“If not now, when?” Kawartha Lakes Reaches the Second Milestone
A group of friends in the Kawartha Lakes cluster have made an incredible discovery: the untapped potential of a good cup of coffee. As we will see, this much-loved yet unlikely protagonist was the catalyst for what is now an expanding nucleus of friends consulting, reflecting, and acting together on a weekly basis. This January, […]
Sharing Prayers and Having Hope in Brant-Haldimand-Norfolk
A vibrant group of souls in the Brant-Haldimand-Norfolk cluster have been sharing prayers and developing an outward looking orientation. This large cluster touches Lake Erie to the south and is connected to both Welland and Hamilton and includes Six Nations of the Grand River and Mississaugas of the Credit First Nations. There are three Assemblies […]
An Assembly in a Learning Mode Spurs Growth at the Grassroots in Hamilton
The Local Spiritual Assembly of Hamilton has been consciously working towards building bonds of love and fellowship in the community and supporting initiatives at the grassroots. In the spirit of learning, the Local Spiritual Assembly reached out to the Toronto Assembly in response to an article published in Bahá’í Canada about advances in their community. […]
Ice Cream Aisles and Fishing Resorts: Home Visits On the Go
By the end of the first week of their home visit campaign, the Thunder Bay team had already had 40 home visits: “So we kept right on going.”
Aurora Children Create a Video Tribute to 215 Children of Kamloops Indian Residential School
Over the course of the pandemic, the Aurora children’s class committee has invited various children’s classes in Aurora to participate in creating short videos as a way to keep the children in the community connected. This existing pattern of connecting and creating throughout a time of distance recently allowed the children to honour the souls […]
26 Prayers Adorned with 26 Flowers of Ontario
In March, a selection of prayers was released in commemoration of the one hundredth anniversary of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s passing, prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice. Friends across Ontario have been inspired by their beauty, drawing on these newly translated prayers in both private prayer and devotional gatherings. Many of the images […]
“She Elevates my Soul”: Friendship on Georgina Island
Mandana Sabet has been visiting Indigenous communities in Canada and Greenland since she arrived in Canada decades ago. Alongside Bahá’í friends in Newmarket and Georgina, in the York North Cluster, Mandana has been building relationships with families living on the Georgina Island reserve for some time. She recalls a friend calling her to say there […]
“A space for everyone to feel connected”: Drawing on the Power of Prayer in Clusters at the Forefront
In many localities in Ontario, friends are extending the spirit of collective worship to those around them. Those in the Greenboro-Heatherington neighbourhood of Ottawa, which has experienced significant growth over the past year, have seen how the practice component of Ruhi Book 1, Reflections on the Life of the Spirit, sharing a prayer with a […]
Seeking Untapped Potential: An Expanding Nucleus in North York
Sara Louie Daliran came to Canada from Iran 15 years ago. Early in her university education, she married her husband, Reza, who is from a Muslim family. Soon after they were married, the couple began studying the books of the Ruhi Institute, and two years later he enrolled in the Faith. Since that time, and […]
Walking with Hope in Sudbury
Helen and JP Mayer have been having devotional gatherings at their home in Sudbury, Ontario for several years. After pioneering in China for seven years, they draw on their experience of communicating through body language: “It’s amazing what a smile can do. Everybody has the potential to be open-hearted if you approach them very attentively […]
“How could we offer something without leaving our homes?” Dawn Prayers in Stratford
The Oxford-Perth cluster first advanced beyond a couple dozen activities just last year, through holding more frequent institute campaigns every cycle. These regular institute campaigns strengthened a dynamic youth movement and opened pockets in the cluster to children’s classes and junior youth groups, and soon the cluster could see a path towards the vision of […]
The Power of Intergenerational Friendships in Stratford
In the Oxford-Perth cluster, the friends have seen dramatic growth with respect to devotional gatherings over the past few cycles. The spirit of intergenerational accompaniment and friendship is strong in the cluster and is solidified through both a pattern of collective worship, as well as an outward-looking orientation. The passing of Mary Helen Hazen, a […]
“We’re all really like family”: Distinctive Conversations in Cornwall
Accounts from a number of clusters illustrate the way that all activity begins with a “simple strand of love,”[1] and one of the ways in which this love is felt through elevated and distinctive conversations. This thread of love weaves a “pattern of patient and concentrated effort, cycle after cycle, to introduce children, youth, and adults […]
Unity in diversity: brought together through prayer
BELLEVILLE – Regardless of religion, residents of Belleville are finding a communal place to pray at the home of Steve Hayman. Steve, along with his friend, Donald Lucas, have been hosting a devotional in the city for the last few years. Check out their story below told through the eyes of Donald and new participant […]