Does your community already have a Website? If not, are you working on one? Of course you are, because that is what the National Spiritual Assembly has asked you to do as your part of the Web of Faith project ...

We are able to share with you news of a new service.

When your Website is complete and uploaded to the World Wide Web it will have a URL, the "address" which will enable others to find it. The exact nature of that URL depends on what your service provider sets out, but some of them can be quite long or otherwise off-putting. A short URL, especially one that sounds official on your theme, is more valuable. Not only is it used more easily, it is reader-friendly and gives a more positive impression of you.

The National Spiritual Assembly has decided that Spiritual Assemblies and groups can use its own Website, and hence its official URL, as an access point for their own sites.

If you take advantage of this offer, your site will stay with your service provider and its official URL will stay the same. However a "welcome page" will be placed on the National Assembly site with a link to your own site. While you can continue to use your own URL as well, the National Assembly access will mean that you have a URL included in the NSA's domain. In other words, instead of having to tell the public (put on other sites, put on your headed paper etc) your provider's URL eg: www.provider.uk/wbpages/personal/wherever/ you can use and publicise www.bahai.org.uk/wherever/

If you have any queries contact BIO. If you want to take advantage of the opportunity please share your community name and current URL with the Office at: isp@iol.ie

If you are in the process of creating your site, bear this in mind for when it is complete.

Issue 17 of "Agenda 21 News", the bulletin of the Agenda 21 - Sustainable Development project of the Bahá'ís of the UK, was sent to all communities in the June mailout. If you are involved in Agenda 21 / community development work and have not seen it, please ask your local secretary.

The resource paper prepared by the Bahá'í Information Office for the UK Bahá'í Centenary has been completed and was shared with local communities in the June mailout.

Entitled "A Hundred Years of Promoting Religious Understanding", it deals with the Bahá'í contribution, and particularly the contribution made by the Bahá'ís of this country, to this vital area of human progress. We suggest it be shared with local friends and that it and its contents be made more widely available.

If you are interested in obtaining a copy you should ask your local secretary, or send a request to the Bahá'í Information Office (SAE appreciated as usual). To obtain an electronic text version send an e-mail to: isp@iol.ie

Bahá'í Information Office, Third Floor, Bridge House, 97-101 High Street, TONBRIDGE TN9 1DP Tel: 01732 369694, Fax: 01732 569733 e-mail: bio@bahai.org.uk

PLEASE NOTE: apart from the Bahá'ís, others also use Bridge House for offices so you must include "Third Floor" in the address.

These motions are not debated in Parliament but act as a register of the support of MPs for a certain subject and raise their awareness of important issues that do not get to the debating table. The success of both the Bahá'í Motions has aided in raising the profile of the Bahá'í Faith amongst Parliamentarians; this in turn draws the Faith to the attention of Government Ministers, who do have the power to really act on these issues.

For many months now the Office of External Affairs has been working with the New Millennium Experience Company to develop the Bahá'í community's contribution to the Faith Zone inside the Millennium Dome in Greenwich. Nine faith communities have been chosen by the Lambeth Group as representing the religious life of Britain; each of these nine faiths has been allocated a "Life Point Pillar". The pillars, which will be located in the main body of the zone, identify common points in the lives of all people, for example, birth, marriage and community membership. The Bahá'í Faith will be represented on a pillar for "Family Membership". Quotations from the Writings, portraying the importance of the family as "A fortress of well-being and salvation", will accompany photographs of the Alae-Carew family from Dumfries. More quotations will feature on each of the other eight pillars, as well as information about the Faith's social and economic development work around the world.

All the research and information has now been passed to the New Millennium Experience Company who will be putting together the Faith Zone, which looks to be a well presented, dignified portrayal of the religious mix in Britain at the end of the Millennium.

This is, needless to say, a significant development for the recognition of the Faith as one of the nine major religious communities in the United Kingdom.

Barney Leith and Dan Wheatley represented the National Spiritual Assembly at the State of the World Forum in Belfast and Dublin in May. This Forum is a high-level nongovernmental conference convened to address the challenge of reconciliation in conflict areas around the world.

The forum offered Bahá'í delegates, who also included members of the European Bahá'í Business Forum, representatives of the Bahá'í Council for Northern Ireland, the Association of Bahá'í Women (Northern Ireland) and Bahá'ís involved in various NGOs from around the world, the opportunity to put forward Bahá'í ideas and to meet many influential and high profile people such as Anita Roddick, founder and director of the Body Shop, and Lech Walesa, former President of Poland and Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Before he died recently, Mr Derek Fatchett MP, Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), had been extremely sympathetic to the plight of the Bahá'ís in Iran and had maintained the work of the FCO in defending our beleaguered brethren in the Cradle of the Faith. A meeting that had been arranged for the Secretary General of the UK Bahá'í Community with Mr Fatchett, who will be sadly missed, could no longer take place. A rescheduled meeting with the new Minister of State, Mr Geoffrey Hoon MP, took place on 10th June.

State of the World Forum Dublin/Belfast - Pat Irvine (Northern Ireland Bahá'í community), Anita Roddick (Managing Director of "Bodyshop") and Sunita Ghandi (Bahá'í from Washington). Photo: Tony Sherwani.

Office of External Affairs Bahá'í National Office, 27 Rutland Gate, London SW7 1PD Tel: 0171 584 2566 Fax: 0171 584 9402 e-mail: oea@bahai.org.uk

The following extracts are from a letter from the Universal House of Justice to National Spiritual Assemblies, dated 30th January 1992. This was circulated in the annual report which delegates received at National Convention this year. Friends should note that these points also apply to Local Assemblies.

"As the size of the Bahá'í community grows and its affairs attain greater complexity, it is becoming apparent that a number of National Spiritual Assemblies are in need of advice and assistance in the very important matter of the custodianship of the assets of the Faith which are committed to their care. The Universal House of Justice has, therefore, instructed us to share with you the following guidelines which have been prepared by an ad hoc committee at the World Centre. The stated guidelines, in full or in part, are also applicable to the Treasurer of a Local Assembly or a committee."

"The greater part of the income of any Bahá'í national fund comes from contributions. Every contribution, including contributions in kind, should be meticulously receipted and accounted for. Receipts should be preprinted with sequential numbers, so that each receipt can be easily related to the contribution it acknowledges. Earmarked funds should be recorded and reported separately, and such funds should be used only for the purpose intended."

"In order to be able to correctly plan its work, avoid extending itself beyond its financial capacities, and ensure that the best use is made of the resources of the community, a National Spiritual Assembly needs to prepare a budget. If it will require financial assistance from other sources, such as the Bahá'í International Fund, it should present its budget to the Counsellors in plenty of time to obtain their comments and recommendations before submitting it to the Holy Land."

"This is an area in which safeguards need to be established, and clear procedures followed. The National Spiritual Assembly itself has ultimate responsibility for the wise and economical use of the funds of the Faith, but it cannot, as a body, approve every payment. It must devolve authority for expenditure on its committees and other agencies responsible for carrying out the work of the Cause. At the same time the National Assembly must retain overall control. The budget adopted for the year will be an essential instrument for achieving this, if it is accompanied by a clear reporting system. By such a system, the Treasurer's Office can oversee the way in which the committees and other agencies are using the funds, can relate these expenditures to the income from contributions, and can provide regular reports to the National Assembly. It will also have to combine the expenditures into one coherent set of accounts at the end of the year. The individual in charge of the administration of the funds should be given proper training and guidelines before being entrusted with the funds."

Should you need help in implementing these procedures please contact the Office of the Treasurer at Bridge House, 97-101 High Street, Tonbridge TN9 1DP Tel: 01732 369745 e-mail: treasury@bahai.org.uk