Five Year Plan (1974-1979)

Five Year Plan (1974-1979)
Epoch	Third Epoch
Coordinator	Universal House of Justice
Protagonists	All National Spiritual Assemblies

Divine Plan

Shoghi Effendi

First Epoch (1937-1963)

1st Seven Year Plan (1937-1944) Indian Six Year Plan (1938-1944) British Six Year Plan (1944-1950) 2nd Seven Year Plan (1946-1953) Indian 4½ Year Plan (1946-1950) Persian 45 Month Plan (1946-1950) Persian Women's Four Year Plan (1946-1950) Australian Six Year Plan (1947-1953) Canadian Five Year Plan (1948-1953) Egyptian Five Year Plan (1948-1953) German Five Year Plan (1948-1953) African Campaign (1950-1953) Iraqi Three Year Plan (1950-1953) British Two Year Plan (1951-1953) Indian Nineteen Month Plan (1951-1953) South American Two Year Plan (1951-1953) Central American One Year Plan (1952-1953) Ten Year Crusade (1953-1963) Northeast Asian Six Year Plan (1957-1963)

Universal House of Justice

Second Epoch (1964-2021)

Nine Year Plan (1964-1973) Five Year Plan (1974-1979) Seven Year Plan (1979-1986) Six Year Plan (1986-1992) Three Year Plan (1993-1996) Four Year Plan (1996-2000) Twelve Month Plan (2000-2001) Five Year Plan (2001-2006) Five Year Plan (2006-2011) Five Year Plan (2011-2016) Five Year Plan (2016-2021)

Third Epoch (2021-)

Twelve Month Plan (2021-2022) Nine Year Plan (2022-2031)

The Five Year Plan from 1974 to 1979 was similar in goals to that of the Nine Year Plan that preceded it. The three main goals being:

1. The preservation and consolidation of past victories.
2. A vast and widespread expansion of the Bahá’í community.
3. The development of the distinctive character of Bahá’í life, particularly in the local communities.

World Centre Goals

1. Continued collation and classification of the Sacred Text.
2. The preparation and publication of authorized translations of three compilations of Scripture:
   • Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas
   • Prayers and extracts from the Writings of the Báb
   • Selection from the works of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
3. Initiation of the construction of the building on Mount Carmel to serve as the seat of the Universal House of Justice
4. Further extension and beautification of the gardens and lands surrounding the Holy Places.
5. Continued strengthening of the relationship between the Bahá’í International Community and the United Nations.
6. Constant efforts to protect the Faith from persecution and to free it from the restraints imposed by religious orthodoxy.
7. The holding of eight International Teaching Conferences - from July 1976 to February 1977

General Aims and Guidelines

1. A great increase in the number of believers, Local Spiritual Assemblies and localities where Bahá’ís reside.
2. The planning of teaching programs aimed at confirming individuals from every stratum of society.
3. The need to have the Bahá’í community represented broadly across the geographical areas of national jurisdiction.
4. The offering of guidance to Bahá’í youth, lending support to their activities, and utilizing their spiritual energy, zeal and idealism in promoting the Cause and in carrying out projects for specific periods of weeks, months, even a year or more.
5. The education of children in the teachings of the Faith to become a firmly established Bahá’í activity.
6. The provision of efficient and rapid dissemination of news and messages.
7. A co-ordinated program of publishing, subventing and disseminating Bahá’í literature.
8. Bahá’í communities at present dependent on outside help to aim at becoming self-supporting
9. Ensuring that increasing numbers of Local Spiritual Assemblies are 'broadly based', 'securely grounded', and 'efficiently functioning'.
10. The adoption by Local Spiritual Assemblies of goals of their own choosing within the framework of the plan, or the assignment by National Spiritual Assemblies of such goals to Local Assemblies.
11. Extension teaching goals to be spontaneously adopted by or assigned to an increasing number of Local Spiritual Assemblies to help the work of groups, isolated believers, or other Spiritual Assemblies in their neighborhoods.
12. The encouragement of the believers by Local Spiritual Assemblies to gather each day during the hours between dawn and two hours after sunrise, in localities where such gatherings would fit into the pattern of the friends' lives, to listen to the reading and chanting of the Holy Word.
13. The convening of teaching conferences designed to take advantage of the presence of friends en route through various countries to attend the eight International Conference.
14. The fostering of cordial relations with people of prominence and those in authority.
15. The need to be alert and seize opportunities to increase the recognition of the Faith through the incorporation of Spiritual Assemblies and the recognition of Bahá’í marriage certificates and of Bahá’í Holy Days.
16. Increasing the use of mass communication facilities, wherever possible, to proclaim and teach the Faith.

References

• The Universal House of Justice. The Bahá’í World - An International Record Vol XVI 1973-1976. Haifa, Israel: World Centre Publications.