Two neighbourhoods in Abbotsford B.C. advance with support from an adjoining cluster

This story shows how learning and practical support from a reservoir cluster helped an adjoining cluster pass the third milestone, reinforcing the collaboration between two neighbourhoods.

At the end of June, two neighbourhoods in Abbotsford, B.C.—Rockhill Park and Clearbrook—held their first junior youth camp together, with 2o participants. This camp was a testament to the ongoing support from an adjoining third milestone cluster that has had more experience and therefore had an opportunity to share its learning.

Abbotsford-Mission, where both these neighbourhoods are located, is a cluster in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. In their grouping of clusters, Surrey-Delta-White Rock—a third milestone cluster—serves as the reservoir cluster Over the past year, the flow of resources and insights between them has strengthened.

Experienced individuals from the reservoir cluster visit weekly and closely accompany the friends in Abbotsford-Mission. This informal arrangement, which was facilitated by the Regional Council and Auxiliary Board members, began in July 2025, when Abbotsford-Mission reached its second milestone.

The friends who were asked to serve on this team attended an orientation and went on some initial visits to the cluster. In the Rockhill Park neighbourhood, activities had been ongoing for four to five years. There were children’s classes, a cohort of junior youth advancing through the texts and learning about serving as animators, and strong relationships with parents were being cultivated.

In the Clearbrook neighbourhood, a children’s class teacher had been teaching children since 2022,  inspired by the global conferences. Almost all  the children between the ages of 5-10 in her complex attended the class , but she was unsure how to meaningfully engage their families, as well as those who had recently turned 11 or 12 and had become junior youth.

Together, the visiting team and the teacher saw the possibility of forming a junior youth group in the neighbourhood. One of the friends from the Surrey-Delta-White Rock cluster began visiting 1-2 times a week, focusing efforts on the families in the complex.

To introduce the junior youth spiritual empowerment programme, they drew on Unit 3 of Book 2: Arising to Serve. As the junior youth group was formed, their initial meetings incorporated conversations on excellence and unity, drawing on section 29 of Book 5: Releasing the Power of Junior Youth, Unit 3. Over the last few months, the small group of friends in the complex have been developing capacity in several different areas. For instance, they have been learning to bring mothers together for gatherings in which the children and junior youth share songs and presentations, which has led families to consult on their aspirations for the community.

A study of Book 1 Reflections on the Life of the Spirit was started in English and Punjabi but because of the mothers’ busy schedules, it did not continue after a few weeks. Instead, the friends began to offer the concepts from Book 1 in diverse ways. For example, the passage from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, “The betterment of the world can be accomplished through pure and goodly deeds, through commendable and seemly conduct” was displayed in English, Hindi and Punjabi during one of the gatherings, and used as a topic for consultation. A printed version was used on home visits, for those neighbours who did not come to the gathering.

The junior youth are also learning to express the aims of the program to their families and friends. They created a slideshow to present at the gathering, as well as flyers to give to their friends and invite them to the group. One member of the group describes what she learned from the text Wellspring of Joy: “Being happy doesn’t just mean that you enjoy everything. You can be going through difficulties but still be happy because you know God is there to make things right. When we do good deeds, then God helps us in our efforts.”

With the informal arrangement between the two clusters came greater collaboration with the Area Teaching Committee and regional agencies, and a strengthened system for data collection in the cluster. In October 2025, Abbotsford-Mission passed the third milestone. However, the weekly visits to Clearbrook continue, as the friends learn how to engage all the families who reside in their complex. With the assistance of the regional coordinator, the two neighbourhoods also meet every month to plan and reflect on efforts. In a recent gathering, they decided to pursue an object of learning for the summer–inviting more children, junior youth, and youth into the community building efforts.

The camp that took place in June was one expression of a growing capacity for collective learning. One group of older junior youth from the Rockhill Park neighborhood studied a statement on the period of youth. In a mapping exercise, they identified the spaces in which youth interact in their neighbourhood, and analyzed the positive and negative forces acting on them. The other group consisted of younger junior youth, from both Rockhill Park and Clearbrook area, and they completed two lessons from the text Observation and Insight. Their activity involved collecting a variety of leaves from the park and classifying them based on observable characteristics. At the end of the day, both groups gave presentations to each other, and one junior youth suggested that each participant share one thing that they enjoyed about the camp. The participants talked about playing fun games, said that they enjoyed the study of the junior youth texts and the activities, and appreciated having an opportunity to make new friends from different schools.

The experience of the two neighbourhoods has shown that the process of community building is not confined to the activities taking place in one neighbourhood. By learning alongside friends from an adjoining cluster, they have been able to see their own efforts as part of a larger process.