The “wide embrace of the Plan’s framework”: - The “three simultaneous, overlapping, and coherent areas of action: [1] community-building efforts in clusters; [2] projects and activities for social action; and [3] involvement in the discourses of society”

The friends are called to three simultaneous, overlapping, and coherent areas of action: community-building efforts in clusters; projects and activities for social action; and involvement in the discourses of society, whether in neighborhoods or in personal or professional associations. As the House of Justice highlighted in its Ridván 2015 message to the Bahá’ís of the world, “ultimately, it is systematic, determined, and selfless action undertaken within the wide embrace of the Plan’s framework that is the most constructive response of every concerned believer to the multiplying ills of a disordered society.” In such a context, the friends can gradually address the problems that face them and their surrounding communities.

[social action]

In particular, social action is one means by which capacity can be built within a community to address the social and material needs of humanity, such as those related to agriculture, health, and education. In many instances across the globe, groups of like-minded individuals, having cultivated the habit of studying relevant materials together, including pertinent selections from the Bahá’í writings, come to carry out simple projects aimed at improving an aspect of their collective life. These endeavors can take place with varying degrees of complexity, from the grassroots of a community to the national and international levels, with progress in the area of social action supported by the recently established Bahá’í International Development Organization. The publication For the Betterment of the World… describes, among other things, examples of such initiatives. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a letter dated 3 December 2020 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer; US Baha’i National Administrative website)

“participation in discourses which have a significant bearing on the wellbeing of humanity”

Another area to which the Bahá’í community has been giving a progressively greater share of attention is participation in discourses which have a significant bearing on the wellbeing of humanity. Its efforts in this regard have been directed towards engaging in conversations in a widening range of spaces at the international and national levels, working shoulder to shoulder with like-minded organizations and individuals, seeking, where possible, to stimulate consultative processes and draw out underlying principles around which agreement and mutual understanding can be built. A number of these discourses, such as those on the role of religion in society, religious coexistence, and freedom of religion or belief, directly address the imperative of overcoming the challenge of religious prejudice. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a letter dated 27 December 2017 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer; online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)

["a broad scheme for social transformation]

In a recent letter written on its behalf, the House of Justice explained to your National Assembly that the scope of the Five Year Plan offers ample opportunities for believers to address the social concerns of their communities and society as a whole. The Plan's activities for sustained growth and community building lie at the heart of a broad scheme for social transformation. The friends are called to three simultaneous, overlapping, and coherent areas of action: community-building efforts in clusters; projects and activities for social action; and involvement in the discourses of society, whether in neighborhoods or in personal or professional associations. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a letter dated 27 April 2017 to an individual believer; online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)