On We Are a Baha'i Community: Not a congregation
To mistakenly identify Baha'i community life with the mode of religious activity that characterizes the general society -- in which the believer is a member of a congregation, leadership comes from an individual or individuals presumed to be qualified for the purpose, and personal participation is fitted into a schedule dominated by concerns of a very different nature -- can only have the effect of marginalizing the Faith and robbing the community of the spiritual vitality available to it.
The Universal House of Justice, Aug 22, 2002
A congregational experience is passive. A Baha'i community is not a congregation. Baha'is are geared towards action and individual empowerment. Baha'is are forever in a process of change, and the process is long term.and systematic. Have you listened to Peter Khan's talk at the U.S. Baha'i National Convention? Go to the administrative website to listen and download. It's all about change.
The principle of the Oneness of Mankind—the pivot round which all the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh revolve...does not constitute merely the enunciation of an ideal, but stands inseparably associated with an institution adequate to embody its truth, demonstrate its validity, and perpetuate its influence. It implies an organic change in the structure of present-day society, a change such as the world has not yet experienced. It constitutes a challenge, at once bold and universal, to outworn shibboleths of national creeds—creeds that have had their day and which must, in the ordinary course of events as shaped and controlled by Providence, give way to a new gospel, fundamentally different from, and infinitely superior to, what the world has already conceived.
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