Working Alongside Others
In the Philippines, local Bahá’í communities where Bahá’ís live are engaged in activities to advance the spiritual and material life of their families, friends and neighbourhoods.
The members of these communities, in a process of study, consultation and action, are learning to read their social reality and ways to better society, build capacity to serve through training and experience, make plans of action, collaborate in their implementation and reflect on their action.
These communities have recognized, for instance, a crying need for moral education. Realizing the emphasis in the Bahá’í Faith to inculcate in children and youth love for God and humanity and to develop in them spiritual perception and a moral character, they have started classes open to all children in the neighbourhood and formed junior youth groups—irrespective of social standing and background. In many occasions, Bahá’í communities in the Philippines are able to offer and conduct moral education classes in a few public schools.
These educational initiatives incorporate such principles of Bahá’í education, such as that man is a noble being, that the educator’s method is not to indoctrinate but to develop the children’s capacity to think and understand spiritual concepts and develop virtues through application of spiritual teachings in their lives.