‘Building havens of peace’: Universal House of Justice sends message in regards to Nine Year Plan

The international governing body of the Baha’i Faith, the Universal House of Justice, has released a message to the Continental Boards of Counsellors, currently assembled at a conference in the Holy Land, reflecting on the development of the worldwide community-building efforts since the beginning of the Nine Year Plan. 

Launched in 2022, the Nine Year Plan is one of the first in a series of ambitious plans for the worldwide Baha’i community, spanning the next quarter-century, which focuses on “a single aim: the release of the society-building power of the Faith in ever-greater measures.” Each Plan provides a framework for action, empowering the Baha’i community to strengthen its community-building efforts in towns, villages and cities across the globe in a bid to advance the material, spiritual and economic life of society. 

In its message dated 31 December 2025, the Universal House of Justice casts insights into how “the frontiers of learning have advanced considerably and the society-building power of the Faith is becoming more apparent” across the globe.  The Universal House of Justice states that notable progress occurs in those regions where the friends are operating in a mode of learning, “combining insights gained from their own experience with those of advanced communities nearby or further afield, without any sense of applying a fixed formula.” 

The message also touches on how a “pronounced community spirit” is being expressed as a “feeling of belonging and a sense of common endeavour and mutual support”. It notes the various collaborative arrangements contributing to the reshaping of a shared social identity and collective purpose, stating how groups of families and households are setting about “organizing their own efforts to improve some aspect of the life of the community”. 

Reflecting also on the rise in worldwide social action initiatives, the formalisation of spiritual educational activities grounded in the institute, the role of young people in society, relationships being fostered between the Baha’i community and civic society, as well as the role of the institutions of the Faith “that are ultimately charged with tending to this entire ecosystem of learning”, the Universal House of Justice states that the processes unfolding in the Plan are having a profound impact on all three protagonists of the Plan – the individual, the community and the institutions. 

To read the entire message, click here.