The Words of the Erikawa Family
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The Words of the Erikawa Family |
Having heard of the success of video centers in Japan, we were intrigued as to how the concept has fared since being imported into Korea. We spoke to Mrs. Yasue Erikawa, who oversees the centers in Korea. A past-president of the church in Japan as well as VOC lecturer, Mrs. Erikawa was brought to Korea, her husband's nation, and appointed an international IW by Father in 2008. She was also recently made responsible for all non-Korean members living in Korea and has set out to kindle a witnessing spirit among them. When we interviewed her this summer, Mrs. Erikawa gave us some insight into the principles she employs for success.
Around October last year, he began saying we need to have a video center in Korea. Using the video center system, members in Japan witness to others while fund raising, and vice versa. He knew that in Japan the system is well established, and they are bringing results.
Because True Father said we need to build a temple with the capacity to serve a congregation of 210,000, Kook-jin nim said we need a method like the one the video centers use. While he was touring our businesses and church centers in Japan, he did some research on the video centers. He also sent staff members to Japan to investigate them further. Then they began a similar system here in Korea, but it was not a great success, because although the Korean members had done a great deal of research, the Japanese system did not quite suit Korean ways.
Because I'm taking responsibility for the seven thousand Japanese members here in Korea, Kook-jin nim said he wasn't thinking of giving me another mission on top of that. He asked me to introduce him to someone who has worked as the top leader of a video center in Japan and could run one here.
I met him several times after that and I thought to myself, Kook-jin nim is very spiritual, and at the same time, very intelligent. Whom could I introduce to him? It was so difficult to think of a person who could interact with and work with Kook-jin nim, while running a video center. After several meetings, Kook-jin nim suddenly said, "You should do it. Mrs. Erikawa, you need to do it." This was on December 4 last year. I have been responsible for it since then.
Preparation of the facilities with the materials and equipment took a month. I don't like to spend much money in doing redecoration and preparation, so we kept the office as it had been. In my opinion, if you need to spend money on something, you first need to make that money, because you need to be independent. So without having spent much, we began.
Hyung-jin nim and Kook-jin nim came to our opening celebration with their wives, Yeon-ah nim and Ji-yea nim, along with Hoon-sook nim and Choi Yeon-ah nim. We blessed the facility with holy salt. They looked around and complimented us; they said they also wanted to pay the W210,000 to attend the lectures.
Kook-jin nim said we needed to heighten the spirituality of people through our video center and sent us holy candles. We light the candles as we begin the lectures at 8:30 AM, and they remain burning until our daily schedule concludes. Hyung-jin nim made the holy candles for us.
Kook-jin nim prompted the creation of this center; he had planned it all in his head. He told me, "Mrs. Erikawa, I saw it in a dream. In the dream, God showed me that it will be a success." He went on to say, "At first, our leaders and ministers will oppose this idea. Being the father nation, Korea has a very "subject character" culture.... Witnessing in Korea has been at a standstill for a long time. However, everyone is of the mind that we need something like this to make witnessing easier, and once someone begins, they will make use of it."
We officially opened on January 5. The final month of preparation included translating everything from Japanese into Korean, studying the material and adjusting it to suit Korean ways. We had thought of several names, but Kook-jin nim chose the name 21 Heavenly Fortune Center for us.
Now that I am working with him, I think Kook-jin nim is remarkable. He had already planned everything in his head, which is like a computer. That's what I learned about him. When he first came to Korea to take responsibility for the businesses that fund the church, he thought that as a member of the True Family, he should give the people he is in charge of an opportunity to study the Principle. From two years ago, he began holding seminars for foundation employees on the founder's philosophy.' He connected that to the video center. They've held twenty seminars so far -- for not only the employees but also for their wives.
In total, more than a thousand nonmembers have been introduced to True Father and his ideas in this way.
Kook-jin nim strongly wanted to witness to them. The employees had become interested in the teachings and even said they would like to attend the seminar again, so we sent our staff members to teach them. Kook-jin nim asked me to be responsible for educating the employees as well. Whenever there is a seminar, I send my staff members, and on important occasions, I go there personally to check things and report what I find to Kook-jin nim.
From June, we decided it would be a good idea to teach the employees Divine Principle in the morning, so we hold sessions 8:30-9:30 AM on Thursdays and Fridays. Kook-jin nim sent two teams to study with us. Forty people have gone through the Divine Principle lectures in our video center -- one team of members and another of non-members, including a female accountant. The sessions are brief because they have their own work to do, but in the end, the non-members all became members and said they wanted to learn more.
By contrast, having the employees simply watch video tapes and study on their own last December produced no results whatsoever. Two more teams are scheduled to begin studying with us soon.
The foundation workers who attended a four-day workshop in Yongpyong are also coming here; this process may help them take the step of becoming members. Before, after the employees had attended a workshop, they were left as they were; now they are sent to us. Moreover, Kook-jin nim thinks the senior executives should also learn, so he is sending them to us one by one.
Kook-jin nim drops by sometimes, unannounced, and listens to our reports. He also checks some points, listens to what we think and tells us what he thinks. In his head, he has many plans already mapped out, and he does everything accordingly.
When people first come to our video center, they hear a lecture for an hour and are asked to pay 110,000 Won. We have a reason for asking this; Kook-jin nim believes that in order to witness effectively to people, we need to have them pay something for it. This is the first rule of witnessing. Kook-jin rum says we used to spend a lot of money on outreach but still failed to bring people to join our church.
We have a course of sixteen lectures altogether, and people can come whenever they want to listen to one. When a person wants to take the whole course, he is asked to pay 1,210,000 Won. At present, we have about fifty people taking the whole course. In our first month, about two hundred people came to the first lecture and paid 110,000 Won each. Now many members, of their own accord, have come to listen to the lectures about the family tree. Some come once a week; others come two or three times a week.
In part, this video center came into existence because of Cheon Bok Gung, so we also talk about the temple. Many of the people who come to our lectures are the same people who have contributed toward building Cheon Bok Gung. Some people learned about it in our center and then contributed.
One thing I want to clarify is why Kook-jin nim and I agree that we need to receive money from participants.
In Japan and the U.S., [Unificationist organizations] used their own money to educate non-members and Ambassadors for Peace. We didn't ask even well-off people to pay anything. But when problems arose, these non-members did not support us. So we don't think this is a good method.
One good example is the case of a well-to-do seventy-two-year-old man, an Ambassador for Peace who had been a banker, who came to listen to the first lecture, and paid 110,000 Won. After the session, he said it was very interesting. So we suggested, "Why don't you attend the whole course? It will cost 1,210,000 Won."
He responded, "When I was invited to Japan or the U.S., I was not asked to pay anything. Why, then, are you asking me to pay here?" He became very angry and left. Nevertheless, he came back. He paid the 1,210,000 Won, because he was curious about the spiritual world. Even now, he is still listening to the lectures. In all the time he's been connected to our movement, he had never attended our Sunday services, but after listening to the lectures, he was so changed that he even asked, "Why are True Parents so persecuted when their teachings are so good?" He joined our church. That is the way it should be.
We feel that we will succeed with this. It's only the beginning.
We also teach about the spiritual world. Some people don't believe the spirit world exists, but they have to admit it does when they see all the problems they have because of its influence. When they bring their family tree, we can find out which of their ancestors had problems and point out where their own problems lie. Then they say, "Oh, you're right." The spirit world is too big for them to conceptualize, but they can easily understand it when we relate some- one in it to their own problems. Then they say, "Oh, so I guess there is a spirit world."
We focus on the family tree; first of all, because it helps people learn about the spirit world. Even those who do not understand it can definitely come to believe it exists when their problems are solved. Next, they gain an understanding of what sin is. They also come to understand that we need True Parents and we need to receive the blessing. But how we convey that in Korea is different from the way members do it in Japan, so a lot of research first needs to be carried out, taking cultural differences into account. I believe it is important to have such a center, with a counselor present and lectures being held. We are working hard and the spirit world is helping us a great deal.
People like the lectures, because they are very interested in what relates to them personally and their understanding improves. At those lectures, we first ask them to write out their spouse's family tree. Then people begin to learn about their ancestors using those family trees. If they want to learn more about it, they can watch supplementary videos on the subject. Some commercial movies about the spirit world can also augment their education.
After we interview someone who has come to us, we decide whether that person needs this kind of video or that one and show it to him. Everyone has problems, although a person is only aware of what goes on around him. So we explain, "Your grandfather did this, so that problem arose," or, "Your ancestor, four generations back, committed this act, which is why that phenomenon happened here." It is a very rational explanation. We suggest that the person needs to change his mind-set. There are several courses of action the person can follow, and we choose the best way for him to be educated based on what kind of person he is. Sometimes a person first attends the lectures and then watches videos; sometimes he only attends lectures, and sometimes he quickly goes on to attend workshops.
Any member can invite a friend or even a prominent person to come to our lectures. Some members, however, said they would first like to listen to the lectures themselves to see if it would be good for their guests. Actually, sometimes a person, be it a member or not, has listened to the lectures, been deeply moved and brought others whose situation was similar to his, such as people who were not on good terms with their spouses. Many people with such problems came and asked for counseling, and even problems they had not thought of solving were solved and everything turned out well.
Even among the members, there are those who live as husband and wife because they are a blessed couple, but they find themselves unable to love each other. When we look at their family tree, we can find the reason for that. We can help them understand rationally and tell them what they should do. Because they are members, we can tell them what conditions they can set. For example, they can participate in the early morning devotions at the Headquarters Church, and they can witness to others. Many people have been led to us in this manner.
Among the people who are connected to the church in Korea, there are 1,979 Filipino women, 391 Thais and also some Mongolians. All I can tell you for certain now is that there are 9,360 non-Korean members from thirty-seven nations. I believe we can make a good organization with their support. Multi-cultural families are now common here; all the blessed wives will work as missionaries. Hyung-jin nim (overall leader of the Korean church) and I are organizing this; we decided to create a witnessing team of international members.
The women attending the Headquarters Church recently formed a witnessing association. They will witness as a task force. I thought that until we move to the growth-stage Cheon Bok Gung, it would be nice to have a video center in the Korean church headquarters building.
When we first began our work on January 5 this year, I said we are doing this is because when we fulfill our 5 percent of the responsibility God fulfills the other 95 percent. Without cooperation from God and good spirits, this video center cannot be managed well. This is why we need heightened spirituality. Intelligence alone is not enough. We also need to offer conditions in order to be guided by God.
We are working in various ways, including using the family tree, and the spirit world is helping us a great deal. The participants tell us things without meaning to, and in that way we understand the source of, and thereby the solution, to their problems. It works something like that. For that reason, we must actualize the settlement of noon. The leaders must set conditions and lead religious lives. Nothing can be achieved otherwise. That is the most fundamental point.
In addition, if the five staff members here do not become completely one in unity, problems will arise and we won't be able to begin properly. This is a place of spiritual training and we need to set spiritual conditions.
Western countries have not used the video center system so much. If people who are interested in this get together, do the initial research and then carry it out, they will surely succeed.