This decade-long global Crusade must mark a veritable turning point in
American Baha'i history. It must prove itself to be, as it develops, a
force so pervasive and revolutionary in its character as to leave a
lasting imprint not only on the destinies of the American Baha'i Community
but on the fortunes of the American nation as well. It must, even as a
baptismal fire, so purge its members from self as to enable them to scale
heights never as yet attained. It must, in its initial stages, witness a
dispersal, combined with a consecration, reminiscent of the dawn of the
Heroic Age in Baha'u'llah's native land. It must, as it gathers momentum,
awaken the select and gather the spiritually hungry amongst the peoples of
the world, as well as create an awareness of the Faith not only among the
political leaders of present-day society but also among the thoughtful,
the erudite in other spheres of human activity. It must, as it approaches
its climax, carry the torch of the Faith to regions so remote, so
backward, so inhospitable that neither the light of Christianity or Islam
has, after the revolution of centuries, as yet penetrated. It must, as it
approaches its conclusion, pave the way for the laying, on an unassailable
foundation, of the structural basis of an Administrative Order whose
fabric must, in the course of successive crusades, be laboriously erected
throughout the entire globe and which must assemble beneath its sheltering
shadow peoples of every race, tongue, creed, color and nation.
Seconded by the neighboring fully fledged Canadian Baha'i Community
flourishing beyond the northern frontier of its homeland; supported by the
newly emerged Latin American communities established in the Antilles and
in each of the central and southern republics of the Western Hemisphere;
ably aided by its sister community vigorously functioning in the heart of
a far-flung empire, and destined to lend its inestimable assistance in the
spiritual conquest of the numerous and widely scattered dependencies of
the British Crown; reinforced by the oldest and youngest national Baha'i
communities on the European mainland which are to play a prominent part in
the eastern and southern regions, and across the frontiers of Europe,
along the shores and in the islands of the Mediterranean; assisted by its
venerable sister community in the cradle of the Faith and by the second
oldest national community in the Baha'i world actively engaged in the
propagation of the Faith in the Asiatic continent; confident of the help
of its Egyptian and Indian sister communities, whose destiny is closely
linked with the African continent and southeast Asia respectively, and,
lastly, assured of the unfailing cooperation of yet another national
community in the Antipodes which, owing to its geographical position, is
bound to assume a notable share in the introduction of the Faith in the
islands of the South Pacific Ocean, the American Baha'i Community must, as
befits its rank as the chief executor of the Divine Plan, play a dominant
and decisive role in the direction and control of the manifold operations
involved in the prosecution of the North American, the Latin American, the
European, the African, the Asian and the South Pacific campaigns of this
World Crusade, and insure, by every means at its disposal and in
conjunction with its junior partners, its ultimate and total success.
Within its own sphere, extending to every continent of the globe,
embracing no less than twenty-nine virgin territories and islands, the
members of this stalwart and preeminent community are called upon, among
other things and within the relatively brief span of a single decade, to
create nuclei, around which will crystallize future assemblies, in no less
than eleven territories and islands of Africa, eight of Asia, six of
Europe, four of America; to inaugurate the establishment of the future
dependencies of the Mother Temple of the West, and to terminate the
landscaping of its grounds; to consolidate and broaden the basis of the
Administrative Order already laid in twenty-three territories and islands
distributed in four continents of the globe and situated in the Atlantic
and Pacific Oceans; to assist in the erection of no less than thirty-six
pillars, twenty in Latin America, twelve in Europe, two in Asia, one in
the North American continent and one in Africa, designed to help in
sustaining the weight of the crowning unit of the Baha'i Administrative
Order, and in the establishment of national Baha'i headquarters, of
national endowments, and of national incorporations in all of these
continents; to lend its aid for the acquisition of land in anticipation of
the erection of four Temples, two in Europe, one in Africa and one in
Central America; to lend an impetus to the progress of the Faith in its
homeland through raising to three hundred the number of local spiritual
assemblies and to one hundred the number of incorporated assemblies, as
well as through the founding of a Baha'i Publishing Trust and the
proclamation of the Faith through the press and radio; to enroll in the
ranks of the followers of Baha'u'llah members of the Indian, of the Basque
and Gypsy races; to assume responsibility for the translation and
publication of Baha'i literature in twenty languages, ten in the Americas
and ten in Europe; and to contribute to the consolidation of the Faith in
eight of the European goal countries through the establishment of local
incorporations, as well as through the quadrupling of the number of local
assemblies and the trebling of the number of local Baha'i centers in each
one of them.
While this colossal task, which in its magnitude and potentialities
transcends any previous collective enterprise launched in the course of
American Baha'i history, is being energetically carried out, it should be
constantly borne in mind--and this applies to all communities without
exception participating in this World Crusade--that the twofold task of
extension and consolidation must be supplemented by continuous and
strenuous efforts to increase speedily not only the number of the avowed
followers of the Faith in both the virgin and opened territories and
islands included within the scope of the Ten Year Plan, but also to swell
the ranks of its active supporters who will consecrate their time,
resources and energy to the effectual spread of its teachings and the
multiplication and consolidation of its administrative institutions.
The movement of pioneers, the opening of virgin territories, the
initiation of Houses of Worship and of administrative headquarters, the
incorporation of local and national elective bodies, the multiplication of
assemblies, groups and isolated centers, the increase in the number of
races represented in the world Baha'i fellowship, the translation,
publication and dissemination of Baha'i literature, the consolidation of
administrative agencies and the creation of auxiliary bodies designed to
support them, however valuable, essential and meritorious, will in the
long run amount to little and fail to achieve their supreme purpose if not
supplemented by the equally vital task--which is one that primarily
concerns continually and challenges each single individual believer
whatever his rank, capacity or origin--of winning to the Faith fresh
recruits to the slowly yet steadily advancing army of the Lord of Hosts,
whose reinforcing strength is so essential to the safeguarding of the
victories which the band of heroic Baha'i conquerors are winning in the
course of their several campaigns in all the continents of the globe.
Such a steady flow of reinforcements is absolutely vital and is of extreme
urgency, for nothing short of the vitalizing influx of new blood that will
reanimate the world Baha'i community can safeguard the prizes which, at so
great a sacrifice involving the expenditure of so much time, effort and
treasure, are now being won in virgin territories by Baha'u'llah's valiant
Knights, whose privilege is to constitute the spearhead of the onrushing
battalions which, in diverse theaters and in circumstances often adverse
and extremely challenging, are vying with each other for the spiritual
conquest of the unsurrendered territories and islands on the surface of
the globe.
This flow, moreover, will presage and hasten the advent of the day which,
as prophesied by 'Abdu'l-Baha, will witness the entry by troops of peoples
of divers nations and races into the Baha'i world--a day which, viewed in
its proper perspective, will be the prelude to that long-awaited hour when
a mass conversion on the part of these same nations and races, and as a
direct result of a chain of events, momentous and possibly catastrophic in
nature, and which cannot as yet be even dimly visualized, will suddenly
revolutionize the fortunes of the Faith, derange the equilibrium of the
world, and reinforce a thousandfold the numerical strength as well as the
material power and the spiritual authority of the Faith of Baha'u'llah.