The Words of the Inamori Family
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The Words of the Inamori Family |
Street
witnessing in Toronto.
As we know from the Principle and from our own experiences in faith, God works to give new insight when there is a certain basis of trust and love in our hearts. Similarly, in the restoration of a nation, if a foundation of sincere leadership has been created and there is unity among the members, when new leaders come, the basis exists for new and different insights into the Principle.
When Rev. and Mrs. Paul Werner came to Canada in September 1983 as the national leaders, a great change took place in the Canadian family. Our metamorphosis began as we found that we were like little children in our understanding of the Principle and the value of our True Parents. Paul and Christel Werner have been following Father for over 21 years, have been with True Parents many times, and have gone through many challenging circumstances. From them we have learned more deeply the internal content of the Principle, expressed in a way we had never heard before. We have been taken by the hand and led to the edge of the world of heart and spirit and then taught how to make our own first steps into that world. For many of us it has been and is a long journey; our hearts had become so hardened through the years, even after joining the family. Nevertheless, God and True Parents are trying to melt away those stone hearts of ours.
When the Werners first came, a 40-day condition of street witnessing was initiated. We "old-timers," sad to say, had been compromising much in our life of faith and hadn't brought substantial success in witnessing. Thus we weren't so confident that success could come. Paul, though, had faith and trust in God and the full conviction that results could and would come. The basis for bringing success, he says, stands upon Father's teaching of being intoxicated with the love of God. As Father says,
When you speak from the central point
where God is, your words no longer come from you but from an
unlimited reservoir, and you are intoxicated with love. In that
particular position, you live and act and speak out of ecstatic joy
with an elevated sense of accomplishment. Nothing that you do is your
own deed or your own word; everything becomes a messenger or bridge
for the love of God. Once you taste the love of God, then human life,
human contact is a joy and stimulation.
(Word and Deed, 1-30-77)
Eventually the members came to be infused with his enthusiasm, and when this circuit of unity was completed on a rudimentary level God worked miraculously -- within 40 days 700 people had come to the center to hear an outline of the Principle. Needless to say, we were overwhelmed.
Evening
report at the Toronto center.
Two more 40-day periods went by in which hundreds of people came. However, the people who visited did not feel pulled to return. The spirit world just wasn't mobilized to act. Father says that one should never look to the people or the nation as the cause of the lack of success, but that we are ultimately responsible. Perhaps we had not become responsible enough in loving others unconditionally and thus spirit world could not work. When in prison, Father sacrificially loved and served his fellow prisoners. Spirit world just had to work to bring him disciples. In the depths of hell, in that utterly impossible situation, Father won victory and mobilized spirit world through his unconditional love. We too can mobilize the spirit world by taking responsibility for overcoming ourselves and loving others at the cost of our lives.
During all of this time, an inspiration had been growing in Paul's mind concerning how we could change the attitude of the people, touch their hearts, and bring victory in Canada for True Parents. It was in March that Paul received the inspiration to initiate an associate membership drive, and by April 8 we began the first 40-day condition.
In approaching people we introduced ourselves as members of the Unification movement founded by Rev. Moon, and we spoke about Father's vision, the Principle, the ideal and purpose of our movement, and the variety of activities we are involved in. Upon hearing these things many people were genuinely moved -- they had never heard before what we are substantially doing and what Father's vision is. Many people thus wanted to give us their support, be associated with us, and receive information on a regular basis, in the way of Unification News, Today's World, and other literature. They wanted to have a source of information other than that of the mass media. Such a change in attitude was incredible to witness.
Over a period of 40 days we pledged to win 1200 members. When in the last quarter of the condition the goal had already been achieved, it was raised higher still to 1500 members. At the end of 40 days we had surpassed even that goal and had an overall total of 1556 members. To paraphrase Dr. Lowery, "God works in mysterious ways."
In whatever Father does, although he concentrates on one goal, he explores all possible avenues to achieve that goal. Keeping this in mind, we saw the need to make conditions to distribute God's word into all areas of society. In three major cities across Canada, 1200 copies of the pocket-sized version of the Outline of the Principle -- Level 4 were distributed to various schools and institutes. This will create another base for Heung Jin Nim and the spirit world to work. In conclusion, both direct and indirect witnessing have played an important role in our outreach to this nation.
Since we began this condition, spirit world has inspired many people to inquire on their own about our movement. Again, once they heard about Father's vision, many wanted to be associated in some way.
At the end of May the condition was concluded victoriously, and Paul went to a Leaders' Conference in New York where he reported to Father what had transpired in Canada. Upon his return Paul declared that we would begin a new 40-day condition to raise the membership up to 4000. This would also set the basis for each member to make his 360 home church tribe.
So out onto the streets once more we went. Before the 40-day condition ended we had already surpassed the 4000 mark! At the end of the second 40 days we had over 4300 members. Seeing such visible success brought us an overwhelming feeling of joy and gratitude.
The key to our success definitely came from the exemplary leadership of Paul and Christel. Continuous talks of internal guidance, teaching members to do things such as "leave the house with a song on your lips for God," "become a magnet of love," and "live each moment with True Parents," created the fuel that generated a genuine enthusiasm among the members to go out in full force for this membership drive.
Rev.
and Mrs. Paul Werner, national leaders of Canada.
Paul constantly emphasizes the importance of prayer and educates us to become men and women who truly walk with God and pray constantly. Prayer meetings in our centers last for hours. As we prayed, many tears were shed for the nation and the world, and as we witnessed, much sweat was shed for the lives of our new members.
Every evening we met to reassess our witnessing situation. During this time Paul gave us very insightful advice on how to effectively fulfill our mission. As our unity grew, so did the external results. The internal commitment to God, True Parents and to each other was a decisive factor.
Now we have moved on to the next phase of witnessing -- aftercare. Associate members have been found and have been fired up by the vision, so now the fires must be stoked up, maintained and developed through much love and wisdom. This is our real mission and challenge -- bringing people to God. Because of the foundation and tradition True Parents have laid, there is so much to be harvested here and around the world. Father has given us his tradition in order for us to become second Sun Myung Moons, What we do with our pledge is in our own hands.
To set people on fire for God and True Parents and their vision, we ourselves must be on fire. True Parents have always stressed the importance of absolute obedience, absolute sacrifice, and absolute love, and especially the importance of having a strong prayer life.
Herein lies the secret to the revival and Pentecost in Canada. Only through deep prayer and connecting to Heavenly Father's lonely, grieving heart can we become people of love and spiritual authority. Only through the foundation of many selfless tears can this world be turned around and saved. When Father's vision becomes our vision, when we take initiative and lead a life of uncompromising sacrifice, prayer and love, and when we trust in God, mountains can be moved. One mountain has been moved in this nation. The Pentecost which has taken place here is the natural outgrowth of the initial Pentecost -- that of our own hearts and spirits.