The unfoldment of a moral education process in Delacombe 

It’s taken eight years for the Baha’i education process to take root in Delacombe, a neighbourhood situated in the west of Ballarat, in regional Victoria. 

The process began when the Baha’i community rallied together prior to the previous Five Year Plan and studied the Universal House of Justice’s 2015 message to the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors. It was in this message that the Universal House of Justice spoke about initiating “a process for building capacity”¹ through which “its inhabitants, prompted by a wish to contribute to the spiritual and material well-being of their communities, are enabled to begin offering acts of service”¹. 

Studying this document as a community set the vision for the coming years. The community-building activities were launched in Delacombe, a decision that was made because many families lived close by, with one family attending the local kindergarten. Children’s classes, a junior youth group, a study circle and prayer gathering were all held at the local YMCA, and the Baha’i moral education process, supported by the entire Baha’i community, started to unfold. 

Before long “a nucleus of friends”¹ was formed who were “working and consulting together and arranging activities”¹ and meeting regularly to reflect, pray, study and plan. The process started advancing at a slow yet steady pace, embracing more individuals over time. At first there was a handful of families, mostly from the local area, but accompanied by friends from across Ballarat. Now, the process has expanded from a hall setting to Delacombe Primary School where many families involved attend. The heartbeat of the process is located at the school. It’s the Hub. Including Grades 1 to 5 from the Ruhi curriculum, two junior youth groups, devotional gatherings and a study circle, the moral education process engages more than 30 families from Delacombe and its adjoining suburbs and is punctuated by family festivals every three months. 

Family festivals have been a major element of the community-building process since the activities launched in Delacombe almost a decade ago. While they have taken various forms – Holy Day celebrations, open days or community days – their intention has been one and the same; to showcase the purpose of the institute process in creating vibrant communities and the “rich possibilities created by working together”¹. 

The most recent family festival, held in September, was based on the theme of unity, and engaged one of the school staff members who took participants through a weaving activity. Up to 100 people from the school and surrounding areas attended the event, which started with a community breakfast, songs and prayer and a playgroup for the younger children. Personal invitations were sent out for the festival, with school students inviting their friends, individuals inviting colleagues, and a flyer also posted on the Delacombe Community Building page.

Catch a glimpse of the latest Delacombe Family Festival below:

As the years have gone on, the Hub has provided a space for the local community to witness the overarching mandate of Baha’u’llah – that of unity in diversity – in action. As the Universal House of Justice states, “How else but by translating that vision into an order based on unity in diversity can the world heal the social fractures that divide it?”². This is vital to the growth of the community-building process as it takes what is theoretical and makes it practical. Everyone is invited to play a part, not simply be a recipient. It is an educational process where individuals are active protagonists, where worship and service go hand-in-hand, where education, art and unity are interwoven. 

Through the years, parents have helped facilitate classes and festivals, and families have participated in service activities through the local primary school. Every week, the Hub also starts with a pot-luck breakfast, which only goes to reinforce the notion that everyone is a part of this educational process. This was a decision that was made together, with the families at the Hub part of the consultation. It wasn’t a decision that was made for the space, but by the space. 

But one of the most heartening experiences of all has been to watch the children journey through the grade materials, enter the junior youth program, and then go on to assist with teaching children’s classes themselves, all the while maintaining a solid identity and strong bonds of camaraderie. It’s been a direct example of how the Institute process is designed to sustain itself. 

The process has taken time. It has taken dedication and patience. Every Saturday for the past eight years, the teachers, parents and facilitators have given their time to ensure the activities have been hosted in Delacombe – without fail. And as the moral education process takes root in the neighbourhood, the challenge is to continue building capacity through the Institute so more families can be engaged in a process that is vibrant and outward-focused, and so that “the society-building power of the Faith”³ can be released in ever-greater measures within both Delacombe and in Ballarat more broadly.  

This past year, Ballarat has been under the spotlight due to numerous tragedies that have threatened to disrupt its social fabric and Delacombe Primary School was, in fact, impacted directly following the loss of one of its teachers. And while the Baha’i community has not been “unaffected by the travails of society”², these forces of disintegration, so very rife, serve to further prompt a “sustained effort to build communities that offer hope in place of despair, unity in place of conflict.”² 

As the Universal House of Justice further states: 

1. The Universal House of Justice, Message to the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors, 29 December 2015[↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
2. The Universal House of Justice, Ridvan 2024[↩][↩][↩][↩]
3. The Universal House of Justice, Message to the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors, 30 December 2021[↩]