The Words of the Williamson Family
|
|
The Words of the Williamson Family |
On October 25, 1985, a Christian interdenominational rally was held in Lusaka's Nakatindi Hall, concluding our special five-month program of witnessing to ministers and their congregations.
This "crusade" started on May 21, with a total of 17 members involved in the outreach. The crusade held a dual purpose -- to witness to ministers about our church, and to reach out to the public in general in order to gain associate membership.
To fulfill the goal of 10,000 associate members which was given by Father to all third world nations, the crusaders were divided in four teams of four members, each team being given responsibility for a large section of Lusaka and surrounding townships.
To begin with we went from street to street seeking to find any church or minister and to determine the location of all Christian establishments.
We also approached the headmasters and principals of secondary schools, requesting permission to introduce the Principle in their schools. Some scripture unions in several schools were wary about seeing us and would not allow us to come in, but in general we were well received. One school even decided to replace all its religious education classes by our lectures for a whole week. Students asked us many questions, and it happened on several occasions that they refused to go on to their next scheduled class because they wished to continue with their questioning. As a result of the school lectures, a number of students came to attend further studies at our education center in town, and some of the headmasters gave us warm recommendations. However, this program was cut short because of school recess.
This period for us was a time of constant miracles. Father's goal had always been looming in the back of our minds, but we had not emphasized any all- out campaign before. And even though it was
Father's express desire, we initially had the feeling inside that it was impossible to ever accomplish it before the end of the year as Father had requested. Yet when we received the goal to find the 10,000 associate members before Father's release from Danbury, after the initial shock we felt we should focus more deeply on our faith. Through simple mathematical calculations we realized that if each of us found 50 people every day who were willing to support our True Parents and our church, we would need just over 10 days to fulfill the goal. It took us a little longer than that, yet it was with deep humility and awe that each night we totaled the number of signatures collected throughout the day.
Our associate membership drive led us through a very intense experience -- approaching people near town markets, at bus stops, at the post office, and in their homes. We would introduce the Statement of Purpose of our church and if they agreed with it we asked the people to sign their approval of our goals and direction. We set a minimum age of 16 for anyone to sign these forms. Beginning this drive on June 23, we passed the 10,000 mark by July 13.
Our members went through very tiring spiritual battles during those days, but with perseverance and the tangible proof that God was working very hard through us, we accomplished miracles in our fight to fulfill Father's desire. It was a tremendous boost to our faith, especially since we also started to hear and read about more and more communist defeats in various nations that were participating in the same drive as we were.
Towards the end of our third week a bomb blast one night around 10:30 p.m. echoed in our buildings. The next day, it was found that a communist terrorist group in Lusaka had been attacked by another group, this way publicly bringing to the attention the presence of extremely well-armed terrorists right in the center of town.
At around the same time President Kaunda, pressed by communist diplomats, called a meeting of all major church organizations in Zambia and told them of a recent request by the communist representatives to introduce socialism into the public school system. Of course, the churches voted an absolute No to this proposal, and besides that called for a three-day fast among all of them. The fact that the President turned to the church body for advice in such an instance was one more proof for us that these signatures we were collecting were carrying more spiritual weight than we could imagine.
After this accomplishment, we turned our focus once more on ministerial outreach. Every month we organized a luncheon during which we showed the ministers videotapes such as "Rev. Moon: The Man and the Movement:' and videos on the rally for religious freedom in Washington DC, the Youth Seminar on World Religions, and others. Afterwards, many questions would come from the ministers concerning their doubts and the rumors they had heard about us. As their doubts gradually diminished, we started gaining some respect among the ministers who participated in the meetings. One aspect of our meetings that always amazed them was that we could bring together ministers from at least six or seven different denominations on the same platform. They enjoyed these encounters very much.
We also had a special appearance on a talk show on national television, which brought more credibility to our crusade for ecumenical cooperation, because the churches could see our determination to reach our goal.
Every Saturday afternoon we traveled to a different township around Lusaka, and with our band, the Light Reign, we drew public attention. Two of our members would give 15-minute speeches which were then translated into the local dialect. We would always end our presentation by inviting the audience to our "God Bless Zambia" Rally in Nakatindi Hall on October 25.
We decided that this year, the second year of the "God Bless Zambia" Rally, instead of only our church members being on the stage, we would make it an interdenominational event.
When October 25 had finally been decided upon, we could bring our focus more clearly to the spiritual meaning of our rally. On October 24, Zambia celebrated her twenty-first year of independence. We decided to emphasize the idea that, to begin this country's New Year, there would be nothing better to do than to invite God to bless and guide the nation through another year. Through our witnessing work, several church organizations opened up to us. We eventually had seven church choirs lined up to perform and two ministers to speak alongside our members at the rally.
For about three months, President Kaunda had been repeatedly appealing to the Christian churches in Zambia to unite and work together for the betterment of the country. We sent an official invitation to the state house, asking if the President could join us for our rally. Unfortunately, our letter came on too short a notice, and we found out that President Kaunda was already scheduled to appear at another religious function that day. We only heard four days prior to our rally that this other "religious function" was supposed to take place immediately across the street from the Nakatindi Hall, and was in actual fact a contest among various church choirs.
Some of our invited choirs were suddenly pulled out to attend this other program, as well as several congregations that had initially planned to come to our rally. Still, on that afternoon, our guest choirs really gave their best. The audience, though small, was very responsive, especially since their own churches were deeply involved with our church through various projects.
Our three speakers were also very inspired and consequently very exciting to hear. The first speaker, Rev. M. Munthali, president of the African Emmanuel Church, supports our work very much and has always received us warmly. After he gave an initial acknowledgment and praise of our church, he spoke of our need to unite as one. He also mentioned that despite the economic crisis which Zambia now faces, we have had 21 years to be grateful for, years of peace and political stability and of being looked after by our Heavenly Father. Instead of moaning about our future we need to count our many blessings, he said, and remain grateful.
Our second speaker, Rev. M. Tapisha, representing both the Christian Council of Zambia and the United Church of Zambia, gave a short talk, recommending the need for hard work and for seeking the guidance of the one God, who is the same for all of us.
The last speaker was one of our older Zambian brothers, Dannie Nyendwa. Though a junior compared to the stature of the two previous speakers, Dannie was the one quoted by the media for his call to all churches to unite and prepare together to receive the returning Messiah.
The rally was a success in terms of the spirit generated. Yet the outreach was greater than we expected. The television and radio stations announced as the second item on their news broadcasts (the first one as a rule concerns the President) that "the President's request for the churches in Zambia to come forward in helping the nation solve its economic problems through turning to God was echoed by the Unification Church at their interdenominational crusade held at Nakatindi Hall.
So the attention of all the people in Zambia was brought to our church in this way. A few days later, Mrs. Munthali, our first speaker's wife, called us and asked how she could become a member of the Unification Church.
Things are happening in Zambia. Yet we cannot quite imagine what all this has meant for Heavenly Father. We know we received help from spirit world. We always encouraged each other in times of doubt, by reminding ourselves that surely Heung Jin Nim and Jesus would be helping us. We knew that our whole church was praying daily for the success of our crusade, and that our conditions would not be in vain. Yet, now that this crusade is over, we still keep hope in our hearts for the future of Zambia. We are still concerned that God can find a foothold strong enough, through the conditions made by the participation of so many churches, to guide Zambia to a future where True Parents can be at the forefront. We deeply and sincerely hope so.