...The Guardian wishes you to make clear to all the
believers that membership in a Baha’i Assembly or Committee is a sacred
obligation which should be gladly and confidently accepted by every loyal and
conscientious member of the Community, no matter how humble and inexperienced.
Once elected to serve in a given Assembly a believer’s duty is to do his utmost
to attend all Assembly meetings, and cooperate with his fellow-members, unless,
however, he is prevented from doing so by some major reason such as illness,
and even then he should notify the Assembly to this effect. The N.S.A.’s duty
is to urge, and also facilitate attendance at assembly meetings. If a member
has no valid reason to justify his repeated absence from assembly meetings, he
should be advised, and even warned, and if such warning is deliberately ignored
by him, the assembly will then have the right to suspend his rights as a voting
member of the Community. Such administrative sanction would seem to be
absolutely imperative and necessary, and while not tantamount to a complete
expulsion of such a member from the Cause, deprives him of any real
participation in its administrative functions and affairs, and is thus a most
effective corrective measure which the Assembly can use against all such
half-hearted and irresponsible individuals in the Community.
- Shoghi Effendi (From a message
dated July 2, 1939 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi; ‘Dawn of a New Day’)
