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The idea was sparked less than three years ago when a couple of believers talked about having a reunion. Now the Peruvian Baha’i Gathering in the United States, having assembled twice, has grown in its spirit of service and strengthened bonds of love and friendship. The second gathering, held Aug. 10–12, 2012, in Durham, North [...]
Photo Gallery Garden at the Baha’i Center in Jefferson County, West Virginia beautifies the neighborhood. Click to enlarge and browse a gallery of related photos. By Julie Gregg In fall 2012, after five years’ labor, the Baha’is of Jefferson County, West Virginia, offered a garden sanctuary as a gift to their neighbors who live or [...]
The question posed in an email to American Baha’is was this: How well are we embracing the participation and perspectives of friends of the Faith, including spouses who are not registered Baha’is? Susan Le Mar was happy to report she and her husband “have been trying to translate the Word into reality through nightly family [...]
Joyce Jackson is focused on filling the needs of Uganda’s national Baha’i community while she serves there as a pioneer. In her case, that service looks a little different from how Baha’is customarily have envisioned pioneering. Photo Gallery Baha’i pioneer holds a devotional gathering in Kampala, Uganda. Photo courtesy of Joyce Jackson Click to enlarge [...]
It’s a tantalizing paradox: “The mystery of sacrifice is that there is no sacrifice.” An early American Baha’i coined that maxim in reflecting on the wisdom of ‘Abdu’l-Baha. And it was an assurance that an anxious Cher Gupta-Fletcher heard from Judi Behrendt when the two were preparing in early 2011 to spend most of a [...]
Talk to Baha’is about acceptance of and respect for Baha’i law and institutions, and two notions immediately come to the fore. Faith, of course, is one. But also immersion in the sacred writings and guidance. Nathan Shepherd of Carrboro, North Carolina, says his understandings came about this way: “I realized that I believed in and [...]
Melvin Thomas Jr. is in prison. Grace Eagle Reed was locked in a struggle with addictions and the aftermath of childhood abuse. Mary Ann McFarland was a young mother fighting a life-threatening illness. All three feel in a big way what other Baha’is feel in little or big ways every day: the blessings of God, [...]
The arts uniquely connect hearts to the divine and ease the burden of souls, say musicians Eric Dozier and JB Eckl. But when Baha’is get together, they say, the community’s otherwise awe-inspiring diversity presents a dilemma: How to craft a shared worship experience? Enter the Badasht Music Project. Through its recordings, website and visits to [...]
In Kansas City, Missouri, a local interfaith council raised the idea and the Baha’is ran with it. In Columbia, South Carolina, the Baha’is’ observance was one of eight in the area. What they all were celebrating was UN World Interfaith Harmony Week. The annual event was inaugurated only a year ago by the international body [...]
At first blush it doesn’t seem a difficult task: Arrange to visit someone, and at that encounter share a prayer and chat about … whatever. And it isn’t, say Baha’is who have engaged in such visits to the homes of Baha’is they haven’t seen in a while, of new believers, and of others they wish [...]
In one area a major obstacle to growth is water. In another it’s mountains. But in the emerging clusters involved the small Baha’i communities are taking steps to bridge such gaps. A warm environment for reflection The strengths and disadvantages of teleconferencing were there for all to hear Jan. 29 as the tiny group of [...]
Colorado Springs, Colorado, Baha’is arrived at their Center for Feast Jan. 19 to find a scene of utter devastation. Bookcases smashed and toppled. Chairs strewn about. Electronics and cash missing. A layer of fire extinguisher foam covering nearly everything. Dismay quickly turned, though, to concern for the perpetrators. “We stood outside and said prayers, and [...]
In 2010 the Spiritual Assembly of Brookhaven, New York, one of eight Assemblies on Long Island, found itself suddenly and unexpectedly faced with the job of hosting Unit Convention. Getting immediately into gear, the one-person planning team was dismayed to find out that, according to the national website, fewer than 25 percent of eligible Baha’is [...]
The Central States Regional Baha’i Council is still in the early stages of developing strategies to advance the frontiers of learning throughout the region. But the Council says that underlying those strategies will be the vision of a guidance-based culture ensuring “all clusters in the Central States have advanced the pattern of growth and the [...]
Florida woman takes up slain fiancé’s spiritual search and finds peace
Restoration of the gardens at the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois, reached another major milestone this fall, as the last decorative concrete has been placed and all the lawns have been restored in the gardens and approaches surrounding the terrace. Structural work is expected to be completed before year’s end on the ground-level [...]
View from the grass roots: my cluster and the Plan
Baha’is in emerging clusters answer two questions about what this Five Year Plan holds for the area where they live
Some of the emerging areas making their mark
A few additional glimpses of communities in emerging clusters striving either to initiate a program of growth or increase its intensity
Edwardsville, Winchester: new vistas along an old road
Baha’is in Edwardsville, Illinois, and Winchester, Virginia, both bisected by U.S. 50, are using a healthy streak of self-reliance to develop their communities
The Plan and emerging clusters, as Regional Councils see it
Regional Baha’i Councils have begun to walk confidently alongside agencies and individuals striving to further growth of the Faith in clusters with few and far-flung Baha’is
Colorado Springs Baha’i Center serves the Five Year Plan
By Baha’i Center Assistance Corp. More than just a venue for Bahá’í meetings, a local Bahá’í center can be placed effectively at the service of the Five Year Plan, as a springboard for teaching and core activities that spread into the community. That lesson has emerged clearly as the Bahá’í Center Assistance Corp. (BCA) examines [...]
Family moves on, but its community-building efforts stay
“Harmonious and caring neighborhood” hopes to sustain bonds of fellowship forged by departing couple
Creating a conducive environment For community-building activity to bubble up and flow, a growing number of people eager to translate Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings into action is required. Nancy Rank-Medina, a junior youth animator and study circle tutor, says the activities she facilitates in San Diego, California, became possible only when a conducive environment was created for [...]
By Susanne Alexander “Our children need to be nurtured spiritually and to be integrated into the life of the Cause.” — Universal House of Justice, Ridván 2000 Gradually the power of integrating participants of all ages is emerging on Sundays in Lakewood, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. “From the beginning, the children were included in [...]
As members act, reflect, consult and study, they forge bonds and grow in capacity and experience
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