1. 2026-03. On Community Building and the Nine Year Plan: A Balancing Point?. Wm. Keith Bookwalter. This paper explores community building in the Bahá'í Nine Year Plan as a balance between inner and outer community spheres, emphasizing expansion, consolidation, and guiding individuals across the “threshold” into committed membership. Essays.
2. 2026-03. On How to Increase Universal Participation in the Work of Community Building: A Proposal for Mature Local Spiritual Assemblies. Wm. Keith Bookwalter. This proposal outlines how Bahá’í assemblies can increase universal participation in community building by engaging individuals, fostering service, and aligning personal initiative with collective goals via consultation, co-support, and systematic action. Essays.
3. 2026-03. Se coordonner pour le bien commun: Institutions gouvernementales en partenariat avec l'action communautaire et l'initiative individuelle. Bahá'í International Community, Pierre Spierckel, trans. . Déclaration de la communauté internationale Bahá’íe à la 64e session de la commission du développement social. BIC.
4. 2026-02. Coordination for the Common Good: Governing Institutions in Partnership with Community Action and Individual Initiative. Bahá'í International Community. Statement for the 64th session of the United Nations Commission for Social Development (CSocD). Social progress emerges through coordinated partnership among institutions, communities, and individuals, grounded in trust, consultation, and shared purpose. BIC.
5. 2025-09. Principled Engagement: The Bahá'í Community of Iran's Approach to Social Change. Iqan Shahidi. Analyzes the Iranian Bahá’í community’s principled, non-adversarial engagement in social change, highlighting constructive resilience, community building, and non-political contributions despite persecution. Articles.
6. 2025-08. Elements of a Culture of Peace: A Bahá'í Perspective. Tiffani Betts Razavi. A Bahá’í framework for peace emphasizes shared beliefs, moral purpose, and collective agency, illustrating how spiritual principles and community practices foster a constructive culture of peace. Articles.
7. 2025-07. Bahá'í Sacred Writings. Bahá'u'lláh, Abdu'l-Bahá, Bahá'í World Centre, comp. . A comprehensive collection of selections from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh and the Writings and utterances of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, representing the range of the Bahá’í teachings. Writings.
8. 2025-05. Role of Religions and Faith-Based Actors in Advancing Spiritual and Material Prosperity on the Continent of Africa, The. Bahá'í International Community. Religious and interfaith actors in Africa can unite diverse communities, inspire collective action, and advance spiritual and material prosperity through dialogue, cooperation, and moral leadership. BIC.
9. 2025-04-21. Women and Social Progress: Building Communities Based on Dynamic Partnership. Bahá'í World. Highlights the Bahá’í principle of gender equality, showing its spiritual basis and global application through education, leadership, and community action. Articles.
10. 2025-04-21. Global Community, A. Bahá'í World. The global Bahá’í community advances unity, social transformation, and spiritual principles through systematic learning, community-building, and inclusive, grassroots action worldwide; overview of 1996–2021. Articles.
11. 2025-04-21. New Institution of Learning, A: The Training Institute. Bahá'í World. The Bahá’í training institute builds capacity for individual and community transformation through study, service, and collective learning. Articles.
12. 2025-04-21. Fostering a Worldwide Movement of Youth. Bahá'í World. Youth empowerment through spiritual education, service, and community-building programs, cultivating agents of social transformation amid mounting global challenges. Articles.
13. 2025-04-21. Elements of a Global Spiritual Endeavor (1996 - 2021). Various. Seven separate articles constituting "Chapter 2" of Bahá'í World v. 35, on the development of the Bahá'í community since 1996 and insights that have been gained along the way. Introductory.
14. 2025-03-19. Regarding Family Life and Marriage. Universal House of Justice. Letter emphasizing the Bahá’í family’s role in fostering unity, equality, and spiritual growth, shaping communities, and resisting societal disintegration through service, education, and evolving family structures. UHJ-letters.
15. 2025-03. Exploring a Framework for the Elimination of Racial Prejudice in America. Paul Lample. Explores a Bahá'í-inspired framework for eliminating racial prejudice in America, fostering unity, and advancing Bahá'u'lláh’s vision through community-building and social transformation. Includes a compilation on the elimination of racial prejudice. Articles.
16. 2025. Bahá'í Work as Worship, Prayer as Practice: Chapter 15. Deborah Clark Vance. Religion is logical and progressive; it moves humanity closer to a unified world; human reality is our thought, not our bodies; life is for acquiring spiritual attributes; Baháʼí temples are symbols of unity, fostering peace and community-building. Articles.
17. 2025. List of Transcripts at bahai.works. Various. Links to 121 transcripts offsite. Transcripts.
18. 2024. Pathways to Equity in Addressing Climate Change: A Bahá'í Perspective. Margery Dixon, Robert Sarracino (published as Robert Sinclair Sarracino). The urgency of climate change, advocating for a new relationship between science and religion, justice, equity, and inclusive consultation. Articles.
19. 2024. Positive Peacebuilding: Exploring the Bahá'í Perspectives and Approaches. Omid Nikooeighamsari. On a proactive and preventive model for peacebuilding: building peace as "infrastructure" to prevent conflict from arising in the first place, through community empowerment and systemic social reform. Theses.
20. 2023-2026. BWNS Podcasts: Conversations and Insights from the Field. Bahá'í World News Service. Links to 46 interviews highlighting how Bahá’í individuals and communities worldwide apply spiritual principles to education, governance, equality, and social transformation, fostering unity and the betterment of society. Video and audio available. Audio.
21. 2023-11-28. Reflections on the First Century of the Formative Age. Universal House of Justice. Overview of the Faith's developments and activities during the previous century, including the Guardianship, global expansion, community building and development, participation in societal discourse, and construction of the Bahá'í World Centre. UHJ-letters.
22. 2023-10. National Spiritual Assembly, The. Bahá'u'lláh, Universal House of Justice, Abdu'l-Bahá, Shoghi Effendi, Universal House of Justice, Research Department, comp. . Compilation outlining the spiritual foundations, responsibilities, and evolving role of National Spiritual Assemblies in fostering unity, administration, and the society-building mission of the Bahá’í Faith. Compilations.
23. 2023-01-17. Crisis of Identity, The. Shahrzad Sabet. Exploring how the Bahá’í principle of the oneness of humanity can resolve the seemingly intractable tension between oneness and diversity. Articles.
24. 2023. Pathways to Transformation: The Bahá'í Journey. John A. Davidson. Compilation on Bahá'u'lláh's vision of building a peaceful and progressive planetary civilization, and of the Bahá'í community's approach to individual and collective learning in working to manifest this global transformation. Link to book (offsite). Books.
25. 2022-08-03. Pursuit of Social Justice, The. Michael Karlberg. An interdisciplinary examination of prevailing conceptions of human nature, power, social organization, and social change, and their implications for the pursuit of peace and justice. Articles.
26. 2022. La construcción de comunidades y el compromiso social de los bahá'ís en Madrid, Sevilla, Barcelona y Valencia. Aldo Marcelo Caceres. Este estudio pretende dar visibilidad a una serie de actividades educativas y de compromiso social, que los bahá’ís vienen desarrollando en Madrid, Sevilla, Barcelona y Valencia, por comprender sus profunda vocación de servicio. Articles.
27. 2021-2022. Nine Year Plan, The: 2022-2031. Universal House of Justice. 9 letters from November 2021 to January 2022, addressed to the Bahá'í world, Continental Counsellors, Auxiliary Board members, and National Spiritual Assemblies. Link to free download of book (offsite). UHJ-documents.
28. 2021-12-30. Message to the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors on the Nine Year Plan. Universal House of Justice. Features of the new 9-Year Plan, "the first major undertaking in a sacred twenty-five-year venture, generational in its scope and significance," to be implemented Ridvan 2022. UHJ-letters.
29. 2020-11-24. On the Betterment of the World and the Countering of Negative and Disunifying Forces. Universal House of Justice. On how individuals can contribute to the betterment of society in view of the present state of the world. UHJ-letters.
30. 2020-09. World's Current State of Disorder and Confusion, The. Bahá'u'lláh, Abdu'l-Bahá, Shoghi Effendi, Universal House of Justice, Bahá'í World Centre, comp. . Compilation of passages relevant to contemporary issues of 2020, and the appropriate disposition of the Bahá'ís. Compilations.
31. 2020-01. Baha'i Faith: The Basics by Christopher Buck: Review. Jack McLean. Reviews.
32. 2019-05. Bonds that Sustain: Bahá'í Community-Building Efforts Through the Lens of Disaster Response. Bani Dugal. On disaster response in the Bahá'í community, systems of human resource development, community-building capacity, coordination, communication, collective action, and spiritual needs. Articles.
33. 2019. Social Affinity Flow Theory: A New Understanding of Both Human Interaction and the Power of the Baha'i Training Institute Process. Christopher G. Gourdine, Justin R. Edgren, Thomas L. Trice, Joseph N. Zlatic. On a new explanation of social rifts prevalent in many societies today as well as constructive efforts of social change, including community-building work of the Bahá'í Faith, in both its teachings and its training institute process. Articles.
34. 2017. Bahá'í Faith and the Construction of Social Reality: How do Bahá'ís Translate the Word of God into Practice?. Shahla Mehrgani. This project takes a constructionist approach, using a case study of the Bahá'ís of Sheffield U.K. and Peter Berger’s conceptual framework of interpreting Baha’i scriptures, to understand how Bahá'ís construct their social reality. Theses.
35. 2016. Bahá'í Glossary, A. Neil McMillan, Brian Didier, Susan Gammage, ed. . A glossary of Bahá'í principles and concepts, as derived from hundreds of messages of the Universal House of Justice. Glossaries.
36. 2015/2020-08. Community and Collective Action. Gustavo Correa. On the hopeful efforts of groups of people around the world to build a new kind of community based on the oneness of humankind, and the vision and process guiding these efforts. Essays.
37. 2015. Achieving Universal Participation of Older Adults: An Exploration of Its Challenges and Spiritual Foundations. Catherine Bigonnesse, Jean Marc Bigonnesse. On involving older adults in the process of participation in society; some of the root causes of ageism, such as avoiding the topic of death and a materialistic view of the soul; the role of older adults in the process of community building. Articles.
38. 2013. Materials Studied at the 114 Global Youth Conferences in 2013. Bahá'í World Centre. Compilation presenting materials studied during the global Bahá’í youth conferences in 2013, organized under the auspices of the Universal House of Justice, exploring youth identity, community-building, service, and civilization advancement. Study.
39. 2012. Legacy of `Abdu'l-Bahá's Visit to America, 1912, The. Robert Stockman. Overview of Abdu’l-Bahá’s trip to the U.S. and Canada, its impact, his social action and public discourse, and comparison with similar "travel-teaching" trips by Protap Chunder Mozoomdar and Swami Vivekanada (Hindus) and Anagarika Dharmapala (a Buddhist). Presentations.
40. 2010-90-18. Investment in your community reaps priceless profits. Ted Slavin. Getting to know people in your community, and being helpful to your neighbors, has unexpected benefits. Newspapers.
41. 2006. Turning Point: Selected Messages of the Universal House of Justice and Supplementary Material 1996-2006. Universal House of Justice, International Teaching Centre. A decade of Bahá’í guidance outlining strategic plans, learning processes, and institutional development to advance global growth through systematic action and community-building initiatives. Books.
42. 2005-11. Collected Essays. John Wiegley. Dozens of essays on numerous topics of Bahá'í thought and practice. Books.
43. 2002-12. Internet and Knowledge Management for the Bahá'í Faith, The: A Slide Presentation. Roy Steiner. Slides on what is knowledge management, knowledge sharing, access to information within Bahá'í communities, the Institute Process, and changing community culture. Presentations.
44. 2002-04. Community Development Using Spiritually Based Indicators in the South African Bahá'í Community. Farzin Aghdasi, Abbas Shaker. On creating measures to assess development progress through the perspective of five ethical and spiritual principles: unity in diversity equity and justice; equality of the sexes; trustworthiness and moral leadership; independent investigation of truth. Articles-unpublished.
45. 2002. Legacies and Prospects: Baha'i Community Building Yesterday and Tomorrow. Ismael Velasco. On the rise and evolution of a world Bahá'í community in the 20th century, and new paradigms for community building. Articles-unpublished.
46. 1999. Characteristics of Bahá'í Administrative Order and Liberal Democratic Notions: A Comparative Study. Farzin Aghdasi. Characteristics of Western civilization and its forms of democratic government; the Bahá'í Administrative Order differs in almost every respect; the Bahá'í ideals and practices represent a higher stage of the development of human social organization. Articles-unpublished.
47. 1998. Creating Intimacy: In the Community and With the Seeker. Phyllis K. Peterson. On how intimacy in the Bahá'í community can be created, using Bahá’í scriptures as guideline. We hunger for intimacy, which is a prerequisite for friendship and a key principle in teaching. Cases drawn from experiences of people who feel psychically hurt. Articles-unpublished.
48. 1997. Shoghi Effendi: Guide for a New Millennium. Glenford Mitchell. The Bahá'í community is a global laboratory in which a transformation in individual and collective behaviour is progressing, leading to a new sense of community and the glimmerings of a new world order. Essays.
49. 1996-06. Sustainable Communities in an Integrating World. Bahá'í International Community. Concept paper prepared for the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) held in Istanbul, Turkey. BIC.
50. 1989. Bahá'í Communities. Peter Smith. Brief excerpt, with link to article offsite. Encyclopedia.
51. 1987-2025. Ruhi Books. Ruhi Institute. Published volumes of the Ruhi Institute books. (Links to documents, offsite.) Books.

1. 2018-01-18 —
   The publication of A Vision of Peace: Stories from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is a brief history of the struggles and successes of the Bahá'í community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
   • The podcast associated with this Bahá'í World News Service story, can be found here.

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