Bahá'í International conference, Frankfurt (Germany)

The Frankfurt conference hall

Bahá'í international conferences have always been inspiring and uplifting events, and are greeted with great enthusiasm by Bahá'í communities around the world, and the weekend of 7-8 January 2009 in Frankfurt was no exception. It was one of 41 conferences at the midpoint of the Bahá'í Five Year Plan. The current cycle of plans has been launched from 1996 and will end in 2021, centenary of the passing of 'Abdu'l-Bahá.

This conference officially welcomed 11 national communities: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia and Switzerland (including Liechtenstein), but there were also friends from other countries who participated (eg. Serbia, Macedonia, Ireland, Kosovo).

The organisers of the conference were expecting approximately two thousand people. What a surprise when more than 4600 came! The conference hall was not big enough to hold all these people, so half of them had to stay in halls with a video retransmission from the main hall. About 2000 came from Germany, 800 from France and 350 from Switzerland. There were about 50 people from the Geneva Area, including one person from Vernier. There were also about 300 children, who had their own programme, and about 60 infants (under 5 years old). Included in those 4600 were about 100 non-Bahá'ís (mostly spouses of participants). Five of these friends were so touched by the loving atmosphere amongst the Bahá'í community that they declared their faith in Bahá'u'lláh by the end of the conference.

The goals of all the 41 conferences held were twofold. First of all there was the celebration of ever growing Bahá'í communities, not only in number, but also in deepness of belief and potential to welcome and consolidate new believers into the Faith. Secondly there was also the deliberation on what the Bahá'ís should do next to fulfil the ambitious plans of the Universal House of Justice and their respective National Spiritual Assemblies.

For more detailed information go to the official Bahá'í News Website: http://news.bahai.org/community-news/regional-conferences/frankfurt.html