Size
As you can see, all these developments relate directly to the teaching work inasmuch as the Bahá’í communities must reach a certain size before they can begin to implement many of them. How, for example, can a Bahá’í community demonstrate effectively the abolition of prejudices which divide the inhabitants of a country until it has a cross-section of those inhabitants within its ranks? A seed is the vital origin of a tree and of a tremendous importance for that reason, but it cannot produce fruit until it has grown into a tree and flowered and fruited. So a Bahá’í community of nine believers is a vital step, since it can bring into being for that locality the divine institution of the Local Spiritual Assembly, but it is still only a seed, and needs to grow in size and in the diversity of its members before it can produce really convincing fruit for its fellow citizens.
- The Universal House of Justice, Messages 1963 to 1986, p. 515-516
Quote of the Day
Idal 18 Sultan 182 B.E.
When we realize that Bahá’u’lláh says . . . that drinking destroys the mind, and not to so much as approach it, we see how clear are our teachings on these subjects.
Shoghi Effendi – Lights of Guidance, p. 344