More than sixty friends from all over Northern Ireland gathered for a one-day regional conference in the Omagh Integrated Primary School. This was Saturday 24th November and the meeting was organised by the Bahá’í Council for Northern Ireland to celebrate the launch of our Plan.
After a very inspiring devotional the Chairman of the Council welcomed the friends to the historic gathering. An AV presentation was then shown called ‘Not Even a Lamp’ tracing the developments on Mount Carmel and this set the tone for the rest of the day.
Dr. Iain Palin had been invited to speak on the first person of Irish descent to become a Bahá’í, Dr. D’Evelyn – born in Belfast. Research had uncovered the fact that this year is the centenary of his birth and that he was, in fact, quite a high profile Bahá’í associated with the early days of the community in the United States. Iain appealed to the friends never to forget our heritage and always try to learn more and more about those who have gone before us, pioneering the way for us all.
The results of the Bahá’í Council election were then announced – and there was no change in the membership.
A booklet summarising the 5-Year Plan was presented to every Bahá’í present and a copy will be sent to everyone not present that day. This specially designed booklet laid out, in a simple manner, the roles of each person whether adult, youth or child.
The Treasurer then gave an unscheduled session on the state of the fund further to recent urgent communications from the House of Justice and the National Assembly.
The afternoon session began with a closer look at the 5-Year Plan Booklet. The clustering process was looked at in detail. This session was led by Keith Munro referring to an excellent AV presentation prepared by Edwina Agahi. This was very impressive and highlighted each cluster in detail and listed all the new Assemblies to be built up over the coming years.
The day ended with an unusual workshop titled ‘Mission Possible’ and for 30 minutes every one became a member of the Bahá’í Council for Northern Ireland and had to consult on ways and means of developing, communities, open to all, loving and vibrant. Many interesting and useful ideas came from this consultation and the Council will find them useful in their on-going deliberations.
It was felt that the whole day, all in all, was an enjoyable and a worthy celebration of the launch of the 5-Year Plan.