Spiritual Assembly

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Bahá'í Faith

Central figures

Bahá'u'lláh The Báb · Abdu'l-Bahá

Key scripture

Kitáb-i-Aqdas · Kitáb-i-Íqán The Hidden Words Some Answered Questions

Institutions

Administrative Order The Guardian Universal House of Justice Spiritual Assemblies

History

Bahá'í history · Timeline Bábís · Shaykh Ahmad

Notable individuals

Shoghi Effendi Martha Root · Táhirih Badí‘ · Apostles Hands of the Cause

Selected teachings

Unity of humanity Unity of religion Gender equality Universal education Science and religion Auxilliary language

See also

Symbols · Laws Teachings · Literature Calendar · Divisions Index of Bahá'í Articles This box: view • talk • edit

Spiritual Assembly is a term given by `Abdu'l-Bahá to refer to elected leadership councils that govern the Bahá'í Faith. They exist at local and national levels (and at some points in history, regional).

Contents 1 Local Spiritual Assemblies 2 National Spiritual Assemblies 3 Members of the National Spiritual Assemblies 3.1 United States and Canada 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Local Spiritual Assemblies

Local Spiritual Assemblies existed in `Abdu'l-Bahá's time, and are elected annually by the believers in a specific electoral process. These were ordained by Bahá'u'lláh as local Houses of Justice, but are called Spiritual Assemblies, until they have reached a level of maturity that would allow them to take on the full responsibilities of a Local House of Justice.

[edit] National Spiritual Assemblies

`Abdu'l-Bahá ordained Secondary, or National Spiritual Assemblies in his will. They are elected annually by a system of electoral delegation. He also specified that these National Spiritual Assemblies constituted the foundation of the Supreme, or Universal House of Justice. The members of each National Spiritual Assembly would constitute the electors of the Universal House of Justice when it was eventually brought into being.

Some of the earliest National Spiritual Assemblies were

• The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of United States and Canada, later separated into individual National Spiritual Assemblies for Canada, USA, Alaska, and Hawaii.
• The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Iran
• The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United Kingdom

[edit] Members of the National Spiritual Assemblies

[edit] United States and Canada

In 1927 the members of the US and Canada National Spiritual Assembly were: Horace Holley, Roy C Wilhelm, Alfred Lunt, Allen McDaniel, Carl Scheffer, Louis Gregory, Amelia Collins, May Maxwell, and Florence Morton.

[edit] See also

• Bahá'í Administration

[edit] References

• Effendi, Shoghi (1974). Bahá'í Administration. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. ISBN 0-87743-166-3.

• Effendi, Shoghi (1976). Principles of Bahá'í Administration, 4th ed., London, UK: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. ISBN 0-900125-13-6.

[edit] External links

• Formation of National Spiritual Assemblies, a chronological overview.