Community building

Community building is a term used by the Universal House of Justice to describe the efforts of the Bahá’í community to establish a distinct culture in a specific area for the purposes of coordinating and unifying efforts to serve the population. The Bahá’í community began to systematically focus on community building in the 1990's and this focus has continued to the present day.

In a 1996 message the Universal House of Justice wrote the following:

"A community is of course more than the sum of its membership; it is a comprehensive unit of civilization composed of individuals, families and institutions that are originators and encouragers of systems, agencies and organizations working together with a common purpose for the welfare of people both within and beyond its own borders; it is a composition of diverse, interacting participants that are achieving unity in an unremitting quest for spiritual and social progress. Since Bahá’ís everywhere are at the very beginning of the process of community building, enormous effort must be devoted to the tasks at hand."

Aspects of Bahá’í community building are forming and consolidating Local Spiritual Assemblies, observing the Nineteen Day Feast, holding reflection meetings, establishing and propagating core activities, and launching social and economic development projects. While community building efforts do contribute to the development of a Bahá’í community specifically, participating in Bahá’í community building is open to all interested and joining the Bahá’í Faith is not required.

Background

At the launch of the Four Year Plan, which was the framework for the international Bahá’í communities activity from 1996 to 2000, the Universal House of Justice contextualized the communities goals by providing an outline of a local communities ideal path of development.

In a December 1995 message the Universal House of Justice noted important aspects of establishing a Bahá’í community were proper annual elections and functioning of a Local Spiritual Assembly, observance of the Nineteen Day Feast, other meetings to foster community identity, participation of women, and establishing Bahá’í children's classes. The message noted children's classes were often a starting point for establishing other activities:

"The regular holding of Bahá’í children’s classes should be given high priority. Indeed in many parts of the world this is the first activity in a process of community building, which, if pursued vigorously, gives rise to the other developments. In all this, particular attention needs to be given to the youth, who are often the Faith’s most enthusiastic supporters. The establishment of these activities defines a first stage in the process of community development, which, once attained, must be followed by subsequent stages until a community reaches a point where it can formulate its own plans of expansion and consolidation."

A 2001 message provided further guidance on stages in community building:

"Among the initial goals for every community should be the establishment of study circles, children’s classes, and devotional meetings, open to all the inhabitants of the locality. The observance of the Nineteen Day Feast has to be given due weight, and consistent effort should be made to strengthen the Local Spiritual Assemblies. Once communities are able to sustain the basic activities of Bahá’í life, a natural way to further their consolidation is to introduce small projects of social and economic development—for example, a literacy project, a project for the advancement of women or environmental preservation, or even a village school."

In the Ridvan 2021 message the Universal House of Justice reviewed the evolution of the concept of community building in its Plans and noted the process had become something which was not limited to Bahá’í's, and that while it was not directly related to people becoming Bahá’í's this development had promising implications for Bahá’í expansion efforts:

". . . significantly, Bahá’í communities adopted an increasingly outward-looking orientation. Any soul responsive to the vision of the Faith could become an active participant—even a promoter and facilitator—of educational activities, meetings for worship and other elements of the community-building work; from among such souls, many would also declare their faith in Bahá’u’lláh. Thus, a conception of the process of entry by troops emerged that relied less on theories and assumptions and more on actual experience of how large numbers of people could find the Faith, become familiar with it, identify with its aims, join in its activities and deliberations, and in many cases embrace it.