A central feature of the covenant of Bahá’u’lláh is the Administrative Order. This Administrative Order was ordained by Bahá’u’lláh…
“The world’s equilibrium hath been upset through the vibrating influence of this Most Great Order. Mankind’s ordered life hath been revolutionized through the agency of this unique, this wondrous System, the like of which mortal eyes have never witnessed.” (Kitáb-i-Aqdas, p. 85)
…firmly upheld and established by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’ in His Will and Testament…
“The Administrative Order which this historic Document has established, it should be noted, is, by virtue of its origin and character, unique in the annals of the world’s religious systems. No Prophet before Bahá’u’lláh, it can be confidently asserted,… has established, authoritatively and in writing, anything comparable to the Administrative Order which the authorized Interpreter of Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings has instituted, an Order which … must and will, in a manner unparalleled in any previous religion, safeguard from schism the Faith from which it has sprung.” (Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 326)
… and built through the sacrifice and efforts of Shoghi Effendi and the worldwide Bahá’í community.
The foundations for the Administrative Order are the Local Spiritual Assemblies, nine-member elected bodies in every local Bahá’í community. Its pillars are National Spiritual Assemblies in each country, also consisting of nine elected members. Its crown is the Universal House of Justice, whose nine elected members are chosen by delegates from every nation.
“Neither in theory nor in practice can the Administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh be said to conform to any type of democratic government, to any system of autocracy, to any purely aristocratic order, or to any of the various theocracies, whether Jewish, Christian or Islamic which mankind has witnessed in the past. It incorporates within its structure certain elements which are to be found in each of the three recognized forms of secular government, is devoid of the defects which each of them inherently possesses, and blends the salutary truths which each undoubtedly contains without vitiating in any way the integrity of the Divine verities on which it is essentially founded.” (Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 326)
This Administrative Order, this fruit of God, has grown and evolved concurrently with the Bahá’í community, and it continues to grow and evolve. Indeed, it is destined by God to bring forth His Kingdom on earth.
“It is the features of that self-same Order which, at a later stage in the evolution of the Faith, the Center of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant and the appointed Interpreter of His teachings, delineated through the provisions of His Will and Testament. It is the structural basis of that self-same Order which, in the Formative Age of that same Faith, the stewards of that same Covenant, the elected representatives of the world-wide Bahá’í community, are now laboriously and unitedly establishing. It is the superstructure of that self-same Order, attaining its full stature through the emergence of the Bahá’í World Commonwealth—the Kingdom of God on earth—which the Golden Age of that same Dispensation must, in the fullness of time, ultimately witness.” (Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 25)