways of thinking and acting, placing emphasis on the materials from the 2013 global youth conferences as being integral when engaging in conversations with young people and enriching interactions. 

Josh Toloui-Wallace, who serves as an Auxiliary Board member in Waiben, says throughout the visit, locals were uplifted and inspired by the stories shared from the Board members’ lives and service, offering fresh insights into what was possible. 

He said previous efforts in the locality to engage in spiritual conversations with youth had not been very fruitful. After studying the 1 July 2013 message from the Universal House of Justice and the statement from the conference materials focused on the period of youth, the concepts to be shared became clear. 

“…a few of us went around the community to try and find youth that we knew,” Josh says. “We ended up finding three youth in their respective workplaces for a brief five-minute chat which consisted of a brief catch-up, introducing the PNG friends and that they are here to help us learn about empowering youth to build community, the role of youth in a community (eg. younger ones look up to them, preparing for adulthood, have time and many powers), and then an invitation to sit down at a time that suits them to continue the conversation and share more.

“All three of the youth agreed to meet again, and because they are all friends already, organised to meet together at one of their homes the next day before work for an hour.” 

The following day, the team shared three quotations from the Baha’i writings with the youth: ‘Service to humanity is service to God’, ‘Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Education alone can cause it to reveal its treasures’ and ‘There is no deed nobler than service to the common good’. 

“The host youth’s mother was also present during the conversation,” Josh says. “The conversation was casual and included discussing key concepts from the period of youth statement from the conference material, as well as reading and discussing the meaning and implications of the three short quotations. 

“The conversation was very joyful and deep, the youth were obviously learning new things and were curious – their hearts were connecting to the concepts.” 

Since the initial visit, home visits with the youth and families have continued on the island, with a weekly youth gathering set to be established soon. 

Josh says the community has learned how to take initial steps to have ongoing conversations with young people in very simple and practical ways. 

“We learned that conversations may move at varied paces with different youth, so long as their hearts begin to connect to the concepts in the material to engender a desire to continue to learn,” he says.

Josh says it was invaluable to have the support persons visit Waiben, and to have their insights and accompaniment throughout this learning experience. 

“Their ability to read reality with us in the field not only helped us feel supported and confident, but also offered fresh eyes that illuminated aspects of our own reality which we had not considered before – like how people’s daily work takes up so much of their time, a fact we had taken for granted,” he says. 

“Their presence for a whole month meant that we did not feel rushed to hastily organise events, but rather it allowed us to follow a process of learning and build on our experience at a steady pace, day by day.”