Taiwan

Missionary activity here began in the summer of 1967 with the arrival in Taiwan, from Japan, of missionary In-sook Jung (Japanese name: Nobuko Hukuda). After years of effort in lecturing Principle and witnessing, she rented an apartment in April 1970 and began to hold gatherings with a few people with whom she had made contact.

In the summer of 1970, Professor Qing-jing Zhang, whose wife had joined from the Baptist Church, was witnessed to after returning from the United States. Towards the end of the year, Professor Zhang began to translate the Divine Principle into Chinese to prepare for the development for the church in the future. The Unification Church was registered with the Taipei government on April 12, 1971.

Forty-day pioneer activity began from the summer of 1971, and the first three-day workshop was held at the Taiwan Church at the end of the year. Reverend and Mrs. Moon visited Taipei from April 19 to 22. They gave some money for the purchase of a church building.

The number of members increased considerably between 1973 and 1974. The supra-denominational movement begun in March 1973 became active and the third International Christian Professors Association (ICPA) seminar was held in Taiwan.

At the end of May of 1973, about thirty ministers representing all denominations gathered for a two-day Principle seminar given to help them understand the Principle. In July 1974, PWPA held its second International Conference on World Peace in Taiwan. Witnessing activity continued. With many students joining CARP, the body was registered in Taiwan University in December 1973.

At the end of February 1974, Taiwan was the venue for a second meeting of missionaries to Asia. Church leaders from Japan and Korea visited Taiwan in the early March for meetings and other activities.

Students worked hard for CARP centering on the CARP center at Taiwan University. Workshops were held almost once a month and church membership increased from about fifty to sixty by the end of 1974.

Finally, at the end of 1974, persecution came. Although the church showed accurate information to the media and gave explanations, almost nobody paid attention. As a result, the government mobilized the Security Investigation Bureau and the police to investigate the church. They finally came to know that there was nothing wrong with our church.However, the government convened a cabinet meeting and the Minister of Education's proposal to restrict the activities of the Unification Church was passed. Accordingly, church activity was forbidden as of February 1975. Most members kept their lives of faith. Although all-out activity was not allowed, work was continuing on a broader scale. Many activities, including the Professors World Peace Academy and the International Conference on the Unity of Sciences, proceeded on the established foundation.

In March 1979, members were sent to three districts to pioneer church activities, and they were able to gradually re-establish the foundation. In December 1983, the current church building was constructed and public activity was again seen. Itinerary Workers Shin-ook Kim and Reverend Yo-han Lee visited Taiwan in early 1984 and instructed the leaders in Taipei to go to other regions and build churches. Since members had thus gone out to pioneer by the end of 1986, many people they met took an interest in and joined the movement.

Many people were also invited to attend ecumenical, artistic and academically oriented events, including the World Media Conference and others sponsored by PWPA, ICUS and CARP in order to enable the government society's leaders better understand the church.

Between January 1987 and January 1989 the church clearly showed, under the supervision of Da-jun Hwang, that its activities in Taiwan were legal and legitimate. To help with this, ACUMI (Advisory Committee for the Unification Movement International) activity was held in Thailand in July 1988. Distinguished leaders were invited from abroad and a presentation was held in major cities under the title "The Future of Asia and the World."Following instructions from the World Mission Office, missionaries from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and other southeast Asian countries joined together under Reverend Byung-wooh Kim in March 1989. Reverend and Mrs. Byung-wooh Kim visited Taiwan in May 1989 and gave members new instructions on the providence, and the development and management of the church.

In 1990, the government ban on the church which had been working underground was finally removed. The church then came to serve as the southeast Asia regional center until the beginning of 1994.

	*** Members who participated in the 30,000-couple International Blessing, August 25, 1992
	*** The first Blessing preparation workshop ( July 1989 )