Our neighbourhood’s first grassroots conference was held in December 2024. We decided for our first effort, we would have a one-day conference to learn about how to create a space that would strengthen the conversation about transformation and unity in the community. We had been connecting with around 20 families in our neighbourhood over several months, some casually and others in core activities. Seven children and six junior youth had been participating in weekly activities for about a year and three families had arisen to host a neighbourhood devotional, open to all. A month or so before the conference, we had held a Day of the Covenant event and a celebration for the JY group finishing Breezes of Confirmation – several families had joined for one or both of those events. We felt encouraged by these initial steps to deepen the conversation, especially with parents, through the themes of the 2022 global conferences.
To prepare for the conference, we created a simple invitation on Canva and shared it via WhatsApp. We intentionally used the word “conference”, despite varied meanings of that word, to signal that this was a different type of event than the community potlucks, celebrations, and family gatherings that had previously taken place. We also clarified in the invitation and in conversations that there would be a program for adults and that parents should attend the conference, not just drop off their children. Three neighbourhood families offered to cook lunch for the conference, which was warmly appreciated and enjoyed by all. We also asked for help to run the children and JY programs and organize the food – in consultation with the Auxiliary Board member, we identified six dear friends who traveled from three other communities to provide this service. Several of these friends were learning about similar processes in their own neighbourhoods and the reciprocal support was deeply appreciated. All three age groups’ programs focused on the theme of hopes and aspirations for the community.
We used the first two themes of the sample conference materials to prepare the adult program, sharing the vision of Bahá’u’lláh for humanity and the distance traversed. We also drew on a passage from Book 12 Unit 2: “Children are the most precious treasure a community can possess, for in them are the promise and guarantee of the future…”. The materials were provided in both English and Hindi to support the engagement of the largely Indian population that has so far been involved in the community-building activities. Reading the passages and questions together stimulated a conversation about the challenges and opportunities facing our families and society in general. When considering the second theme on the distance traversed, we enjoyed seeing the timeline created by the junior youth group, with pictures and dates for major events over the past year. Talking about these steps and those yet to come opened a conversation about the strengths of the process so far, and also some of the challenges such as having no teacher for a younger children’s class. Overall, the adult program was engaging and uplifting and increased understanding about the community-building process and how we could support each other’s families.
At the end of the conference, all 30 or so participants gathered to reflect. The children and JY shared the art and music they had created in their groups and we concluded the conference by going around to each share our favourite part of the day. There were many expressions of wishing to see the programs continue to strengthen and to have future conferences to build on this conversation. One commitment requested by the kids and JY was to have the program continue through the summer months, which we were not able to do last year. This goal is now before the whole community to figure out!
There were challenges as well. All of the parents at first dropped off their kids and when we asked if they would stay, they said they would come at lunch time. Although the afternoon was well-attended and vibrant, it left us with only one adult session instead of two. However, conversations over lunch and during that session still reached many of the aims we had in mind. Understanding increased among the parents about the value of opportunities to pray, consult, and reflect together. The distinctly spiritual nature of this collective enterprise is one dimension that was especially strengthened – a sweet moment was when several parents leapt at the chance to open the adult session with a Sikh prayer. This experience provided the opportunity to turn our hearts to God together and the conversation afterwards helped us learn about each other’s faiths and the points of unity between them.
Following the conference, two mothers volunteered to teach a class for 4-6 year olds, with support from us to plan lessons based on Ruhi Book 3, grade one. This gap had existed for some time and our family alone could not have addressed it. Moving forward, the regular activities will continue with renewed clarity and concentration by a widening circle of friends. We are working towards a second conference to reflect on steps taken and explore the other themes in the 2022 conference materials. There are now many more collaborators to work alongside to plan that conference and many other future neighbourhood endeavours.
