Arohanui: Letters from Shoghi Effendi to New Zealand

I share with the assembled delegates, gathered to elect, on this historic occasion, the second National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the Antipodes, the feelings of profound satisfaction and gratitude to Bahá’u’lláh evoked by 71 this epoch-making event in the evolution of His Faith in that far off region of the globe. I am deeply conscious of the decisive share which the Australian Bahá’í Community, labouring during more than three decades, for the spread of the light of this glorious revelation among the highly progressive people of that distant continent, has had in the laying of the foundations of the Administrative Order and the erection of yet another pillar of the future Universal House of Justice in this remote Dominion.

The emergence of this independent Bahá’í Community, no matter how limited its numerical strength and modest its resources, must be regarded as a highly significant development in the rise and establishment of the Bahá’í Faith in the Pacific Area, and should synchronise with the formulation, on the part of the National Spiritual Assembly now being elected in that Island, of a subsidiary Six-Year-Plan, designed to reinforce substantially the numerical strength of the Community; to multiply its Centres, as well as its Local Spiritual Assemblies; to incorporate the solidly grounded amongst them; to inaugurate a National Fund; to obtain recognition for both the Bahá’í marriage certificate and the Bahá’í Holy Days; to lend an unprecedented impetus to the conversion of the Maoris, and to ensure their active participation in the conduct of Bahá’í Administrative Institutions; to extend the scope of the work already initiated in the South Island; to incorporate the newly formed National Spiritual Assembly, and to select and acquire a site for the first Mashriqu’l-Adhkár of that Dominion.

I call upon the members of the Australian National Spiritual Assembly, as well as the members of the Australian Bahá’í Community, to continue to lend their valued support to this newly pledged sister Community, and to enable it, through the extension of material assistance as well as the dispatch of visiting teachers and pioneers, to contribute, in an ever increasing measure, to the furtherance of the magnificent and colossal campaign now being so vigorously 72 conducted in the North, in the South, and in the heart of the Pacific Ocean.

May the outpourings of the Holy Spirit continue to energise this small yet resolute forward marching, dedicated community, and may the outcome of the collective efforts of its members contribute decisively to the triumphant consummation of the World Crusade on which the entire body of the followers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh have so confidently embarked.