BAHÁ’Í WORLD CENTRE — A rising wave of conferences is sweeping across the globe, bringing together the well-wishers of humanity to consult about how they can channel their energies and desire to promote unity and serve their fellow citizens into addressing the needs of their societies.
Gatherings at the local, national, and international levels are enabling participants to gain insights from experiences in Bahá’í community-building activities, initiatives undertaken for social action, and efforts to contribute to prevalent discourses.
In some places, conferences have an overarching theme, such as the recent gathering in Bangui, Central African Republic, in which some 500 women from the surrounding area gathered to explore the role of women in social progress.
“The full participation of women in these gatherings is essential, because women are instrumental in fostering a culture of peace,” says Louis Isidore Tenzonko-Boazamo, a member of that country’s Bahá’í National Spiritual Assembly. “This is why our very first in this series of conferences explored this theme.”
Conscious of the global challenges facing humanity—be it climate change, the pandemic, war and conflict, or widespread injustices—participants are finding a renewed sense of hope in humanity’s capacity for altruism, and they are feeling connected by bonds of love and fellowship with others in a global effort aimed at social betterment.
Images that give a glimpse of the larger wider of the gatherings are available here.
