National Assembly message for the Canadian Bahá’í community

25 November 2025 / 4 Speech 182

To the followers of Bahá’u’lláh in Canada

Dearly loved Friends,

At Riḍván 2025, the Universal House of Justice addressed these stirring and urgent words to the Bahá’ís of the world:

Against the gloom of a stormy sky, how bright the light that gleams from your devoted efforts! Even as the tempest rages in the world, the havens that will shelter humanity are being built in countries, regions, and clusters. But there is much to do. Each national community has its own expectations for the progress to be made during this, the Plan’s opening phase. Time is passing. Beloved friends, and promulgators of the divine teachings, and champions of the Blessed Beauty—your efforts are needed now. Every advance made in the fleeting months before next Riḍván will better equip the community of the Greatest Name for what it must accomplish in the Plan’s second phase. May you be granted success. For this we beseech the sovereign Lord; for this we implore His unfailing aid; for this we entreat Him to send forth His favoured angels to assist each one of you.

On this Day of the Covenant—now with but five months remaining in the opening phase of the Nine Year Plan—we are eager to share with you the progress that has unfolded across the country, and to place before you the tasks that yet lie ahead. It is impossible to be brief: the House of Justice stated that “there is much to do,” and much has been done.

Across Canada, signs of profound spiritual transformation abound. We begin in the intimate settings of small pockets of neighbourhoods in clusters that are embracing large numbers. A new conception of what it means to be a Bahá’í and to be part of a Bahá’í community is taking shape, as many who are not formally enrolled as Bahá’ís arise to contribute to the progress of their communities. This passage from the 30 December 2021 message describes what we witness today: “The enkindled souls being raised up through the processes of the Plan are seeking to gain an ever more profound understanding of Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings.… They are committed to the prosperity of all.… In places where growing numbers are helping to build communities of this character, the power of the Cause to transform people’s social existence, as well as their inner lives, is becoming increasingly visible.” Neighbourhood after neighbourhood is now blossoming, vibrant communities emerging from once-tiny seeds, whether a first conversation with a neighbour, a first devotional meeting, a first mothers’ gathering, or a first group of youth arising to serve their younger peers.

One example among many may illustrate this movement. In a Toronto neighbourhood, a single children’s class began in 2016 when two mothers gathered a few families together. By early 2022, this had grown to six activities that engaged 40 participants. As the friends learned to adapt the delivery of the training institute’s content to the rhythms of everyday life and the hopes and aspirations of families, and as devotional, educational, and service-oriented activities multiplied, the families themselves—particularly the mothers—began to shape a new pattern of community life. Today, more than 600 friends in this neighbourhood are engaged in conversation about the health of their community and the education of their children, and are participating in core activities, festivals, camps, or social action initiatives. The vast majority are among the enkindled souls described by the House of Justice who may previously have been considered “friends of the Faith,” but who are now recognized as equally shouldering the work of advancing this divine enterprise.

From such small settings, we move to a national perspective, where we see signs of a strengthening training institute in clusters at every stage of development. Since Riḍván 2025, for example, the number of clusters where there is at least one junior youth group has risen from 62 to 72. Of the 20 clusters where the programme involves more than 50 junior youth, three—Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver—are together engaging over 1,200 participants and increasingly, their families. Regular participation in devotional gatherings and those involved in regular, systematic study of the Revelation through study circles, children’s classes, and junior youth groups has reached 35,500, an increase of over 2,000 since Riḍván. Outside of these regular spaces, it is estimated that an additional 7,500 friends are studying institute materials in family camps, campaigns, festivals, and conferences. Beyond this, in numbers impossible to tally, are those who are connected to the community and learning about the Faith in many ways, through conversation in varied informal settings, including firesides and home visits. Together, they form what the House of Justice has described as “a vast and growing number of kindred souls”1 who are “labouring together to build the world anew”2, whether they come from families whose Bahá’í heritage spans generations or have only recently encountered the Faith.

This new conception of community is propelling the movement of clusters towards the farthest frontiers of learning, which the House of Justice says “will usher in the time anticipated by Shoghi Effendi at the start of your collective exertions, when the communities you build will directly combat and eventually eradicate the forces of corruption, of moral laxity, and of ingrained prejudice eating away at the vitals of society.”3 How precious and pressing is the privilege of advancing this movement and witnessing its transformative effects as it increases in intensity!

In its 30 December 2021 message, the House of Justice explained that “the essentially spiritual undertakings of diffusing the light of Baha’u’llah’s Revelation ever more widely and extending the roots of His Faith ever more deeply into the soil of society have measurable outcomes: the number of clusters where a programme of growth has been initiated and the degree of intensity that each has reached.” Since the beginning of the Plan, Canada has experienced a surge in the movement of its clusters, particularly those moving from the second to the third milestone, from 26 third milestone clusters at the beginning of the Plan to 39 today. This is surely a testament to the growing capacity of regional institutions and agencies to implement sound strategies and creative approaches to disseminate learning from the clusters at the frontiers of learning to those earlier on the continuum of development. In the remaining five months before Riḍván 2026, ten additional clusters are expected to pass the third milestone, and five more will pass the second. Thus, by the close of this first phase, more than one-third of Canada’s 137 clusters will have reached the third milestone, learning to embrace larger numbers. This is an extraordinary achievement.

To sustain and widen these advances, teams of travel teachers from advanced clusters have arisen to support neighbouring areas. These efforts will need to be further strengthened if we are to meet the audacious goals adopted in each region before Riḍván. In addition, current estimates indicate that at least 23 clusters require homefront pioneers. This number is expected to rise as this phase of the Plan concludes and the next phase opens.

On the international front, 17 consecrated souls have arisen to pioneer to ten countries assigned as Nine Year Plan goals, with several more preparing. A minimum of 11 additional pioneers must arrive in their posts by the end of the first phase. We appeal especially to experienced friends who are familiar with the framework for action, and who are prepared to dedicate significant amounts of time and energy over a number of years to serving the Cause in this way: the moment to respond has not yet passed. In addition, in response to the House of Justice’s call for pioneers to China, and mindful of the Master’s hopes for that land, the National Assembly has set a goal of sending 15 pioneers annually over the next several years. The door to this form of service at home and abroad, this prince of all goodly deeds, stands wide open.

Finally, with hearts full of joy, we share news of the next stage in the raising up of Canada’s national House of Worship. As shared earlier, the rezoning of the Temple site was successfully concluded in February, paving the way to invite professional architects to contribute design ideas. From a rich pool of submissions, a small group has been selected to develop new concept designs. This brings us a step closer to a final design for the Canadian Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, the erection of which the Guardian said “will incarnate the soul of a flourishing nation-wide community”. We ask for your prayers for these devoted friends as they approach their sacred task.

The movement of neighbourhoods, the advancement of clusters, the deployment of pioneers and raising up Canada’s House of Worship are all elements of one divine plan that you have been generously, sacrificially supporting through your service and your contributions. This steady flow of resources has allowed the National Assembly to respond with confidence to the exigencies of the Plan and the needs of the Temple. Among the material instruments that have provided singular support to the processes of growth have been the neighbourhood spaces that have been acquired, now numbering 20, as well as the educational facilities in Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia that serve several advanced clusters and neighbourhoods. It is no exaggeration to say that without these facilities, the current progress would have been impossible.

Dear friends, we hope that news of these advances has brought you the same joy it brought to the National Assembly and the Counsellors as we recently reflected, and offered heartfelt prayers for your efforts. On this Day of the Covenant, we close this letter in gratitude to the Blessed Beauty for the gift of His Covenant, for ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as the Centre towards which our hearts turn, and for the unerring guidance of the Universal House of Justice, the last refuge of humankind, as it charts a course towards a new civilization. Whatever path of service is before you as you play your part, may remaining months of the Plan open up new possibilities in the field of action.

With loving Bahá’í greetings,
Karen McKye, Secretary