Newly-Declared Orthodox Believers' Questions
I Have Declared My Belief in the Orthodox Bahá'í Faith, Now What Happens?
What Institutions Govern the Faith?
What Meetings Do We Have and How Do We Communicate?
Do We Have Teaching Plans and Goals?
I Have a Question for the Guardian, May I Write to Him?
Do you have more questions? SEND THEM INI Have Declared My Belief in the Orthodox Bahá'í Faith, Now What Happens?
Be prepared to be warmly welcomed. If you have left the Heterodox organization to join the Orthodox Faith, you will find that the Orthodox Faith operates a bit differently from what you have been used to. It is much smaller and less formal. The friends are scattered about and many of them are isolated believers. Conditions exist the same as the early days of Shoghi Effendi's ministry. Many of the attitudes, practices, and approaches adopted by the heterodox organization since the death of Shoghi Effendi are not followed. It will take some time to get accustomed to this new way. You will find in our community that there are older believers who were members of the Bahá'í Faith from before Shoghi Effendi's death as well as believers who have recently left the heterodox organization. The best thing to do is to make contact with the other believers and ask as many questions as you would like. This group has nothing to hide or fear and no questions are off limits. You should read as much material as you can, especially the writings of the Guardian, so that you can quickly learn how your new community operates.
What Institutions Govern the Faith?
The Institutions that exist in the Orthodox Bahá'í Faith are the ones that Shoghi Effendi wrote about in The Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh. Of course, we have a living Guardian as the interpreter of the Writings and executive of the Faith and an embryonic Universal House of Justice, the third International Bahá'í Council, an active functioning body with the Guardian as its sacred head. To date, the third Guardian has appointed eight Hands of the Cause of God: Franklin D. Schlatter (1997), Marilyn K. Meyer (2004),Madelyne Byers (posthumous 2005), Nosrat’u’llah Bahremand (2006), Ross Campbell (2006), Jeffrey A, Goldberg (2006), David Maxwell (2006), and Y.H. Taylor (2006). The Faith in the United States is governed by the National Bahá'í Council appointed by the Guardian as the national administrative body. Worldwide, there are national councils in several countries and a number of groups and a few local councils.
What Meetings Do We Have and How Do We Communicate?
In the United States, the National Bahá'í Council hosts two national and one regional conferences each year. New believers are especially encouraged to attend in order to meet the friends and learn from the wealth of information presented by a number of long established and deepened Bahá'ís. You will find there is a warmth and unity not found in the heterodox organization. In many respects, attending the conferences resembles a family reunion. In addition to our regular conferences, there is an international newsletter published by the Third International Bahá'í Council, the Harbinger of the New Day containing useful information and excerpts from correspondence with the Guardian and any new messages or writings from the Guardian. The Friends in Touch newsletter is another regular publication to keep all of the friends worldwide connected and informed about what is happening in the lives of the friends, and to share information and ideas. In addition, the United States and India National Councils publish materials from time to time and makes them available to the friends. Finally, many believers are active on the internet and frequently send email messages back and forth. There is also a private Google Group dedicated to communication between the members of the Faith, and many of the friends have web sites to teach the Cause.
Do We Have Teaching Plans and Goals?
Unlike the heterodox organization, at this time our numbers are too small to effectively prosecute ambitious teaching plans and goals. However, the Guardian from time to time has suggested a variety of teaching campaigns directed primarily at awakening the misled believers in the heterodox organization. Many individual Bahá'ís have their own teaching efforts, on the internet and by way of teaching firesides in their local communities. As for goals, considering the fact that the vast majority of believers have turned away from the Guardianship and that only a few faithful believers have kept the True Faith alive over the past 40 years, many of us consider it to be a major accomplishment for the Orthodox Bahá'í Faith to remain thriving and growing to this day.
I Have a Question for the Guardian, May I Write to Him?
All faithful believers are free to correspond with the Guardian through the National Bahá'í Council. In addition, at this time the Guardian allows individual believers to write to him through the mail or by email. Now that you have found the source of divine guidance on this earth, you should feel free to ask the Guardian about any question or problem that may arise.