This report represents the Headquarters view of the key points and action steps that emerged from the Leadership Conference, it is not a thorough account - and it is based upon my notes from the various speakers. Obviously, what I have chosen is what I felt to be the essential points, in consultation with Dr. Yang. I hope it is useful to the reader. -- Tyler Hendricks

Do we want the Church to grow? I assume that we do. But the methods we have employed over the past twenty years have not resulted in church growth. Nonetheless, there do exist proven strategies for church growth. We need to connect successful strategies for church growth with True Parents' providence. The connection is the ethic of attendance. Attendance means proper relationships with specific people (your Abel and your Cain). The category of relationships is a bridge to church growth strategies, which emphasize healthy relationships -the life of true love - as the key to church growth.

Resources from The Way of the Spintual Leader, Vol. 2. (The subject of Father's words in the pages I am using Is "Why isn't our church growing?")

1. The foundation is total self-sacrifice for the other, based on absolutely sincere, godly love (pp. 3o-31). This is the internal foundation.

2. Father also speaks a good deal of the external foundation.

The church has to be in a good location, accessible to the membership (Father set this as the number one point) (21)

You need to make a good plan (39-40)

You need to organize your time (21, 40)

You need to develop your teaching skills and adapt your teaching to the audience (22)

You need to offer material and spiritual benefits and not manipulate or exploit the members (16, 23, 25, 28, 30)

1. We need to breakthrough the American psyche to do that we should speak in the American idiom. We need to build relationship - that means we need more reliability. Americans have built-in defenses against propaganda, so our message, while conveying the highest moral content, has to be catchy, enticing, attractive, subtle and convincing.

2. The relationship of Korean leaders and American / western leaders lines up with the Principle of Creation: sungsang / hyungsang, vertical / horizontal, cause / effect, subject / object, internal / external, invisible / visible, content / form, bones / flesh.

[Two basic purposes of the conference]

The two concerns of the conference are church growth and the accomplishment of the 80 million blessing.

The age of indemnity is over and now is the time to build our building, based upon the spiritual foundation, It is a substantial age. Without changing our concepts and system and mind we will not achieve success. Therefore we should reflect and evaluate our situation asking two basic questions: What is the church? What is the role of the pastor? Let us be honest and frank. Based on this we cam bring about an American church led by American leadership.

The mission of the elder son is to attend the parents and to take care of the younger siblings. He lets the parents rest. Eventually the elder son assumes the position of parents. This relates to Father's changing the leadership in America.

We are the Family Federation but still it is a church-like organization.

The church is sungsang, the other organizations are hyungsang. Therefore unity comes centered on the church leadership. The department and business missions are from True Parents, but on Sunday we have to go beyond the separate missions and unite centering on the church. Chicago provides the model: when True Parents come, even the sushi business closes. We should have no conflict of the sacred and the secular; we affirm them both, in their proper relationship.

The statistical record leads one to deep pessimism, balancing the fantastic optimism elicited by reports from spirit world. Danger signs for our church in America: lack of new seminarians, lack of new members and blessing candidates, lack of new churches, shortage of church leaders, scarcity of tithing (average $15 per week per family to the local church), disappointing commitment of the second generation to the providence

Question: Do we want a church?

Answer: No-we do not want a church in the traditional sense. We want a Family Federation / Family Church. This is a new paradigm spiritual / social community.

Skills of churches that grow in America: ability to impart direct religious experience, innovation, good music, unpretentious, self-evident truth, simplicity, local control, flexibility, empowering of the laity, ministering to direct needs, efficiency.

One researcher's (Don Miller) advice to the mainstream churches (that are shrinking) based upon his research into the new paradigm churches (that are growing very rapidly):

* Give the ministry to the people (the pastor is the coach supporting the members who are doing the ministry).

* Flatten the structure (decentralize; close or shrink the top offices, place the leadership in local churches),

* Provide access to the sacred - and this requires physical communication (music) as well as intellectual,

* Educate your young pastors in local churches - mentor and teach them while they are serving within a local congregation (Nay institutes).

* Abolish 60% of your committees and free the people to join small group home fellowships. (Committees do not minister to anyone.)

* Renew emphasis upon spiritual disciplines, revise the liturgy to make it more in touch with the congregation, hold workshops and retreats, services should have fewer announcements and church business.

* Let the youth and the new members have leadership positions.

My four pillars for church development are.

1. Worship service
2. Education
3. Small groups
4. Personal ministry,

The Pure Love Alliance is a youth ministry of the HSA Family Church. Further, it is a lay ministry. Members other than church leaders can take care of it. Its purpose is, in part, to inspire and resurrect our youth to be our future church leaders.

Dr. Yang's comment: I propose the goal of 1,000 young people doing PLA activities next summer. The church should offer complete support to the PLA.

The 400 million blessing campaign is not a church growth strategy; it is a holy dispensation. [This is not to imply that church growth is not a holy dispensation I hope - TH]

Make the goal even if you stretch the standards. On the foundation of fulfilling Father's goal, the standard will gradually rise. In the early years in Chicago we counted anyone at all as a minister. On that foundation, we are now working with the top religious leadership in Chicago. Dae Mo Nim claimed the blessing of 1.6 billion couples in spirit world; you can claim 80,000. The three steps of faith giving the candy blessing are: faith to do it, faith to claim it, faith to report it. Remember Peter who walked on the water until he started to try to figure out how it was possible. Believe in the power of the blood.

We must work together to achieve the fund-raising goal given the older son nation through Kodan: $7 million by the end of 1999. It can be cone by absolute faith in God. The Kodan donation should be from your 185 tribe, Don't forget to minister to your original 185 blessing tribe. I took True Parents' photo to our neighbors and was deeply moved when the wife just took the picture and placed it in the middle of all their family photos.

When Father gives a direction, just take action. Don't wait to make a perfect plan; plans develop best while you are in the process. [Making the same point, Mr. Balcomb stated the credo: "perfection is my enemy," meaning that not starting until you have the perfect plan usually means that you never start.]

Dr. Yang's comment: Let us finish the 80 million blessings by the end of August and then focus on building our church, which means gaining matching candidates.

Our goals are:

1. 80 million blessings by the end of August (7,700 per individual; 30,000 per family).

2. 12,000 matching candidates (individuals) by the end of 1999.

3. 1,200 matching couples to Korea for the blessing in February.

We have been here to attend True Parents in their fulfillment of their personal messianic ministry. Now is the time for us to 1. Inherit, 2. Create, 3. Own, 4. Bequeath. We need ministry based upon initiative, mot committees that seek volunteers. We need a system beyond personality, program and the vagaries of the moment.

Tithing in the absolute foundation; all other, offering requests are over and above that unchanging commitment. Perhaps all members should make an annual pledge to cover the foreseen expenses, Unforeseen expenses; then require special effort. This is the work of the financial committee.

Dr. Yang's comment:

DC has created a financial committee that has authority over the church budget. The church leader needs the committee's permission for any expenses over $100. I want every church to have a financial committee. You can utilize the DC by-laws and adapt them to your situation.

Sunday Service is a spiritual battle to create a holy space and time. The purpose is to liberate the congregation from the weight of the week spent in the secular world. You need a REHEARSAL and a good SOUND SYSTEM.

Start preparing for Sunday Service on Wednesday night.

Begin the service ON TIME [and end ON TIME - TH]. Consider it a performance. Create a production schedule down to the minute. Rehearse.

Every Sunday Service should be GUEST-FRIENDLY for the sake of witnessing. This is also called a "seeker service," as opposed to a "believer service."

Schedule the believer service, the members meeting, for another night.

At a seeker service, do not make an internal announcements, such as blessing - just campaigns, special offerings, etc In fact, all announcements should be very brief refer people to the bulletin.

Another idea: don't use an offering basket, because it makes a quest feel as if you just want their money. Have a plan for members to deposit their offering in an envelope at the door as they enter, God is not a beggar. Don't make fundraising appeals from the pulpit Sunday morning.

"How to Wake Up Your Congregation"

* When people leave church they should feel fulfilled and excited so that they will want to return with a guest. Fulfilled, excited members will naturally and voluntarily build the church.

* Don't accuse the members; rather, give them hope and encouragement.

* Invest seriously in music, Music brings down the holy spirit.

* Bring in a well-qualified guest preacher now and then. He can say things to the congregation that you can't.

* Learn and teach the virtue of stewardship - taking care of the gifts given us from God.

* 80% of the education investment should go to the youth of the church, and 20% to the adults.

* We should never take our members for granted. In sermons, use the pronoun "we," not "you."

* Develop a vision, mold it with the members, and repeat it in many ways: graphs, charts, models, testimonies, reminders, sermons, etc. Stay on subject.

Father founded Kodan and we have organized nationwide. Father has directed that all church members be Kodan members, We have a goal of $7 million this year. We hope everyone can give something each month. One person even mailed in one penny and I put it In the bank and put his name on the list of contributors. The amount you offer is secondary; the important thing is to make the effort.

I apologize to American members who were hurt by the Japanese members or organization in America.

Dr. Yang's comment: I personally repent that I have not taken Kodan seriously yet. Let's all do our best.

An official memo from International HQ stated:

1. July 1 was the kick-off of the 400 million blessing campaign, to be accomplished in seven months. Our attitude should be the same as if we were doing a 40-day fast - it means offering one's life, willingness to die.

2. The pure love and true family rallies: even one family can hold a rally. The official slogan is "True Parents - True Family - True Blood Lineage." Develop this locally.

3. Advertise the blessing in the media. Introduce it to reporters. Everyone should do public relations media outreach.

4. Expand the church through Tribal Messiahship.

5. The unification of mind and body occurs when the core of our horizontal give and take action connects at a 90 degree angle to the vertical axis of True Father. To do that, center your daily life on True Parents and gain the support of the spirit world.

6. The liberation of the ancestors: 7, 14, 120, 180 generations can be liberated by our relatively small conditions.

My slogan, borrowed from Martin Luther, Is: "Let the Church be the Church," True Parents have completed 99% of their job. Now we inherit and build upon it. For that we need professionalism; we need to be of one mind with True Parents and have a broad mind. We must have the ability to handle numerous projects simultaneously.

1. Absolute Sunday Service attendance. Educate the congregation to attend Sunday Service every week.

A church requires three things, a pastor, a congregation and a space to meet, The congregation even can be just your own family. Even in that case, dress and preach as if you were speaking to 1,000 people. Sunday Service is the most valuable hour of the week; it represents the entire week.

2. Absolute Family Pledge. Keep the 5 a.m. pledge service on Sundays and the first of every month. If necessary, go to bed early Saturday night. Your ancestors line up behind you in holy robes to kyung bae.

The Family Pledge is our credo. Father expects that all those who enter East Garden can recite it in Korean by memory. It has value, like a Buddhist mantra, even if one does not understand the words, Dress well for Family Pledge service, even though it is at home. Wear a suit and tie and have your children dress up. This has two purposes: to respect God and to educate your children to respect God.

The Order of Pledge Service at home: light a holy candle ... announce the beginning of the service ... full bow ... recite the pledge ... representative prayer ... husband and wife bow to each other ... husband and wife sit facing the children in TP's position and the children bow to them. Then the children kiss the parents ... first the father ... then the mother. Then the parents can give words of guidance to the children and give them their allowance or other treat.

3. Absolute 6 a.m. Hoon Dok Hae,

The order of Hoon Dok Hae at home. Announce the beginning of Hoon Dok Hae ... full bow ... read for 1 hour ... close with prayer. On school days, try to do at least 30 minutes of reading. If you miss it in the morning, do it in the evening.

4. Absolute tithing: live a life of offering time and materials (money).

Time commitment: Father specifies that 10% of our time should be offered to the church each day. That Is 144 minutes, 2 hours and 24 minutes, per day to the church.

Financial Commitment. The Bible uses the term "tithes and offerings." Let us consider them separately.

Tithing: The primary category for our financial commitment is tithes. There are three reasons for tithing. 1. Tithing is a condition for restoration. The first tenth goes to God and this restores the other nine parts. This means that God owns the other nine parts; tithing determines ownership. 3, Father said that if you tithe, your descendants will never starve. 4, Tithing is the defining characteristic of the chosen people.

Offerings: There are two types of offering - special donations and appreciation donations. Special donations pertain to a specific time and purpose in the providence. Examples are the living offering fund, Kodan and the ancestral liberation offering.

Here is the key point: the special offering can never interfere with the tithe. The tithe is l0% of income (gross is best; net is okay) and that is eternal. If one has enough income to cover the special donation out of the 90% that is left after tithing, fine. If one does not, then one has to increase one's Income to cover the special offering.

The appreciation donation is entirely free will. It includes offerings at seung hwa ceremonies, 100-day ceremonies, a special offering to one's pastor (this is a very strong tradition in Korea, in our church and all churches). Also in Korea, members give an offering to the church when they have a baby, a birthday or other memorable event in life.

5. Absolute blessed family life. Accomplish the mission, role and responsibility of a blessed family. Discover the meaning of being a blessed family.

6. Absolute prayer life. Prayer should be like breathing. Elevate your spiritual senses to the point at which you can communicate with Heavenly Father. Sometimes Father has to send us directions through the spirit world. We have to increase our sensitivity to this. The holy ground prayer. Prayer at the holy ground is important. Invite guests, including ministers, to join.

7. Absolute "life of separation. Separate your spirit and flesh from the secular world. Use holy salt. Display True Parents' picture in the most prominent place, and carry True Parents' Picture. Display the Tong-Il or Family Federation flag.

8. Absolute Holy Days, including on the family level. Keep the holy day tradition. Make a ceremony for your family as well as attending the public ceremony. Make an appreciation offering, even a small one, every holy day.

9. Absolute witnessing life. Don't forget the eternal standard of three spiritual children as the foundation for blessed family life.

L0. Accomplish the Tribal Messiah's mission

TO DO LIST AND FINAL POINTS:

1. Father's 80th Birthday celebration in Washington, DC, preliminary to the celebration in Korea. Goals; location in the Capitol Building, extremely high-level committee. Huge victory iN the elder son nation of the west. We start preparation now.

2. Dae Mo Nim's return visit, August 30-September 5. Attendees are those who attended the last time and their guests "one guest or family per blessed couple). Attire will be appropriate to a blessing. We need to design a dynamite program for our guests. Dae Mo Nim asks that the April 7-generation liberation offering be completed before August 30. Dae Mo Nim also will liberate generations 8-14, and we should make a simple gratitude offering. Dae Mo Nim will liberate the 7-generations of ancestors of our guests, so please educate your guests to receive that and to be able to make an offering.

THE HEART BEHIND TRUE OFFERING: In all offerings, the heart is the important matter, not the external amount. The parable of the "widow's mite" applies. As Martin Luther taught, we are saved by "grace, faith and scripture (God's word)." And yet the external condition is necessary and the church is responsible to bring God's love and Salvation unto the people so that their financial offering is freely given, generous and joyful, given out of sincere gratitude and not solely out of a sense of guilt or fear.

3. Flow of information: CD (Continental Director) - RD (Regional Director) and on a parallel line President 4 Vice RDs. The four Vice Presidents support and work through the President, who is one with the CD. Directions to the field do not go directly from the VPs; they go only through the CD and President.

4. The State Leader (SL) is the central figure in the state. The Kodan leaders report to their SL.

5. When Father gives a direction, take action immediately. It is not necessary to discuss much -- development will come through praxis, taking action and working out the process.

6. Public relations: Once a month we should create and distribute a positive article to every state, and the state should distribute it to their local media.

7. Create a monthly Unification Video News.

8. We need quicker and more efficient field communications in English. The Japanese restaurant members receive information sooner than our State Leaders.

9. Please focus on the 40-days prior to Dae Mo Nim's tour. The preparation for the tour is fulfilling the 80 million couples blessing and educating one guest who can attend with each family. This means that we fulfill the themes of this conference - the 80 million blessing and church growth.

I am sorry I could not include content from all the great speakers such as Bishop Ki Hoon Kim, Dr. Theodore Shimmyo, Dr. Michael Mickler, Dr. Kathy Winings, Professor Tack Yong Oh, Dr. T. Noida and the national HQ staff directors (Kevin Smith, Andrew Bacus and Michael Inglis), all of whom gave very enriching talks. Our selections for this report focused on the main conferences themes. Please be aware that you can purchase audio and video topes of the conference through Jorg Heller at National Hq.

Also we offer our thanks to General Chang Secing Kim, who brought a seed holy candle for our third night: of prayer, Dr. Hugh Spurgin for his testimony during our walk on Father's trail, emcee Rev. Eric Holt, organizing staff Jorg Heller, Michael Inglis and Jennifer Tanabe, the worship team (Rev.s Daugherty, Clarke and Pierre-Louis and the other singers), pianist Marcus Arline and the great UTS cooking staff who kept us all plump and jolly.

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