Over and over, in going through the correspondence he
received from your Assembly, he was struck by the fact that the friends acted
so unadministratively. Instead of taking up their accusations and problems and
unhappy feelings with their Local Assembly, or the National Assembly, they
referred to individuals or individual members of the Assembly, or they refused
to meet with the Assembly. The first thing a believer should do is to turn to
an Assembly -- that is why we have Assemblies! He feels this trouble would
never have arisen if the Bahá'ís utilized their Assemblies as they should....
- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter dated 30 June 1949 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to the
National Spiritual Assembly of Germany and Austria; The Compilation of
Compilations, vol. II, National Spiritual Assembly)
