rave, a sacred and
inescapable responsibility--a responsibility that will increase as the
brief eighteen-month interval separating it from the termination of its
Two Year Plan speeds to a close.

Upon the discharge of this weighty responsibility now resting upon it must
depend the inauguration of yet another Plan, of longer duration, of
greater scope, of a still more challenging character, and of greater
consequence in the effect it must have on that community's destiny.

Time is running short. The present hour in the fortunes of mankind is
critical. The centenary of the birth of the Revelation of Baha'u'llah is
fast approaching. The British Baha'i community must gird up its loins,
redouble its exertions, undertake further sacrifices, demonstrate greater
solidarity and rise to still greater heights of consecrated devotion.

The flow of pioneers to the African Continent must be noticeably
accelerated. The provision of Baha'i literature in all the selected
African languages must be speeded up. The ties binding the community with
its cooperating sister communities must be steadily reinforced. The prizes
already garnered as a result of the operation of the Six-Year Plan in
England, Wales, Scotland, Eire and Northern Ireland, must, at all costs,
be safeguarded. The preparations for the forthcoming first African
Teaching Conference must be carefully planned and meticulously carried
out. Above all, the zeal kindled in the breasts of administrators,
pioneers, teachers and supporters, jointly contributing to the success of
this meritorious enterprise, must burn ever more brightly and be reflected
in still more remarkable exploits.

Then, and only then, will this community be enabled to contribute its
share of tribute to the memory of the Founder of its Faith, on the
occasion of the centenary of the birth of His Prophetic Mission, in as
befitting a manner as the share it already contributed, through the
consummation of its first historic Plan, to the world-wide celebrations
which commemorated the hundredth anniversary of the founding of its Faith.
Then, and only then, will it be qualified to embark upon yet another
Crusade, whose scope will transcend the limits of the vast African
Continent, and the culmination of which might well coincide with the Most
Great Jubilee that will commemorate the centenary of the formal assumption
by Baha'u'llah of His prophetic office, a jubilee envisaged by
'Abdu'l-Baha in His Tablets, and proph