National Spiritual Assembly

Spiritual Assembly is a term given by `Abdu'l-Bahá to refer to elected councils that govern the Bahá'í Faith. Because the Bahá'í Faith has no clergy, they carried out some of the responsibilities of clergy, as well as some responsibilities that an elected Board of Deacons or Parish Council of a Christian church might perform. In addition to existing at the local level, there are national Spiritual Assemblies (although “national” in some cases refers to a portion of a country or to a group of countries).
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