When the National Spiritual Assembly asked for reports on activity leading up to and including celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh, believers around the United States leapt at the chance to share how they have forged or enhanced relationships with people in the larger community during this special period in the history of the Faith.

Roya Ayman of Chicago, Illinois, related two stories. She told of meeting an inquirer for coffee and inviting her to a devotional gathering on the shores of Lake Michigan. After the devotional, the participants gravitated toward a diner and as they had brunch the woman mentioned that since their first meeting she had started saying Bahá’í prayers each day. Not only that, she had begun reading the Kitáb-i-Íqán, the Book of Certitude. But while she found it inspiring, she couldn’t decipher some of the terminology. The believers present were only too glad to start a study group, the goal of which “is not to finish the book but to understand every word and concept we read,” says Ayman. “It has been an amazing experience and everyone, though very busy, is eager to attend the next session.” The inquirer invited three of her friends to the bicentenary celebration.

The other story concerned a new co-worker who says he is not religious but out of curiosity “googles” every Holy Day she mentions. He expressed an interest in the Bahá’í House of Worship, and in particular wanted to see the Welcome Center and the Auditorium, so one sunny Sunday she drove the man and his wife to the Temple. “I did not push, as I was not sure what was their interest,” Ayman recalls. “But I have to say I was amazed by his questions and knowledge and awareness of the Bahá’í Faith. When we entered the [Auditorium] I told them that I will leave them on their own, as we cannot talk, and they can come to me when they are ready to leave. I sat in prayer. After a long while, maybe 15 to 20 minutes, we left the Temple. He was [in] awe and said that he had never felt so peaceful in his life.”

Three stories were passed along by Judy Cools of Hamlin Township, Michigan. She spoke first of a woman who asked to attend a devotional — but the tiny community was not holding them regularly at the time. The bicentenary celebration presented an opportunity to renew contact and meet her face to face. “She was warm and friendly, and as it turns out has known several local Bahá’ís through her work and other groups,” says Cools. “We now have devotional meetings set up, overcoming our own challenges in order to provide for her as a seeker.”

Cools also related how the bicentenary celebration gave her an opportunity to become much better acquainted with the “very quiet and private” spouse of a believer. “It was my privilege not only to see him again but to be seated with him at the restaurant after the program. We enjoyed comfortable conversation and jokes. … I’m hopeful that as he has more experiences with different Bahá’ís he will feel more comfortable joining in additional programs.”

The bicentenary was an effective bridge as well to re-establishing a relationship with the local newspaper, she says. “We sent a press release about our event, and the newspaper called asking for photos it could use with an article. The result was a collage of photos of past Bahá’í events in west Michigan covering two-thirds of a page! We’ve received several comments from the public that saw the article.”

In traveling around the country “chasing interviews for a book” she’s writing, JoAnn Gometz of Sarasota Springs, New York, “had the privilege of chatting with people in a variety of communities, in some cases around their local bicentenary events and in other cases quietly inspired by the bicentenary itself.”

Gometz told of introducing the Bahá’í Faith to people in Montana, Oregon, California, and New Mexico who had heard of “the human rights situation facing Bahá’ís in Iran”; of engaging with an artist in New Mexico and following up with an email nearer the time of the bicentenary, “drawing his attention to the local festivities and relating them back to our chat”; of visiting in Tennessee a childhood friend “who has drifted from the Bahá’í community” and turning the discussion toward the bicentenary “and the opportunity to re-engage with the community around those activities”; and of inviting neighbors of her parents to bicentenary activities at Green Acre Bahá’í School in Maine, which they weren’t able to attend but happily contributed goods to a bicentenary-related service project benefiting a food pantry.

Vince Baugher of Denton, Texas, shared that the pastor of the church the Bahá’ís rented for their celebration texted, “I love that y’all are there blessing our space with your presence. I’m delighted that you are having a positive experience.” And a longtime friend of Baugher’s who is a member of that church said, “Now I have LOTS of questions to ask you about!”

From Sacramento, California, Daniel Platner wrote about inviting to the bicentenary a security guard at a school where junior youth groups have met over the past three years. “On Saturday evening she came to the Assembly-sponsored event in our community with her four adopted children. She watched attentively as her former students read prayers and writings from the Faith, and for the screening of Light to the World. When I chatted with her over dinner, she again expressed deep gratitude for having been invited and shared that she had learned a lot. When she left, she grabbed a couple pamphlets and small books. … I hope to be able to continue the conversation about the Faith. Additionally, my fiancée and I are interested in learning more about becoming foster parents, and I think this will provide another point of mutual interest.”

Maria Patton of La Mesa, California, took every opportunity to tell people about Bahá’u’lláh, whether it was in businesses where posters about the community’s bicentenary celebration were posted; in a study circle with family and friends; and in a Spiritual Conversations gathering she and Marcia Baltgalvis initiated this past summer to “foster closer relationships by engaging in spiritual conversations and incorporate Bahá’í writings in the process.” Out of the latter have come opportunities to screen Light to the World for the group and for Spanish-speaking neighbors.

At a gathering, Homa Mahmoudi of Los Angeles, California, invited two friends who work for the weekly publication Iranshahr to attend the bicentenary celebration. The morning after the gathering, they called to say they had decided to dedicate that week’s issue to Bahá’u’lláh and the bicentenary events. However, the deadline was in two days. “I jumped on the offer and spend the next two days providing articles, pictures and stories, and getting advertisements from Bahá’í merchants for Iranshahr and we met the deadline,” says Mahmoudi. “The issue is beautifully done and over 2,000 paper copies were distributed through the stores and their usual distribution outlets. Also, since it is available online it has many regular readers around the world. For the Los Angeles bicentenary event at UCLA Royce Hall, I ordered an additional 1,000 copies for distribution. They were all gone by intermission!”

Lou Bergner of Amherst, New York, invited the other members of his barbershop quartet to sing in the community’s bicentenary celebration and “they said they would be honored to participate. They also turned down the Assembly’s offer of compensation.” Of the four songs the quartet learned for the occasion, two were quite a challenge because of the style of music and, in one case, the Arabic lyrics. But they mentioned often how much they liked the music, and after the performance they voiced appreciation for the reception they got. Since, one group member has requested access to Light to the World and another has been reading The Bahá’ís magazine. All say they’d like to sing at the bicentenary of the Birth of the Báb in two years.

From Emily Goshey of Princeton, New Jersey, comes the story of a couple whose son is just a month older than her daughter. “They moved here from another country and will only be here for a year or so before heading back to their home overseas. Our kids play together often, and we help watch each other’s children regularly. The mother has expressed interest in exploring spiritual themes, but the father generally dislikes anything to do with religion. I was hesitant to invite them, knowing the father’s feelings about religion. But I mentioned it to the mother one day, and she said that she would speak with her husband about it. She texted me later saying that she was pleasantly surprised by his response. He said, ‘Of course we should go! We have to take the opportunity to benefit from New Jersey’s cultural diversity while we are still here.’

“They came to the event — a large celebration at a hotel during which Light to the World was shown, and beautiful prayers were recited in several different languages,” says Goshey. “A few days later, I spoke to the mother, and she said that both she and her husband really enjoyed themselves. He found that many of the things he finds problematic about other faiths were not reflected in the film and that, on the contrary, the Bahá’í Faith seems to have many characteristics that he admires. We spoke about the possibility of deepening on some of these ideas soon. We’ll see what happens.”