Editing Shoghi Effendi (section)

===Growth===
During the years in which Shoghi Effendi was Guardian of the Baháʼí Faith the number of believers expanded to more than 400,000, and the plans which he instituted during this time surpassed their goals. Before the first plan was initiated in 1935 there were 139 spiritual assemblies throughout the world, with Baháʼís living in 1,034 locations. These numbers had increased to 670 spiritual assemblies and 2,700 locations by 1953, and it was during that year that he launched a 10-year global crusade whose purpose was to establish the faith worldwide,{{sfn|Hartz|2009|pp=83-85|p=}} the faith spreading widely in parts of Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific islands.{{sfn|Stockman|2022|pp=|p=507}} Although Shoghi Effendi passed away in 1957, by 1963 the geographical presence of the Baháʼí Faith in the world had increased to 14,437 localities,{{sfn|Hartz|2009|pp=83-85|p=}} with 56 national assemblies and 3,551 local spiritual assemblies.{{sfn|Stockman|2022|pp=|p=507}}