A world, growing to maturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of human relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can best incarnate this fundamental principle of its life .-- March 11, 1936.
[The above letters have been published in one volume entitled The World Order of Baha'u'llah.] Epilogue Under the inspired guidance of Shoghi Effendi the Baha'i Cause grew steadily in size and in the establishment of its Administrative Order, so that by 1951 there were eleven functioning National Spiritual Assemblies.
At that point the Guardian turned to the development of the institutions of the Faith at its international level, appointing the International Baha'i Council, the forerunner of the Universal House of Justice, and, shortly thereafter, the first contingent of the Hands of the Cause of God.
Hitherto Shoghi Effendi has raised certain eminent Baha'is to the rank of Hands of the Cause posthumously, one of them being Dr.John E.Esslemont, but it was only in 1951 that he adjudged the time ripe to begin the full development of this important institution.

In rapid succession between 1951 and 1957 he appointed thirty-two Hands and extended the range of their activities, instituting in each continent Auxiliary Boards consisting of believers and appointed by the Hands to be their deputies, assistants and advisors.

Twenty-seven of these Hands were living at the time of his passing.
Through a series of letters, some addressed to Baha'is throughout the world, and others to those in specific countries, the Guardian deepened their understanding of the teachings, built up the administrative institutions of the Faith, trained the believers in their correct and effective use, and in 1937 launched the American Baha'i Community on its implementation of the Divine Plan for the diffusion of Baha'u'llah's Message.

This Divine Plan had been revealed by 'Abdu'l-Baha in a number of Tablets written during the years of the First World War and constitutes the charter for the propagation of the Faith.
Within the framework of this charter a number of teaching plans were carried out, first in the Western Hemisphere, then also in Europe, Asia, Australasia and Africa until in 1953 the Guardian called for a "decade-long, world-embracing, spiritual crusade" to carry the Faith to all the remaining independent states and principal dependencies of the world.
In 1957, as the midway point of the crusade approached, the Guardian, exhausted by thirty-six years of unremitting labor, died while on a visit to London.
As Shoghi Effendi had no heir, the work of the Faith after November 1957 was coordinated and directed by the twenty-seven Hands of the Cause until the victorious completion of the crusade in April 1963, at which time the first Universal House of Justice was elected by the members of fifty-six National Spiritual Assemblies convened at the Baha'i World Center in Haifa by the Hands of the Cause.
Immediately following this historic election, Baha'is from all parts of the globe gathered in London at the first World Congress of the Faith to celebrate the Centenary of the Declaration of Baha'u'llah and to rejoice in the worldwide spread of His Faith.
The supreme institution of the Faith today is the Universal House of Justice, created by Baha'u'llah in His Most Holy Book, invested with authority to legislate on all matters not covered in the Baha'i Writings, and assured divine guidance in the Sacred Text itself.

'Abdu'l-Baha, in His Will and testament, lays down the method of election of the Universal House of Justice, define sits station and duties more clearly, and asserts that it is under the direct guidance of the Bab and Baha'u'llah and is the body to which all must turn.
The unique and distinguishing feature of the Baha'i Faith is the Covenant of Baha'u'llah, the bedrock upon which the Faith raises all its structures and bases its development.