This challenge, so severe and insistent, and yet so
glorious, faces no doubt primarily the individual believer on whom, in the last
resort, depends the fate of the entire community. He it is who constitutes the
warp and woof on which the quality and pattern of the whole fabric must depend.
He it is who acts as one of the countless links in the mighty chain that now
girdles the globe. He it is who serves as one of the multitude of bricks which
support the structure and insure the stability of the administrative edifice
now being raised in every part of the world. Without his support, at once
whole-hearted, continuous and generous, every measure
adopted, and every plan formulated, by the body which acts as the national
representative of the community to which he belongs, is foredoomed to failure.
The World Center of the Faith itself is paralyzed if such a support on the part
of the rank and file of the community is denied it. The Author of the Divine
Plan Himself is impeded in His purpose if the proper instruments for the
execution of His design are lacking. The sustaining strength of Bahá’u’lláh
Himself, the Founder of the Faith, will be withheld from every and each
individual who fails in the long run to arise and play his part. (Shoghi
Effendi, from a letter dated July 28, 1954; ‘Citadel of Faith’)
