Working from the ground up through the family system, the church is a self-organizing entity that generates services according to need and capacity. Beyond the universal call to share our faith, the church should not add on services or activities, no matter how seemingly essential, unless its members have the capacity to fulfill them. The basic idea is that the family itself is the primary unit of God's kingdom. By members' initiative, families form small groups and these groups network with each other. When the foundation is ready to formalize a church, they do so with the commitment to support a pastor financially and spiritually. It is like this testimony about a little Baptist community:

Our vertical consciousness is strong. We have the strengths of the Catholic system in our bones. Scholar of religion Martin Marty says that the American religious landscape today is five miles wide and two inches deep. Applying that image, our church is five miles deep and two inches wide. We need to balance this with horizontal expansion.

• You can self-organize as small groups. They can be called Kodans, communities, home churches, mini-churches, care groups or whatever. You might begin with only one group. The main point is to be aware that you are a group -- not yet a "church," but a functional spiritual unit that can nurture spiritual life and expand according to the law of love.
• You can determine your schedule according to local vision, working with the leader of the nearest church (see chart that follows).
• One model for such a group is that of the cell-church. A small group meeting alternates between

1. "edification" (sharing, studying, planning, setting goals, movement information and internal guidance, praying for spiritual children, among the committed members), and
2. "evangelism" (guest-centered, for spiritual children, form new relationships, build bridges, focus on felt needs such as divorce, stress, loneliness, etc.).

• All the church programs can take place in the home churches (specialized ministries, counseling, prayer conditions, organizing larger events, etc.).
• In a stable home church community, home churches become strong within themselves, then grow by inviting guests, and finally multiply when those new guests become members, and when a new home church leader is raised up to take leadership of the new home church.

One defining characteristic of a church, as opposed to a small group or Kodan, is the full financial support of a pastor. We should honor those who are fulfilling the job of a full-time pastor and provide incentives to stimulate people to strive for that position. Those congregations that cannot provide such support simply cannot have a pastor. They have to work on the volunteer, part-time small group system and build toward establishing a church, if that is God's will. Ultimately the number of church leaders and Regional Directors depends upon the foundation of the local groups in terms of support they are able to provide.

A church with a full-time pastor should offer as much support to the members in their ministry work as possible. As size increases, the number of activities, size of facilities, variety of educational and support services, and public outreach can increase. Minimum essentials include Sunday service, Sunday school for guests at different levels, children and members, mission activities for youth, small group ministry and a finance committee.

As for pastor support, Father provides this rule-of-thumb: "In terms of the life of tithing in the church, ten families in the church should support a church leader. Otherwise, you cannot have a right to become a citizen of the Heavenly Kingdom. Ten people should support one heavenly person." (WSL 1, p. 145)

In the late 1990s, our tithing nationally covered approximately one-third of local church expenses. The church leaders' -- including some Regional Directors -- and center members' fundraising covered the other two-thirds. This is not ideal for the long term, although it can serve as a start-up model. In the long-term, it limits the time of those called to spiritual "servant-leadership." If we want to follow the Baptist "farmer-preacher" model, with the pastor self-supporting, then we should allow the church leader to have secular employment and be available part-time. To have the church leader available full-time, the members have to support that family.

• Church leaders have insufficient time to do church administration and planning
• They cannot spend enough time doing outreach
• They have insufficient time to guide or counsel members
• They cannot function effectively with Sunday service and church organization
• They have little or no time for their own continued

• Too many blessed couples struggling with church and with their blessing
• Too little involvement of blessed children
• Shortage of blessing candidates
• Shortage of new seminarians
• Lack of new church leaders
• No new churches

The same principle would be employed to develop regions and the national church. In order to support a regional office, there needs to be enough local churches to provide support for the Regional Director and whatever staff is necessary. There also has to be a clear-cut job description for the office. The minimum is that the office serves as liaison to the national headquarters. The Regional Director also should provide spiritual support to the church leaders, help with planning and use of resources on the regional level, assist in ministry, help build schools and so forth. The national headquarters stands in the same relationship to the regions. Here is a chart that outlines the functions of the different organizational levels.

The reader may doubt that it is possible to shift to this system. We are not (yet, anyway) growing our church out of a vacuum. We have a national corporation and hundreds of properties, bank accounts and established leaders. The "complete restructuring" True Father often envisions, while consistent with my outline, would break a lot of eggs and create heartburn. Nonetheless, the outline can serve as a reference point. At the same time, we should realize that Kodan was set up using this method, in terms of infrastructure. And the church is drifting, like it or not, in that direction. There are states that have no state leader. That means that there is no one willing to be appointed. In those states, such as Michigan, New Hampshire, Arizona, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and perhaps others, the members created a committee and elected a pastor -- given that the definition of pastor is often very loose. These states are for the most part functioning as well or better than any other states. So this congregational process is already at work. Dr. Chang Shik Yang has floated the idea of setting up committees to govern each region in relationship with the Regional Director.

The FFVVPU has a very broad foundation and can be inclusive in membership. Members need not be Family Church members. In the family federation, membership means that one receives the Blessing and then develops one's character through community life and education in true family values. This model allows blessed couples to practice their own religion. The Family Federation also accepts secularism, in that we seek to bless and educate outside of religious categories, not demanding religious faith on the part of members as a condition for blessing. This seems to be Father's method, for example, blessing Socrates -- a secularist philosopher, and even ungodly people. Thus it makes sense that Father established the FFWPU as the successor to the church. We need to develop new forms of worship befitting the Kingdom that we are building.

• Affirming that God works through all religions.
• Affirming that all religions are valid foundations to receive the blessing.
• Not a "religion" in the traditional sense, but a world-view encompassing all aspects of human life, centering on the family.
• Membership is defined by fulfilling the Family Pledge on the basis of the unity of (a) mind and body, (b) husband and wife and (c) parents and children.

The FFWPU has the potential to meet the historical needs of the American people as described by Donald Miller in his analysis of the new paradigm churches. He identifies four needs of contemporary Americans:

• Community: Friendships with consistency
• Safety: A healthy and secure environment in which to raise children
• Transformation: Strong spiritual standards and support in maintaining them
• Hope: Provision of meaning, purpose, a sense of des-tiny, and joy

He summarizes what the churches that are providing these things are doing: "They recreate some characteristics of small town life.^" Now, if that is not the HOMETOWN movement, I don't know what is!

Based on these conclusions, Miller offers a critique of the declining mainstream churches. He says that the mainstream churches are mired in organizational structures that deaden vision with endless committee meetings and chains of command. There is no innovation and no multiplication.

• Give the ministry to the people
• Flatten the organizational structure (decentralize)
• Provide access to the sacred (starting with the pastor's own showing the way)
• Downsize headquarters (churches do not grow from the top-down; creativity does not happen at the top because too many people have to sign off on it; creativity comes from the trenches)
• Place the leadership in the local churches
• Do the seminary education in the local churches, where people are mentored and taught while they serve; create "lay institutes" in your largest churches
• Abolish 80% of your committees and thereby free people to join small group home fellowships. "Committees do not minister to anyone."
• Restructure the worship service; have less announcements and church business; let the youth and new members lead worship

Miller notes that he is an Episcopalian, a liberal, not a member of a new paradigm church. And he notes with some pride that his Episcopal Church in southern California has gained some members over the recent years. But then he compares that with the new paradigm churches that not only gained more members but also PLANTED dozens of new churches in the same time period.

• Strong and clear emphasis upon simple, basic truth
• Comfortable with the culture
• Focus on practical application, not theology
• Great effort to create horizontal bonds through all kinds of community activities
• Lay leadership
• Small group based
• Family-centered, based on the four great realms of heart. Therefore, the core of the Family Federation is the relationships of heart and love within and between families.

• Combine the evangelical system of Oakland with the church life of "new paradigm churches."
• Allow our centers time and space to develop on their own.
• Distribute leadership by population of membership and their ability to support a church leader, not political boundary lines as was the case during the pioneering phase.
• The church should support its pastor fully. If a community cannot support a pastor, they should not have one, but rather work strategically with self-supporting community leaders.
• Utilize cell church methods to heal and grow the church. Begin by reading Dale Galloway's, The Small Group Book.
• Clear education and activities for Unificationist youth.
• Stabilize and upgrade incentives for church leadership, in order to attract our own youth and new members to become church leaders.
• Develop education for church leadership.
• Develop a support system for church leaders.
• Develop a retirement plan for church leaders.
• Develop Unificationist educational institutions and all movement activities through building the church.
• Establish a financial base for the support of global projects.

Over the past few years, Father has been calling for a restructuring of the American church. I believe that it is time for us to do that and to do it in a way that comes most natural to us. That most natural way is the way that Christianity has developed here for centuries and is developing today. I have heard that our church in Taiwan broke through by connecting the Principle to the Confucianist cultural tradition of the people. The root values of our church emerged from the admixture of progressive Protestantism and Korean tradition. It should be able to connect with the Christian cultural tradition of the people. As Rev. Michael Jenkins said, "In calling upon our roots and tradition, what we represent, let's not just call ourselves `Americans'; before that, we're Christians."

True Father synthesized Christianity and Korean tradition in his own being. We might say that in him the highest expression of Christian culture/civilization married the deepest expression of Eastern culture/civilization. And because he is a human being, his soul transcends these cultural paradigms. This is by his very nature as a child of the infinite God, not to mention the anointing he was given and the supreme effort he has made.

It is inevitable, then, that in True Father's being and thought we should discover the best of American tradition. At the same time, we see Christianity in America loosening its institutional and spiritual constraints and entering, dare I say, into a Completed Testament Age religiosity on a large scale. A rethinking of how we apply the Principle, following Father's words and proven models of success, both of ourselves and others, will lead to our church health and growth. And because it connects with our True Parents' cosmic foundation, its growth potential is unlimited.

Our True Father, The Way of the Spiritual Leader (WSL), Parts 1 and 2 (New York: FFWPUI, 1998)

Ahlen, J. Timothy and J. V. Thomas, One Church, Many Congregations: The Key Church Strategy (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1999)

Barna, George, The Second Coming of the Church: A Blueprint for Survival (Nashville, TN: Word Publishing, 1998)

Bilezikian, Gilbert, Community 101: Reclaiming the Local Church as Community of Oneness (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1997)

Cimino, Richard and Don Lattin, Shopping for Faith: American Religion in the New Millennium (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1998)

Galloway, Dale, with Kathi Mills, The Small Group Book: The Practical Guide for Nurturing Christians and Building Churches (Grand Rapids, MI: Fleming H. Revell, 1995)

Hadaway, C. Kirk, Church Growth Principles: Separating Fact from Fiction (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1991)

Hunter, George III, Church for the Unchurched (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1996)

Hybels, Bill and Mark Mittelberg, Becoming a Contagious Christian (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1994) Hybels, Lynne and Bill Hybels, Rediscovering Church: The Story and

Vision of Willow Creek Community Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995)

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Small Group Leaders' Handbook: The Next Generation

McIntosh, Gary and Glen Martin, Finding Them, Keeping Them: Effective Strategies for Evangelism and Assimilation in the Local Church (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1992)

Miller, Donald, Reinventing American Protestantism: Christianity in the New Millennium (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press)

Robinson, Rev. Darrell, Total Church Life (Nashville, TN: Broadman and Holman Press, 1997)

Southerland, Dan, Transitioning: Leading Your Church Through Change (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000)

Stockstill, Larry, The Cell Church (Ventura, CA: Regal)

Warren, Rick, The Purpose Driven Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1995)

There are countless excellent books on the subject of church growth and ministry. I encourage you to visit the Christian bookstore closest to you. I also encourage you to read True Father's words with an eye out for guidance in relation to ministry and church growth. Father provides an unbelievable wealth of guidance in this area if we have eyes to see and ears to hear.

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