The Community of Newtownabbey
Where are we?
Newtownabbey (Irish: Baile Nua na Mainistreach) is a large northen suburb of Belfast in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Newtownabbey Urban Area is directly north of Belfast and contains a large number of smaller developments, including Carnmoney, Ballyduff, Glengormley, Jordanstown, Monkstown, Rathcoole and Whiteabbey.
The new town of Newtownabbey was created in 1958 from the existing villages of Carnmoney, Glengormley, Whitehouse, Jordanstown, Monkstown and Whiteabbey. In 1973, Ballyclare and its rural hinterland were added to the Newtownabbey Urban District Council to form the new Newtownabbey District Council, which was later awarded the status of borough.
WHERE WE ARE
Mossley Mill
Sentry Hill - 19th century farmhouse
Who are we?
There have been members of the Bahá'í Faith living in Northern Ireland since as early as 1912, but the numbers really began to grow after the Second World War, when new assemblies were formed in Belfast, Bangor, and many other regional towns.
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In the early 1970s, the first local Assembly was formed in the newly created 'Borough of Newtownabbey'- in the 1950s, the area had been known as 'Belfast Rural District', then it was twice enlarged to its present size and renamed 'Newtownabbey' along the way.
In Newtownabbey the Bahá'ís have always taken a keen interest in social, charitable, cultural and environmental affairs within the area, and have often been involved in supporting the work of local and regional charitable organisations. For example, the 'International Tree Foundation'- an organisation which was in fact founded by a member of the Bahá'í Faith (Mr. Richard St.Barbe-Baker).
So in the future, Bahá'ís intend to stay aware of all the social and environmental changes in the area, and to take a keen interest in exigencies of the region in which we live
What do we do?
The Bahá’ís are an outward-looking community, committed to sharing a message of religious understanding and unity, and to helping build a better world.
The Bahá'ís of Newtownabbey are active both as a community and in the wider society in pursuit of these aims. The community regularly offers activies to the local community including devotional gatherings for inspiration and renewal, moral and spiritual education for the next generation and collaborative study for individual and social transformation.
What we believe
The Bahá'í Faith is the youngest of the world's independent religions. Its founder, Bahá’u’lláh (a title meaning “Glory of God”) (1817-1892), is regarded by Bahá'ís as the most recent in the line of Messengers of God that stretches back beyond recorded time. In just over a century-and-a-half it has established itself as the world's second most widespread religion (after Christianity) and it is now the eighth-largest organized religion (these statements come from non-Bahá'í scholars, by the way, not from us).
The central theme of Bahá'u'lláh's message is that humanity is one single race and that the day has come for its coming together in a global society based on justice and cooperation. Historical forces are breaking down traditional barriers of race, class, creed, and nation and that will, in time, give birth to a universal civilization. The main challenge facing the peoples of the earth is to accept the fact of their oneness and to work together.
For more than a century, Bahá'í communities around the globe have been working to break down barriers of prejudice between peoples and have collaborated with other like-minded groups to promote the model of a global society. At the heart of our belief is the conviction that humanity is a single people with a common destiny. In the words of Bahá'u'lláh, "The Earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."
There are no Bahá'í clergy or leaders, the community is administered at all levels by elected bodies. All members have a say in the work of community and play their part. To learn more about the Bahá'í Faith and its teachings and see something of its activities world-wide in the section below.
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Or to learn more you can contact us at bcni@bahai.org.uk.
Find out more
The Bahá'Ãs of the Republic of Ireland
The Bahá'Ãs Worldwide Community
The Bahá'Ãs of the United Kingdom