Non-member creates Unification Church lecture series

Timothy Elder
December 28, 2010

"Getting to Know the Unification Church" -- This was the title of the program presented Tuesday at the workshop for executives of the Tongil Foundation and affiliated companies being held in Yeosu, Korea.

Salesmen and service personnel employed by Ilhwa, Yongpyong and other Foundation-affiliated companies have frequent contact with clients, customers and other members of the general public. These employees often are asked about the Unification Church. Until now, they have almost always answered that the church and businesses were separate, and so they didn't have the answers to such questions.

Several months ago, Kook Jin Nim initiated a move to change that. If employees could be taught to answer such questions properly, it would go a long way toward getting our Church's message out into the general public. He instructed the Foundation's Office of Human Resources to come up with an education program that would teach employees of affiliated companies how to respond to the questions people frequently ask.

The Foundation's HR Office is staffed with professionals with extensive experience in developing educational programs covering corporate vision, as well as accounting, marketing and other professional skills. Some of them came to the Foundation after working many years in the HR offices of large business groups such as LG and Samsung. When Kook Jin Nim instructed that this program on the Unification Church be developed, however, the person who was to lead the effort said, "Uh, sir. I'm not a member, and I know very little about the church."

That was exactly why he was perfect for the job. There are plenty of lectures developed by church members presenting the church and its teachings the way the church thinks this material ought to be presented. This time, a program targeting people who know nothing about the church except the usual negative rumors would be developed by HR professionals who themselves knew very little about the church. Of course, they had plenty of help from some of the ministers at CBG. But it was the non-members who headed the project.

The HR office has developed a series of eight lectures, and Tuesday was the sixth time these lectures were presented to an audience. It's still not a finished product, but I found what they've come up with to be quite innovative. DP is summarized in three of the eight lectures, but there is no mention of dual characteristics, or even give and take action.

The lectures are not intended to convert. Instead, they are intended to give people a general understanding of True Parents and the Unification Church which they can add to their general knowledge of the world.

There were still some rough spots in the program. Once these are worked out, this will probably become a standard text for all employees of our companies in Korea.