Witnessing and Education Can Change America - Sung Am Moon

This is from an address given May 1, 1994, at the HQ Chapel in NYC.

In accepting the position of World CARP Vice President, I first want to pledge my support to Hyo Jin Nim, the president of World CARP. My determination is to work with him and Jin Hun Nim to build World CARP into an organization to educate the world leaders and give testimony to our True Parents. This is the age of the second generation, our 40-year indemnity period of wandering in the wilderness is over. Now is the time for the settlement. We need to have our roots go deep into the social fabric of every culture, race and nation. In this Completed Testament Age, the mother and child must unite and come to the father. CARP should therefore unite with Hyo Jin Nim and, through him, with True Mother. This is the kind of organization I want to make CARP into.

There are essentially three sections of World CARP that I am most concerned about: witnessing, education, and organizational structure. I will talk about the most important one first, witnessing. As a member of CARP, we have to research to find the most effective method of witnessing. We should not focus on the number of people that join, but instead on the quality of these people. Originally, each of us joined this movement because we understood something of God's will, some of us more and others less. But when we witness to others, we are no longer receiving, but giving. We are talking about and explaining God's will to others. Therefore, witnessing should ultimately move our own hearts even more than when we were witnessed to.

Today's young people change easily. They quickly change their way of thinking and have many kinds of interests and hobbies. Catching them is like trying to hit a moving target. They may be searching for happiness, but without any direction in their life. Therefore, we have to develop a variety of witnessing methods for them. To do this, we have to think one step ahead of them; otherwise we cannot lead them to God. I believe the Manhattan Center can do this and therefore play a central part in solving the problems of today's youth. Visual media and music have such powerful influence today.

Witnessing is ultimately for our own life of faith. Through giving our testimony to others, we will receive and strengthen our own inspiration to follow True Parents and our appreciation for the Divine Principle. Through this, we will be more directly connected with God's providence of restoration. Witnessing is the shortest and quickest way to feel God's heart. We have to study how to witness on campuses effectively.

Second, education. We have seen the results of the American situation from the 1970s and 1980s. Many young people joined our church, but not so many remain. Many people left. This is an important result we must examine. Why did people leave so easily? Without education, witnessing has no value or meaning. The problem of providing correct Principle education also applies to the problems the second generation of our movement is facing. Without proper education, even the position of second generation is threatened. We need to make different levels of education. Things we teach new members should be different from the educational content given to members who are five, ten or twenty years in our church. Different levels of educational material should be given for high school and university students too. Unfortunately, until today, the content of our education has been basically the same for everyone. This needs to change. In the past, we were educated by our leader as members. In other words, it was a leader-member type of education. But we need to educate leaders, not members. We need leaders to educate members to be leaders, no longer members. It would be better to have one good leader who can lead 1,000 people, than 1,000 members. Especially for the second generation, education is a very serious thing. These young people born into our movement wonder how to be educated to become leaders for this bewildered society and how to provide direction for this world. These questions should be answered through education.

Education means not only understanding the content of Divine Principle but also knowing about other denominations. Through this educational process, we can clearly understand the superiority of Father's thought. In addition, without knowing about other religious teachings, we cannot enter into dialogue with other churches. We must learn the teachings of other denominations so well that we can talk with them in their own tongue, not just using phrases specific to Unificationism. If we only know our own faith, then the Unification Church will become isolated. This is why Father has given direction for our ecumenical outreach.

Everyone has known the importance of education, but until now we have not really set up the correct curriculum for our movement. Father's desire is that CARP not be just an organization but it should be a movement to research and study deeply the Divine Principle. As CARP members, we have learned many things. We teach and we have published many books, most recently a high school moral education book for students in the CIS. This needs to be expanded. The third worldwide organization of CARP is like a bowl. World CARP means this bowl or organization should be big enough to contain people from all over the world. Without this type of organization, we cannot work on the world level, or become a world-level organization. Look at the Unification Church. If Father made a church like a small bowl, then our church would remain forever a small sect. Father didn't want a small bowl; therefore, he invested everything, giving many ideas and making the church a world-level organization. Even if Father gave CARP or the Unification Church a worldwide name, without the organization to match, it would only remain a name without a worldwide substance. Once we establish a worldwide CARP, then we can do anything. Through our world-level give and take action, we can influence culture, sports, business, everything.

In this century worldwide information is essential. For economic survival, it is absolutely needed. Whoever has accurate and up-to-date global information will dominate this world. This is why the mass media has become so important. They have and distribute all kinds of information. I guess this is why Hyo Jin Nim prepared Manhattan Center as a training center like an information and mass media womb. Father prepared a worldwide organization. He dispersed missionaries and members throughout the world. But because countries and organizations have not been communicating with each other, this organization didn't become a living organism. If we make a good organization so that we are communicating with each other, then the church and CARP can reach the level to influence the world very soon. We need to make this organization centered on the Divine Principle. We have learned the theology of the Principle but we have not really used or practiced our teaching in church organization, business, etc. We have to use Divine Principle systematically and scientifically. We have to use the Principle in our decision making policy. This is World CARP's mission. If the hand feels pain, the brain immediately senses it. This is the type of organization we need. For example, in Russia a small amount of money can bring a big result, while in America or Korea, a big amount of money brings only a small result.

In conclusion, let's all use this time, this opportunity to make a new beginning. Let's work together with Hyo Jin Nim to make this the beginning of the fulfillment of God's original ideal of creation. We can do this through witnessing, through education, and by setting up a worldwide organization to bring the children to the Parents.