Before His passing, Baha'u'llah indicated that the world center for the Faith He had founded would be in the Haifa/Akka area in the north of what is now Israel. The region today is the spiritual and administrative heart of the Baha'i Faith.

In addition to its extraordinary diversity and wide geographic distribution, perhaps the most distinctive feature of the Baha'i community is its unity. Explicit teachings on the institutional framework of the Faith and a clear line of succession of leadership have protected the Baha'i Faith from schism.

More than 100 years after the passing of Baha'u'llah, the single worldwide Baha'i community is knit together by a network of elected institutions. Baha’u’llah taught that in an age of universal education, there was no longer a need for a special class of clergy. Instead, he provided a framework for administering the affairs of the Faith through a system of elected councils at the local, national and international levels. All Baha'i elections occur through secret ballot and plurality vote, without candidacies, nominations or campaigning.