The Seven Year Plan, with which the immediate fortunes of the American
Bahá'í community are so closely interwoven, demands, at this critical
stage in its development, serious and prayerful consideration of certain vital
requirements, without which such a stupendous task can never be brought
to a successful completion. The evolution of the Plan imposes a three-fold
obligation, which all individual believers, all local Assemblies, as well as
the National Assembly itself, must respectively recognize and conscientiously
fulfil. Each and every believer, undaunted by the uncertainties, the perils
and the financial stringency afflicting the nation, must arise and insure, to
the full measure of his or her capacity, that continuous and abundant flow
of funds into the national Treasury, on which the successful prosecution of
the Plan must chiefly depend. Upon the local Assemblies, whose special
function and high privilege is to facilitate the admission of new believers
into the community, and thereby stimulate the infusion of fresh blood into
its organic institutions, a duty no less binding in character devolves. To
them I wish particularly to appeal, at this present hour, when the call of
God is being raised throughout the length and breadth of both continents
in the New World, to desist from insisting too rigidly on the minor observances
and beliefs, which might prove a stumbling block in the way of any
sincere applicant, whose eager desire is to enlist under the banner of
Bahá'u'lláh. While conscientiously adhering to the fundamental qualifications
already laid down, the members of each and every Assembly should
endeavor, by their patience, their love, their tact and wisdom to nurse,
subsequent to his admission, the new-comer into Bahá'í maturity, and win
him over gradually to the unreserved acceptance of whatever has been
ordained in the teachings. As to the National Assembly, whose inescapable
responsibility is to guard the integrity, coordinate the activities, and
stimulate the life, of the entire community, its chief concern at the present
moment should be to anxiously deliberate on how best to enable both individual
believers and local Assemblies to fulfil their respective tasks. Through
their repeated appeals, through their readiness to dispel all misunderstandings
and remove all obstacles, through the example of their lives, and their
unrelaxing vigilance, their high sense of justice, their humility, consecration
and courage, they must demonstrate to those whom they represent their
capacity to play their part in the progress of the Plan in which they, no
less than the rest of the community, are involved. May the all-conquering
Spirit of Bahá'u'lláh be so infused into each component part of this
harmoniously functioning System as to enable it to contribute its proper share
to the consummation of the plan.
January 30, 1938