This letter is about the future of the Unification community in North America. For many of us, UTS is one of the highlights of our formative experiences. UTS deepened our faith and shaped our destiny. The friendships and bonds of love that we established there transcend time, mission and profession.

What does the future hold -- not just for UTS, but for the movement as a whole? Will the Unification institutions take root in North America as leadership passes to the next generation? We need to listen to and empower the next generation. UTS intends to play an integral role in the education of those who feel called from among our youth. UTS will provide an education that engages their passion, creativity and conviction so they can develop the skills necessary to serve and inspire their generation, which will shape the movement’s future. We are in a time of change that calls for self-reflection and honest assessment. UTS is ready to help the healthy transformation of the Unification movement in North America over the next twenty years, and we need grassroots input, beginning with our alumni. We seek to create an educational culture that truly imparts a life of love and service. We do not shy away from examining mistakes made and opportunities lost, so that we can put into place education that improves our ability to serve. We are now preparing for the incoming class of September, 2006.

An initial strategy was implemented at the Young Oon Kim Memorial Evening in Washington, DC, last October where the Young Oon Kim (YOK) Scholarship Fund was launched. The Fund raises money to cover the tuition, room and board for graduate study at UTS. In Washington, UTS alumni and friends were asked to honor the memory of Dr. Young Oon Kim by helping to sponsor a new generation of seminarians. Dr. Kim was a champion of American leadership and committed much of her life to education.

The YOK Fund places the nomination of candidates and their scholarship support in the hands of the local community. It is the local communities that can best identify the students who can benefit from UTS education and bring the skills and training back to the community. Throughout America local communities are assessing their needs for the coming years. Might it be youth ministry, or ecumenical outreach? Is it house church leadership? Is it effective preaching, or service activism, or family counseling?

Young American Unificationists are considering a variety of options for service. We affirm that our next generation is ready to embark upon many career options, and that the Unification movement needs to professionalize in order to attract and retain new talent. Some of our graduates will serve the communities that provided the YOK scholarship. Others may choose to serve the larger movement at home or abroad. In these two cases, the YOK program expects a two-year period of service. After that, they will be able to extend their commitment or pursue another career. A third set of options leads to careers in professional chaplaincy and clinical pastoral counseling in a variety of settings. Donors can choose to award the YOK scholarship funding to individuals taking that option as well. Bottom-line, UTS is educating for career paths that facilitate the long-term success of God’s work in North America, very broadly conceived.

The YOK Scholarship Fund will be held in trust and will be available only for the student(s) supported by the local community that raised their funds. The YOK Scholarship Fund drives can be held throughout the USA, and separate accounts kept for each community. The donors together with the community leadership will select the recipients for the scholarship awards. The vision is to bring 150 next generation students to UTS over the coming five years, which would be about 30 per year with the necessary financial backing.

UTS staff will help plan, monitor and report nationally on this process. Dr. Yang and Dr. Jenkins are guiding FFWPU Regional Directors and Vice-Regional Directors to give their whole-hearted support. But to make it work depends in large part upon you, our UTS alumni in the local community setting. We are actively seeking to hear your experienced voices and your seasoned wisdom as we design our partnership and pursue our shared goals. We are committed to full collaboration as we shape this future.

This is not a one-time event or campaign. This a concerted effort to connect the grassroots with national leadership and to develop a process to identify eligible young people who feel called to leadership, equip them through the UTS program, and place them in a career with solid community support. UTS faculty, Trustees, administrators and alumni will visit different communities, listen and discuss the process of transferring leadership to the next generation. We are committed to develop a new culture.

On the foundation of True Parents’ leadership and love, all of us can play a part in shaping our future. True Parents have a special feeling and heart for UTS graduates. However, we are painfully aware that there are those from previous generations who have been hurt in the UTS environment and other church organizations. There is certainly a need to help heal those wounds and at the same time it is vital that we look forward. A successful future will go a long way toward healing and restoring the past, which is what we all hope to do.

This is a call for change of culture; to accept the challenge of creating a culture of heart. It is an opportunity to show how much the next generation is valued and needed, and to manage generational change in the movement. It is a team effort of UTS, alumni, Family Federation and community leaders of all ages. It is also an opportunity for alumni to make good on the Founder’s longtime request that we sponsor students. We believe that UTS and the national Family Federation leadership are committed to foster change and to find and generate the resources to make it happen. But the moving force will not come "top down;" it needs to come from the alumni working in solidarity with the local community members and raising up the second generation across North America.

Please let us know if you can work with UTS to carry this initiative forward with your personal alumni contacts and your friends in the community. Through this initiative we will be working toward building a National UTS Alumni organization.

Thank you,

Dr. Tyler Hendricks Mr. Jim Borer

 Download entire page and pages related to it in ZIP format
Table of Contents
Copyright Information
Tparents Home