Assemblies in Action! (small communities version)

The following story from an Assembly in a fairly small community in the Central States region shows that Assembly support for cluster-level development is a priority, regardless of community size. The thing we liked about this response was the simple, concrete, and achievable steps they committed to taking. There are no complicated and unwieldy plans here, nor vague, hopeful goals; only realistic steps forward. It is an excellent example of the notion that the aim of communities should not be to immediately become A-clusters, but simply to take the next step forward from whatever level of development they happen to be at. (A list of many other useful and actionable ideas can be found at http://www.usbnc.org/dept/ntc.asp).

"Since “The chief duty of Local Spiritual Assemblies is to promote the teaching work,” we pledge to do the following:

Complete Ruhi sequence of courses: All members of the Local Spiritual Assembly will complete the Ruhi sequence of courses as soon as practical. So far, four of the nine members have completed all courses.

Collaborate with institutions: To foster “loving collaboration and consultation with the Auxiliary Board members, institute coordinators and… cluster development facilitators or area teaching committees,” we will find out the addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of all of the individuals serving on these institutions and make a master contact list so that we may contact them when desired and work together with them. We will also find the names and contact information of all of the secretaries of the groups and LSAs in our cluster.

Support cluster advancement: We will commit to attend cluster reflection meetings as a community. We will make a report to the community about the results of the cluster meeting to inform those friends who could not attend.

Set our priorities wisely:

• Our immediate priorities for supporting the core activities are the following:
• Start a Ruhi 1 course for two seekers who are ready.
• Carry out regular devotional meetings.
• Increase our community of interest by making friends in [this town] and hosting activities such as international potluck dinners when we are ready."