Bahá'í Community of Western Massachusetts and Southern Vermont

User menu

Junior youth groups

Groups for youth ages 11 to 14 provide an environment of mutual support as young people strive to effect positive change in their communities and their own lives.

Junior youth are often seen as problematic, in the throes of tumultuous physical and emotional change. This is a widely-held image of this age group. The Bahá’í community, on the other hand, has a different and more positive vision.

What Bahá’ís see in these young people is altruism, a sense of justice, eagerness to learn about the world, and a desire to contribute to the construction of a better society.

The junior youth spiritual empowerment program is designed to help them form a strong moral identity and empowers them to contribute to the well-being of their communities and the world at large.  By developing their spiritual qualities (virtues), their intellectual capabilities and their capacities for service to society, the participants come to see that they can become agents of positive change in the world.

The program adopts a participatory mode of learning where the facilitator and participants learn from each other.  Groups of participants engage in activities such as artistic expression, discussion, drama, cooperative games, study of literature, story telling and acts of community service.
The junior youth program explores themes from a Baha’i perspective, but is not a formal religious education program. It is open to all, subject to parental approval.  Junior youth groups meet on a regular basis and there is no written homework.

 

Photo courtesy of Joanne M. Goding

Subscribe to RSS - Junior youth groups