Coromandel cluster passes the second milestone of growth
In a letter dated 29 September 2021*, the North Island Regional Bahá’í Council writes:
Featured photo above: Coromandel’s cluster reflection meeting on 18 September. A member of the Regional Bahá’í Council joined via Zoom.
With great joy and admiration for the efforts of the friends labouring to serve the Plan, the North Island Regional Bahá’í Council announces that the Coromandel Cluster has passed the second milestone of growth. This is the second cluster to pass this milestone in the One Year Plan, after Wairarapa, and — along with Taranaki, Rotorua, and Eastern Bay of Plenty — the fifth in the last two years. As with those clusters, the achievement of this goal by the Coromandel Cluster has been the result of persistent efforts by the friends living in the cluster, including several families who have arisen to serve as long-term pioneers and a team of shorter-term youth pioneers from Auckland. Closely accompanying the efforts of this expanding nucleus have been an Auxiliary Board member and a member of the Regional Council.
Two youth pioneers: Moana Mohokoi and Daniel Crichton. The Local Spiritual Assembly paid for their drivers test which is an excellent example of accompaniment and support.
Initially the nucleus of friends serving the cluster was focused on the growth process in the town of Thames, but with additional friends moving into Waihi and Whitianga, there were sufficient human resources to permit each of these three towns to be a focal point of effort in the context of the cluster’s programme of growth which was by now unfolding in regular three-month cycles of growth. This steady rhythm of growth has been supported by whānau days, day camps, and children’s festivals. The cluster reflection meeting every three months ensures the coherence of all the activities and enabled the friends in the cluster to maintain a united vision of the next steps needed to advance.
A notable development shared by the friends serving the cluster is that they are seeing an increase in the number of protagonists, particularly the junior youth who have been organising whānau nights for the cluster as well as children’s festivals. In addition, a group of youth over the last three cycles have entered the institute process with the intention of training as children’s class teachers. In aggregate, this has seen the number of activities in the cluster grow from 7 activities engaging 33 souls less than a year ago to 13 activities engaging 59 souls now. The friends in the cluster are now exploring how their structures will need to evolve and take on greater degrees of formality in response to this growth.
Dear friends, we are confident that this victory will be the harbinger for several more in the second half of the One Year Plan. Every community has been called on by the Universal House of Justice to cultivate “the conditions necessary for welcoming larger and larger numbers of souls into the embrace of a community recognized for its fortitude and outward- looking orientation” and to “draw on whatever untapped potential it may possess and seek to overcome any obstacles that are an impediment to its growth.” For the Ruapehu, South Waikato/Taupō, and Tairawhiti clusters, the second milestone stands within reach in the six months that remain of the One Year Plan, and we call upon friends everywhere to pray for the efforts of the friends in these clusters in particular. Meanwhile, each of the dozen clusters which has already passed the second milestone must now focus its efforts on building the capacities necessary to pass the next milestone of growth; we are confident that more than one cluster in the region will pass this third milestone before Riḍván 2022, and again we call on you all to join us in offering prayers for these vital developments to come.
*This letter was sent by the Regional Council to all Local Spiritual Assemblies, Groups, and Isolated Believers in the North Island, on 29 September 2021
Note that Coromandel Cluster comprises two districts: Thames-Coromandel and Hauraki.
