Appointment of Counsellors for next five-year term
A letter from the Universal House of Justice to the Bahá’ís of the World dated 29 October 2020.
Dear Bahá’í Friends,
The Day of the Covenant, 25 November 2020, marks the commencement of a new five-year term of service for the members of the Continental Boards of Counsellors for the Protection and Propagation of the Faith. We have decided to increase the number of Counsellors from eighty-one to ninety, and it gives us great pleasure to announce the names of those now appointed.
AFRICA (20 Counsellors): Mélanie Bangala, Mariama Ousmane Djaouga, Alain Pierre Djoulde, Agatha Sarinoda Gaisie-Nketsiah, Augustino Ibrahim, Mati Issoufou, Hamed Javaheri, Jacques Tshibuabua Kabuya, Musonda Kapusa-Linsel (Trustee of the Continental Fund), Linnet Sifuna Kisaka, Townshend Lihanda, Izzat Abumba Mionda, Maina Mkandawire, Judicaël Mokolé, Amélia Mujinga Ngandu, Nsika Mutasa, Michael Okiria, Nancy Oloro Robarts, Djamila Tchakréo, JeanPierre Tshibangu
THE AMERICAS (21 Counsellors): José Luis Almeida, Ayafor Temengye Ayafor, Louis Boddy, Natasha Bruss, Beatriz Carmona, Brígida Carrillo, Ingrid Umpierre Conter, Blas Cruz Martínez, Daniel Duhart, Farah Guchani-Rosenberg, Sonlla Heern, Badí Hernández, Irene Iturburo, Nwandi Ngozi Lawson, Ada Micheline Leonce Ferdinand, Borna Noureddin (Trustee of the Continental Fund), Arthur Powell, Pejman Samoori, Bernardino Sánchez, William Silva, Margarita Valdez Martínez
ASIA (27 Counsellors): Yam Prasad Acharya, Jamil Aliyev, Bhavna Anbarasan, Walid Ayyash, Marjini Deraoh, Gulnara Eyvazova, Shareen Farhad, Nadera Fikri, Kam Mui Fok Sayers, Rahul Kumar, Nicholas Loh, Parimal Mahato, Tarrant Matthew Mahony, Uttam Mitra, Myint Zaw Oo, Faris Naimi, Sokuntheary Reth, Foad Reyhani (Trustee of the Continental Fund), Artin Rezaie, Hesham Saad, Niroshani Saleh, Omid Seioshanseian, Dregpal Singh, Zebinisso Soliyeva, Ircham Sujadmiko, Fang Jung Tseng Chung, Ozoda Zoidova
AUSTRALASIA (10 Counsellors): Bob Ale, Latai ‘Atoa, Ritia Kamauti Bakineti, Kirk Johnson, Jalal Rodney Mills, Taraz Nadarajah, Daniel Pierce, Kessia Ruh, Vahid Saberi, Tessa Scrine (Trustee of the Continental Fund)
EUROPE (12 Counsellors): Raffaella Capozzi Gubinelli, Aistė Elijio, Orlando Ravelo Hernández, Varqá Khadem, Shirin Youssefian Maanian, Sabà Mazza, Veranika Medvedeva, Hedyeh Nadafi-Stoffel, Yevgeniya Poluektova, Mehdi Rezvan, Amir Saberin (Trustee of the Continental Fund), Paul Verheij
The following believers, who have earned our abiding gratitude for their self-sacrificing contributions to the progress of the Cause, are being relieved of the duties of membership on the Boards of Counsellors:
Vugar Alizadeh, Naisan Azimi, Ronny Brenes, Olga Daradur, Jabbar Eidelkhani, Clément Thyrrell Feizouré, Shirin Fozdar-Foroudi, Zoraida García Garro, Bernard Lo Cascio, Lee Lee Loh Ludher, Sehla Masunda, Nibras Sarmad Moqbel, Aggrey Zeyazi Munubi, Delafruz Nassimova, Ahmad Parsa, U’ileiuluwehi Pimental, Iharinirina Rakotomavo, Carmen Elisa de Sadeghian, Rajan Sawant, Mark Sisson, Christopher Kiprotich Songok, Raúl Taboada, Henry Tamashiro, Shabnam Tashakour
We are confident that these dear friends will remain a source of inspiration and strength to the believers as they continue their dedicated efforts for the advancement of the Faith in the coming years. We shall offer supplications in the Holy Shrines on their behalf, that divine blessings may surround their every endeavour in the path of service to Bahá’u’lláh.
Only a few months separate us from the conclusion of the current Five Year Plan, indeed, of a series of Plans spanning twenty-five years, during which the Bahá’í world has remained focused on a single aim, namely, a significant advance in the process of entry by troops. As the friends continue their valiant exertions through these final months and prepare to enter a new stage in the development of the Cause with the launch of the One Year Plan, the leadership and inspiration that the Counsellors bring to communities will remain vital to their efforts to respond to the exigencies of the hour. The Counsellors in all continents will be called to the Bahá’í World Centre in December 2021 to take part in deliberations on the general features of the Plan to be launched the following Riḍván. At the conclusion of that gathering, they are to be joined by members of the Auxiliary Boards for Protection and Propagation to consult on the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead and on the decisive role that the Counsellors and their auxiliaries are to play in meeting them.
We will offer fervent prayers at the Sacred Threshold for these ninety souls that their consecrated labours for the Cause may be guided and confirmed by the boundless grace and abundant favours of the Abhá Beauty.
[Signed: the Universal House of Justice]
Letter from the National Spiritual Assembly to all Local Spiritual Assemblies and Bahá’í Groups on 30 October 2020.
Dearly loved friends
The National Spiritual Assembly is thrilled to forward to you herewith, an announcement by the Supreme Body of the Continental Counsellors who will serve for the next five-year term, beginning on 25 November 2020 (the Day of the Covenant). The announcement is made in a letter to the Bahá’ís of the World dated 29 October 2020.
In sharing with you this news, we are spurred to pay tribute to the assistance given to our national Bahá’í community by the Continental Board of Counsellors for Australasia, whose faithful support we are privileged to enjoy. Especially, we wish to mention the tremendous contributions made to Aotearoa by Ms Tessa Scrine, Mr Vahid Saberi, Mr Taraz Nadarajah, and Mr Daniel Pierce, who have worked with us most directly. It is our joy to say that Ms Scrine’s attention to the needs and realities of Aotearoa, as our liaison Counsellor for the past two years, have been absolutely invaluable.
We take this opportunity to draw to your attention the words of the Supreme Body in its announcement letter, as follows:
Only a few months separate us from the conclusion of the current Five Year Plan, indeed, of a series of Plans spanning twenty-five years, during which the Bahá’í world has remained focused on a single aim, namely, a significant advance in the process of entry by troops. As the friends continue their valiant exertions through these final months and prepare to enter a new stage in the development of the Cause with the launch of the One Year Plan, the leadership and inspiration that the Counsellors bring to communities will remain vital to their efforts to respond to the exigencies of the hour.
In these days filled with such spiritual potency, the National Spiritual Assembly feels sure that the believers as a whole will share the deep appreciation we feel to benefit from the wisdom and encouragement of the Counsellors and their auxiliaries, as we march together towards victories as yet hard to imagine.
[Signed: National Spiritual Assembly]
Featured photo: In December 2016, members of the Continental Boards of Counsellors met at the Bahá’í World Centre. They are pictured on that occasion with members of the Universal House of Justice and the International Teaching Centre. Photo from Bahá’í World News Service (BWNS) (copyright © Bahá'í International Community).
