One Sunday a month, Tamara Hendershot hosts an informal prayer gathering, or devotional, in her Highland Park home north of Chicago. Each gathering brings a different combination of participants.

Ms. Hendershot, who is “almost a Baha'i,” is one of many Baha'is and friends of the Faith who are holding prayer gatherings in their home or at Baha'i centers. The aim of Baha'i devotionals is to leave participants infused with the spirit of God and Baha'u'llah.


Tamara Hendershot (left) The prayer gatherings are part of a worldwide initiative to invite spiritual seekers to enrich their lives through activities that also include weekly study of the Baha'i scriptures and classes that provide children with Baha'i spiritual education and virtues development.

All Baha'i prayer gatherings are open to the general public. Each has a different character, depending on who hosts them. Ms. Hendershot’s monthly devotionals are based on a theme -- unity of humankind, friendship and paradise are some she has used. She enhances the mood with music, sometimes choosing Baha'i artists, other times selecting whatever fits the mood, such as the Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love.”

After introducing the theme, Ms. Hendershot, whose husband, Tim, is a Baha'i, has each participant read a prayer from those she has chosen. Her get-togethers, which include refreshments and informal conversation, are attended by a handful of participants at this point.

One time only one person showed up. But that’s okay, she says, because whatever the number of people, “the devotionals stir up one’s love for Baha'u'llah. They’re a way of getting closer to Him.”

In Phoenix, Baha'i Lal Fernando hosts a monthly devotional that draws about 20 spiritual seekers from a variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds. He attracts them, he says, by telling them “you’re my brother (or sister), whether you like it or not.” They burst into laughter, he says. But once they’ve been to his devotional, Mr. Fernando says,” they say they’ve never seen such warmth in any other home. “

In keeping with the Baha'i practice of fellowship with followers of all religions, many of those who host prayer gatherings make them purposefully interfaith gatherings. When Baha'is Wade and Angela Fransson lived in Pasadena, Calif. (they’ve since moved to Wisconsin), they held an interfaith prayer gathering, asking participants to bring a prayer from their religious background.

In rural Cook, Minn., Elma Tuomisalo Strom holds a highly embellished prayer gathering for women only. The event starts with a sauna, progresses to a dip in an ice pond, moves on to a potluck dinner and story-telling, and ends with prayer.