2025 Bahá’í World Year in Review
December 27, 2025
“BAHÁ’Í WORLD CENTRE — At a time when societies throughout the world are seeking new paths forward, the noise of division can feel louder than ever, pressing people to take sides and draw lines. Yet across diverse settings, countless stories of resilience and hope illuminate another possibility, one rooted in a growing recognition of our shared humanity. The Bahá’í World News Service looks back at some of the stories it covered in 2025, offering a glimpse of efforts, in countless settings, where new patterns of life are quietly emerging.
A new story takes shape
A new story is taking shape—quietly and patiently—through the efforts of people learning, in the midst of daily life, how to walk a path of service together.
Ken Bowers, a member of the Bahá’í National Spiritual Assembly of the United States, reflected on this observation: “You can’t know what to do unless you know what story you’re a part of… we are part of the story of the maturation of humanity.”
At a national forum in Mexico City came a related observation from about the need to “find different ways of relating to each other that do not feed into cycles of violence,” and to strengthen the “communal sense.”
These reflections point to a larger story, humanity’s long process of maturation, expressed, not in grand gestures, but in the steady movement from isolation to community, where people are learning to face difficulties together rather than as individuals, powerless before the problems around them.
In Spain, amid a period of crisis, Shirín Jiménez described how “material and emotional ruin” was accompanied by something luminous: the setting aside of habits of individualism and the discovery of a capacity for genuine mutual support. In the aftermath of the wildfires which ravaged the Los Angeles area, Kalim Chandler noted how easy it is to assume that disaster brings out self-interest, yet what was witnessed was the opposite: “Generosity was everywhere,” and it offered a profound source of hope.
Youth striving for coherence
What appears in times of trial is increasingly the same spirit of service taking root in daily life: the habit of learning to serve together. Young people who serve, reflect, and study are carrying that spirit into every space of life.
In the UK, some 60 young people from diverse faith backgrounds came together to explore the deeper dimensions of climate action. Participants at the workshop examined how young people, when empowered and viewed as active protagonists rather than passive recipients, can effectively promote social change. The UK's Office of Public Affairs highlighted the need to integrate moral and spiritual principles into conversations about climate action for lasting change to occur.
Around the world, youth are reconceptualizing their life’s purpose, where service to humanity becomes the central organizing principle that brings coherence to all aspects of life.
The Brussels Office of the Bahá’í International Community (BIC) observed how experience gained through community-building initiatives across Europe illustrates that both young people and their communities flourish when youth are recognized as capable of contributing to social betterment.
“What distinguishes youth from other stages of life is their courage, flexibility, and energy, along with their eagerness to create social change,” reflected Roeia Thabet, a member of the Office of Public Affairs in the UAE at the 2nd International Dialogue of Civilizations and Tolerance Conference held in Abu Dhabi.
500 youth from 22 countries in Eastern Europe gathered in Bucharest, Romania to explore how to intensify their efforts to contribute to the betterment of their societies. One participant described service to society and education as a means of fostering nobility, gentleness, empathy, and trust—becoming “practitioners of peace” through knowledge that transforms not only what one knows, but how one lives. . . .
The symposium, convened by Bahá’í Office of Public Affairs of the United States, welcomed more than 40 participants—scholars, representatives of civil-society organizations, faith communities, and government officials.
A symposium held by the Bahá’ís of the United States invited participants to examine together how narratives grounded in unity and justice might hold the country’s painful realities and shared aspirations in the same frame—expanding the sense of collective belonging while calling each person to a constructive role in the nation’s unfolding story. . . .
Through these glimpses of efforts across the globe, the arc of the year comes into focus as it concludes: humanity’s story need not be one of decline, but of awakening, of maturing. Through every act of service and every gesture of understanding, the oneness of humankind comes more clearly into view.”
Read the entire article; view 200 photos and the film.
Content from Bahai.org.