The Words of the Burton Family
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The Words of the Burton Family |
An effort to jump start Unification Church outreach concluded on Saturday, March 20th with the fervent closing prayers and the electric music of the 8th Witnessing Summit, this time at the Lovin' Life Learning Center at 4 West 43rd Street, in Manhattan. The Summit was powered by In Jin Nim's ministry emphasizing being proud of True Parents, being proud of who we are as sons and daughters of our Heavenly Parent and expressing these ideas as we naturally witness to our faith. One summit participant shared, "Through the Summit I have a deeper appreciation of the role of joy and bringing joy to others in witnessing and in life."
Since the first Summit in 2007, eight such conferences have been held across the United States, but this one was decidedly different in that scores of our energetic young adult members will take their training with them to 8 cities across the country and invest themselves to recruit new members in naturally witnessing with modern methods and a refined message. The spirit of the event can be summed up in the words of one Special Task Force (STF) member, "I'm really excited and grateful to be a part of this huge change in the American movement, led by In Jin Nim."
From late March until late May, teams of Special Task Force (STF) trainees will work with local outreach activists in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Columbus, Boston, New York, Miami and Billings, Montana to spread the "Breaking News" that the Lord of the Second Advent is here with us and that everyone has the opportunity to inherit the true love of God.
The Summit was alive with energetic young people. One student declared, "Through this Summit I feel the need and desire to develop the attitude of always witnessing. Natural witnessing of course!" We defined witnessing as a state of heart rather than an activity. One participant shared that she had learned that, "witnessing is a state of being and having the heart to save people and take care of people." That is something we all want to do.
Altogether, 171 church members gathered to participate in lively discussions, engage in creative activities, and hear presentations from the Witnessing Summit Committee members who have served as a Unification Church equivalent of a witnessing think tank since 2007. Based on the vision of Rev. In Jin Moon and the lessons learned from the previous Summit World Cafes, the committee has drafted a set of ideas that dramatically advances the church's self-understanding of membership and its educational mission. This clarity enabled one participant to declare, "The Summit helped a lot in a way that I can feel more comfortable and confident sharing my faith with others or even my friends."
The National Advisory Committee on Witnessing that organized this event for Lovin' Life included Sheri Reuter, the National Witnessing Department Director and Chair of the Committee, a legendary witnessing expert who gave guidance on motivation; the National Director of Education for the church, who is responsible for developing dynamic, new educational materials; Noah Ross, whose strategic analysis provided invaluable assistance in helping the church to develop more effective strategies to gain new members; Henri Schauffler, a management consultant who led the Tool Kit Development sub-committee; Rev Jim Edgerly, George Kazakos, and Pastor Dave Hunter who worked tirelessly on messaging; Jatoma Gavin and his wife Camia Gavin, who have managed a witnessing pilot project for more than a year; Jaga Gavin, Lovin' Life's National Youth Pastor; and Jonathan Gullery, a graphic designer and publications professional who is working hard to provide a brand "new look" for the Unification Church.
The Advisory Committee collaborates with the Unification Theological Seminary, represented by Dr Tyler Hendricks. The entire Summit would not have been possible without the hard work of our Conference Support Staff: Edward Busque, Loretta Schauffler, Reverend Juan, and their energetic volunteers.
The committee members have been working as team for over two years to diagnose why the church's outreach has been limited while working to propose remedies inspired by the vision of True Parents and True Children. They also gained insights from the "how-tos" of research based management principles. They studied True Parents' words on witnessing over and over and also learned from the church-growth techniques of large evangelical churches in addition to examining the outreach strategies of other new religions. They surveyed the hundreds of members who attended the summits, and drew up new approaches based upon their survey results.
At each summit Noah Ross, a respected lecturer who taught hundreds of new members from the Booneville Camp in California, explained the church predicament in the metaphors of basketball. In order to score a basket, a player has to shoot, that is, witness to a new respect. Success usually means getting as close as possible to the basket before shooting, which demands teamwork. The ball is like the "message" we are sending to a potential new member; if the ball is too big, it won't fit through the hoop, nor will our message find its target. The participants "got it!"
One young adult shared, "Before attending the Witnessing Summit, bringing new members into the church had seemed a futile task to me, but now I have confidence that we can succeed. What most inspired me from this summit was the explanation of the 4-step process of raising new members. I think that having some system in place like a 4-step process will encourage many more people to become members." Others referenced the importance of having a system to support people's learning, growth, and development.
One young man wrote, "The Witnessing Summit has given me hope for the Unification Church. Growing up, I didn't see much outreach. I couldn't see why they would because our church didn't seem like a place I would want to invite people to. Now, I see a lot of changes being made, and I am going to be a part of it!"
Witnessing is about taking all that we have been given by True Parents and allowing others to access it. One student wrote, "The Summit has shown me that our church isn't some weird thing. It has made sense to me my whole life, but now it is something that is relatable to for other people as well. I was even able to have some of my own personal questions answered."
In answer to the question, "Why witness?" one young man summed it up when he said, "I realize in our movement we don't have a culture of witnessing. If I have something so great and profound why wouldn't I want to share it with others? If I see a good movie or eat at a good restaurant I cannot wait to tell my friends, hoping that they too can feel the same enjoyment. How much more should I be longing to tell others the Messiah is here and we have a way to attain Divine happiness! Having an organized witnessing structure and membership system makes me feel more confident to witness and be involved in programs."
The Summit used the World Café process to help participants discover who they are as well as ways to overcome barriers to sharing their faith. The first Café question was, "What about your faith are you proud of?" The myriad of responses testified to the beauty of our families and communities and included the following: family, "family values"; "I'm proud of the solidity of my family"; Our members are amazing people; love that's deeper; universal diversity – "The Unification Church is big enough for everyone"; completeness of theology; Divine Principle itself -- "Uniting science and religion"; True Family -- the model that's been given by True Father and True Mother; global network -- "I can go anywhere in the world and have a bed to sleep in and a hot meal"; not a religion but a way of life; higher purpose -- for me -- for my marriage -- for my life -- "My life is based on a higher purpose"; An understanding to liberate/comfort God's heart -- a deeper understanding of God; lineage; unselfishness; understanding "how we can fix it" -- understanding restoration.
One young lady shared, "The World Café helped to solidify my pride; my understanding of what it means to be a Blessed child." This interactive style of learning helps people clarify many issues for themselves. An STF student recounted, "I particularly enjoyed one of the questions, 'What keeps you from bringing your friends to church?' This question helped me realize a lot about myself and how I've grown since joining STF. Before I didn't have the mind-set to bring my friends to church, but now I do." Another student wrote, "The World Café questions really got me thinking about our church and our way of life. Through these discourses I could feel more proud and grateful for our church and our True Parents. Thank you so much for this experience."
The participants did exercises to improve their so-called elevator speeches, that is, a concise, attractive introduction to our faith. They brainstormed ways to overcome psychological barriers to communicating our theological ideas to strangers. One participant wrote, "My favorite part of the Summit was the Elevator Speech activity. By having discussed common questions people ask about our faith, I feel more confident to answer questions in the future. Thank you!"
Several new, entertaining power-point presentations have been created to demonstrate the wisdom and the promise of Unificationist ideas without forcing the viewer to shoulder a slew of abstractions at one sitting. A student wrote, "It was really cool to be able to see the Principle being taught in a new, more practical way." Another participant shared, "There were so many questions I thought I would have known the answer to clearly. It turns out these very simple and fundamental questions of my life are difficult for me to convey. I realized the reason why is that I have not answered them yet in my own words and concretely placed them in my mind. They are truly life defining questions, and I want to go home and spend more time defining myself through them."
Testimonies helped the Summiteers understand the value of sharing their faith and the impact it can have. One young lady wrote, "Most inspiring for me was the testimony given from a young man that recently joined our church. Maybe it was so inspiring because he was the same age as me: 19. I never see that in my community. Wow! Someone cool wants to believe in what I believe in. And the coolest thing was, he wanted to become a member after Hyung Jin Nim's sermon at Lovin' Life. He gave me hope." This was from someone who openly admitted she used to feel embarrassed about sharing her faith. For her, the Summit was the boost she needed. This testimony speaks to the need for us to witness for the sake of the Second Generation. If they don't see our church growing they will not feel proud of it and, by extension, proud of themselves. In the words of one STF participant, "The testimonies are what inspired me the most to witness, knowing that someone's life can change."
The products developed by the committee have been burned into an electronic "tool kit" given to each state team -- oh yes, and a hefty three-ring binder of documents that appears to be as comprehensive as the Health-Care Reform Bill! One participant exclaimed, "I came here with a million questions. I can't believe it -- every single question has been answered!" Someone else noted, "I live in Ohio, with only eight families in my community. Now with all the materials available, especially DVDs, templates for materials, step by step strategies, I feel confident! I plan to ask people into my home. I can invite my husband's family, my neighbors, and even co-workers to dinner or for a game night with board games. Thank you to In Jin Nim and all the staff for your effort."
One young person told us, "I am very impressed with our new membership system, as well as all of the materials included in the Tool Kit. These things give me so much conviction in our faith and confidence in bringing friends into our family." Another community member shared, "Now I feel supported and there is a way for me to be successful."
Through the Tool Kit the committee is trying to make it easy for people nationwide to make something happen. For example the Learning Center has great promotional materials. Through a website, these materials are now available for any community to personalize with their local information. Our philosophy is, Why reinvent the wheel? Let's work together and support each other to do the outreach our hearts are longing for.
As a result of the summits, the paradigm of encountering and joining the church will change. The old paradigm usually involved street witnessing, a classroom-style lecture leading to a weekend retreat, followed by a period of discipleship that involved full time missionary activity. The summiteers recommend that the church classroom lectures and the two-day rural retreat be replaced by a system that allows gradual affiliation by attending Sunday worship services or affinity groups, followed by a membership class and continuing education for those who decide to sign church membership. Education can still include retreats and workshops but is not limited to that. You can now study the Divine Principle, in depth through Divine Principle Masters, at weekly small group meetings.
There is no pressure for new prospects to join the church, nor is there any plan for those who sign membership to leave their careers behind and move into missionary work full time. Therefore, there is far less risk of "buyer's remorse" among new recruits. The Summiteers are confident that our movement does not have to re-invent itself in order to grow so much as reveal to our friends and guests who we really are as people of faith. "Natural witnessing" as advocated by Rev. In Jin Moon means attracting new members through being people of character and having sincere affection for others as sons and daughters of our Heavenly Parent.
If this approach sounds like a far cry from the witnessing methods of the 1970s, it is. The methods are drawn partly from in the approach advocated by church-growth guru Rick Warren, in particular his book, The Purpose-Driven Church.
Our approach to outreach has already changed forever. By all accounts the summits have succeeded in reviving faith of members of both First and Second Generations. The testimonies offered at the end of Summit 8 are glowing. And there is agreement of many that the summits have changed -- even if gradually -- the church culture. Faith and zeal are still part of the mix, but blind is out, smart is in; hard sell is out, soft sell is in. Second Generation leaders increasingly are the decision makers, whereas First Generation leaders increasingly are stepping back as advisors and supporters. In all likelihood, a new chapter of church history is unfolding this spring.
The Tool Kit will be available soon on the Family Federation website.