Entry by troops is a term that developed in the Baháʼí Faith to describe a process of expansion when the Baha'i Faith would emerge from relative obscurity as a "steady flow of reinforcements" of "troops of peoples of divers nations and races" would embrace it (Letter dated 25 June 1953, Shoghi Effendi, Citadel of Faith: Messages to America 1947-1957. Bahá'í Publishing Trust, Wilmette, 1980. p. 117 The term first appeared in Baháʼu'lláh'sSuriy-i-Haykal. The Baháʼí Faith currently claims more than five million members, in almost every country of the world.
Entry by troops is seen as a process, not a singular event. It is seen as foreshadowing of a large-scale embracing of the Baha'i Faith, when a majority of the world will recognize and accept the teachings of Baha'u'llah. As Shoghi Effendi says,
This effort was launched in order to raise up Local Assemblies and National Assemblies all over the world so that a Universal House of Justice could be elected that would be representative of a worldwide Baha'i membership. The efforts of worldwide expansion that characterized the Ten Year Crusade from 1953 to 1963 were followed by massive enrollments in some parts of the world. Because there is no Baha'i clergy, Baha'u'llah has enjoined every believer to share and explain His teachings to the best of their ability. In some cases, individuals settled and lived out their lives in other countries. Almost every country in the world which had no Baháʼís was at least visited by a travelling teacher.
Consolidation
In 2000, the Universal House of Justice published Century of Light, which reviewed the accomplishments and setbacks of the previous century. A major conclusion of the book was the need to focus on long-term teaching goals. For example, a 1975 letter from the Universal House of Justice said the following:
Subsequent Plans
The Universal House of Justice has announced consecutive multi-year plans. From 1996 to 2000, the Four Year Plan focused on strengthening "communities, institutions, and believers." From 2000 to 2001, the Twelve Month Plan focused on creating activities and further building an administrative structure. In this time the Regional Baháʼí Council was created in very large countries, where an intermediary was necessary between the National and Local to help National Assemblies communicate and interact with local communities. From 2001 to 2006, the Five Year Plan has focused on three so-called core activities, which comprise devotional gatherings, children's classes, and study circles. An additional aspect newly created was the categorizing of areas into "clusters" that comprise groupings of communities, such as a metropolitan area or county. From 2006 to 2011 the Five Year Plan introduced Junior Youth Activities recognizing the pre-adolescent years as crucial in a person's spiritual growth. The practice of study circles has helped introduce large numbers of individuals to the teachings of Baha'u'llah by training tutors to lead discussions using books containing excerpts from the Writings. In India, which has the largest population of Baháʼís in the world, a single cluster had two thousand individuals become Baháʼís within a six-month period. Within the following year, one thousand of them had finished Ruhi book 2. Similar trends have been observed in Mongolia, Pakistan, Malaysia, Bangladesh among others ; and in Eastern Europe and even Britain. Many other communities around the world have experienced increased growth and activity since 2000. It should be noted, however, that numbers alone don't indicate depth of devotion to carry out Baha'u'llah's teachings or commitment to helping to fortify Baha'i communities.
Large-scale Teaching
A letter written to a Baháʼí on behalf of Shoghi Effendi has a section that gives a clear perspective of the Baháʼí attitude toward mass conversion.
