The newly built Northern Virginia Bahá’í Center opened its doors on September 22, 2007.  The Center is located on the corner of Route 7 and Cardinal Glen Circle in Sterling, Virginia. The vision for this Bahá’í Center is, that it will serve as a tree, the shade of which will provide unity and peace for the diverse citizens of Northern Virginia and the greater DC Metro area.  Shoghi Effendi, the great grandson of Bahá’u’lláh, described Bahá’í Centers as “institutions of social service as shall afford relief to the suffering, sustenance to the poor, … solace to the bereaved, and education to the ignorant.”   

This Bahá’í Center has as its mission: “to advance and develop people's spiritual capacities and to provide a physical infrastructure for worship, education, and service in accordance with the universal principles of the Bahá’í Faith”. It will serve the spiritual needs of all people, regardless of their religion, color, or creed.  Therefore, the doors of this Bahá’í Center will always be open to everyone who believes in unity and peace. This project has been more than 20 years in the making, so the commencement of the Bahá’í Center’s construction was truly a historic event for the Bahá’í community of greater Northern Virginia. Its purpose is, to be a beacon of unity that will touch the hearts of all the inhabitants in the region.

  
The Bahá’í community purchased this property in 1988. However plans to build a religious center was not formulated until 2002 when the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Loudoun County, the Trustee of this Project, commissioned Mr. Hossein Amanat, a world renowned architect to develop a design for this Bahá’í Center. Mr. Amanat is a member of the Bahá’í Faith and the founder-director of Arc International Architecture firm in Canada.  Among Mr. Amanat’s achievements are buildings surrounding the magnificent Bahá’í Gardens at the Bahá’í World Center in Haifa, Israel.

Northern Virginia Bahá’í Center has approximately 18,000 square feet on three floors, containing an auditorium with 400 seats, a library, an information center, Kitchen facility, meeting rooms and classrooms, a children’s playroom and a youth activities room. In addition to being a Center to serve the needs of the Bahá’í community in Loudoun County this center will serve as a meeting place for the Bahá’í community at large and will provide a permanent home for a community based development initiative; One World Sunday School. Another patronage of the Center, Blue Planet Theater uses "the arts to awaken the glorious spirits of children in their community". While experiencing an exhilarating introduction to the incomparable magic of theatre, children develop a keen sense of citizenship alongside their artistic achievements. Blue Planet promotes theater as a tool for active and analytical learning, combining collaborative performances alongside professional artists with an innovative character and ethical education curriculum that emphasizes a culture of inclusiveness and service through arts. The Bahá’ís in the region have embraced the opening of the Center. There is a sense of pride and ownership, as only members of the Bahá’í community can contribute financially to Bahá’í initiatives such as this one. Projects like this do not happen overnight and are not due to one person making a large donation. It is the result of a day-by-day and a step-by-step transformation in the life and attitudes of the members. Through sacrificial contributions of individuals, young and old and their families they create a physical manifestation of a spiritual reality; the Unity of Mankind.