Changes to Bahá’í Council for Scotland
SRL-24704.B
14 August 2018
14 Kamál 175 B.E.
Click here to download a PDF of this letter
To all believers in Scotland
Dearly loved Bahá’í Friends,
The National Spiritual Assembly sends you its warmest love and greetings.
Together with Counsellor Shirin Fozdar-Foroudi, the National Assembly has been reflecting deeply and consulting prayerfully for some time now about the growth of the Faith in Scotland and the vital role that the Regional Bahá’í Council has in facilitating this. We can understand its importance when we read that its primary purpose is to oversee “the execution of the Five Year Plan in collaboration with the Counsellors and their deputies, ensuring that its central aim of advancing the process of entry by troops is systematically pursued …”(1) It is thus central to the progress of the Faith in Scotland.
Looking to the needs of the Faith in Scotland at this time – and mindful that in terms of the process of growth it is at an early stage of development – the National Assembly concluded that for greater progress to occur there is need for the Council to work intimately with the Auxiliary Board members and the training institute board and this can best be achieved with a smaller Council of five members, as is the case in Wales and Northern Ireland. Therefore, in accordance with the guidance of the Universal House of Justice, such a change would mean that the Council would be formed by appointment based on a confidential list of nominations from Local Spiritual Assembly members and the Auxiliary Board members. The above suggestion was referred to the Universal House of Justice, which determines these matters, and it was approved.(2)
Thus for the upcoming formation of the Council for Scotland in November, the number of members will be reduced to five, and it will be formed in the manner outlined above. In the meantime, the nine existing members will continue to serve on the Council. The National Spiritual Assembly will be writing separately to all the Local Spiritual Assemblies in Scotland with further details of these changes.
The National Spiritual Assembly takes this opportunity to place on record its appreciation for the dedicated and sacrificial work that has been done by all of the members of the Bahá’í Council for Scotland – past and present – in facilitating the efforts of the friends to lay the foundation of processes of growth in their clusters. We are sure you will wish to join us in expressing this.
Be assured of the deepest love, the constant and heartfelt prayers of the National Spiritual Assembly for the services rendered by all the lovers of Bahá’u’lláh in Scotland.
With loving Bahá’í greetings,
Patrick O’Mara, Secretary
1 From a document from the Universal House of Justice, dated 26 November 2006, entitled “The Functions Being Delegated by the National Spiritual Assembly of Germany to Its Regional Bahá’í Councils”
2 “(i)n accordance with local requirements and the condition of the Bahá’í community, the Universal House of Justice … decide which Regional Bahá’í Councils are to be formed by election and which by appointment.” From a document from the Universal House of Justice, dated 30 May 1997, entitled “The Establishment of Regional Bahá’í Councils in Certain Countries, Their Characteristics and Functions.”
Continue reading