Waves of Pioneers Preparing in Ontario
With the launch of the Nine Year Plan, Bahá’ís and their collaborators are expanding their vision of growth in a number of ways, including considering how to respond to the needs of their sister communities and responding to the call of the Universal House of Justice, the international governing body of the Bahá’í Community. Periodic […]
Travelling the Bethany Galaxy
Do you ever wonder why we are so attracted to outer space and all the unknowns of the galaxy? And what that has to do with service?
“I joined because you knocked on my door!” Reflections on Youth Service
Mena and Jonaya are both 17 and have been serving in the Chester Le pocket in the Upper Don Mills neighbourhood of Toronto for the past six years. They shared the following reflections on their service this summer, the conversations it has led to in their respective families, the way their understanding of their neighbourhood […]
“Hardwired to Make Efforts”: Reflections on Youth Service
Since the initial youth conferences held in 2013, many cohorts of youth have reflected on the idea that “in selfless service to society is the possibility for both personal growth and enhancing capacity to contribute to social progress.”[1] At the outset of the One Year Plan, a growing number of youth, along with friends of […]
A team of Four Arises to Serve Full Time in Sudbury
Amidst the rising energy across Ontario at the outset of this one year plan, a team of collaborators in Sudbury, the reservoir cluster for the vast subregion of northern Ontario, have arisen to offer a dedicated period of service over the coming year. Each of these souls thoughtfully considered the needs for growth, what it […]
“I can give this year to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá!” Dedicated Service in Thunder Bay
Written by Carolyne Dowdell Our family moved to Thunder Bay in 1987 with the desire to serve and a love for Northern Ontario. I retired about three years ago now and I’ve been doing whatever I can to serve. I’ve realized that this, the Faith, is my passion. Over the course of the pandemic, the […]
“I hope you don’t think this was easy!”: Adventures in Sharing Learning
seeing the way that a “development in culture finds expression in the quality of their interactions.”
“We became a food hub”: The power of collaboration in Vaughan
Sunder Singh grew up in India. When she was 14, she met three fashionable Persian women in the marketplace. They were so kind and friendly that she invited them to her home. For the rest of her life, she remembered this encounter. “The gentleness about them stayed with me,” she says. She also remembered the […]
Service Week in St. James Town
In the fall of 2020, the team in Toronto’s densely-populated neighbourhood of St. James Town was thinking about how their efforts to draw new youth into the community-building process could continue. Winter was looming, and restrictions around the pandemic were likely to increase. They were conscious of the need to weave together a pattern of […]
Developing Virtues on a Farm in Martintown
The Tremblay-Savoie family lives on their farm, Nature’s Acres Homestead in Martintown, Ontario, in the Cornwall cluster. Alex and Zac, both participants in a junior youth group, created this video, wishing all the friends a Happy Naw-Rúz and describing daily life on their farm. With humour and joy, the twin brothers reflect on how their […]
Touching the Hearts Through Service and Artmaking in Ruddington
The Ruddington Drive neighbourhood is comprised of seven apartment buildings with a population of about 3,200 people in the North West of Toronto. Newcomers from China, Iran, Hong Kong and South Korea make up close to 60% of the population and almost 30% of the population are young people. Since 2014, the expanding nucleus of […]
Believing is Seeing: Reflecting on Prayer and Service
“There is no time to lose. There is no room left for vacillation…Such an opportunity is irreplaceable. Let the doubter arise and himself verify the truth of such assertions. To try, to persevere, is to insure ultimate and complete victory.” – Shoghi Effendi [1] By Subrina Bhullar My children’s class participants are almost junior youth […]
Deciding to Pioneer: “Our role is to walk the path of service with our friends”
By Sonya Appadoo Our desire to homefront pioneer was first sparked when we studied the 29 Dec. 2015 message from the Universal House of Justice with a group of friends in London, Ont., soon after it was released. Helping to raise “the number of clusters where a programme of growth has become intensive to 5,000 […]
Highlights from Bethany: Kitchen Transformation: From Grimy to Gleaming
Confirmations seem to fill the walls of the Bethany Baha’i Centre of Learning as dedicated volunteers work to bring the centre up to code. Emad Toukan, Property Manager at Bethany, invited Hamed Saberi to give input into the kitchen renovation at the centre. Not only is Hamed a professional kitchen designer and cabinet maker but […]
Highlights from Bethany: “See Saw Margory Daw:” Who Can Learn to use a Chainsaw?
While Aida Ghodrati never expected to become a proficient chainsaw operator it fits well with one of her life’s goals: breaking down gender stereotypes one by one. Just because men usually operate chainsaws doesn’t mean a woman can’t learn how to use one, she decided. Ghodrati is a mechanical designer who spent half her life […]
New Ruhi Book 10 unit focuses on accompanying one another to serve
ONTARIO – The first unit of Ruhi book 10 has arrived, and study of it is already underway. On the first weekend of June over 40 participants that included the Bahá’í Council, Institute Board, Auxiliary Board members, and regional teams gathered in Toronto for the first Ontario study of Unit one Ruhi Book 10, entitled Accompanying […]