Father's Activities in Europe

Chung Hwan Kwak
August 1981

According to the Principle, our True Parents have two kinds of missions: one important kind of mission is restoration of all mankind, and the other kind of mission is to begin a new world, a new life.

As you know, before creating man, God first created the environment. But after the fall, God's activity of salvation focused only on the restoration of man. Actually, God has no space in His mind to devote to thinking about the restoration of environment or things, because He has been so urgently focused on man's salvation. Restoring man is not simple; God created man to be His son, but this son turned against Him and became His enemy. An enemy cannot be restored back to the position of son in just one day; therefore, the process of restoration unfolds from the position of servant of servant, to that of servant, adopted son, son and finally parent. This kind of pattern is so serious; countless indemnity conditions had to be laid at each step, and God had to push the central people so seriously to make the proper sacrifices and lay the necessary foundations.

Thus, God could not focus any attention on restoring the environment.

So many Unification Church members, even though they have received the Blessing, don't have the Blessing environment. Furthermore, even True Children are unable to live in an environment surrounded by goodness. So from the spiritual point of view, the True Children and the blessed couples stand exposed, as if in an open field, enveloped by darkness and menaced by strong wind.

So someone must lay the foundation, representing fallen man. Because central figures have made mistakes, Jesus, and our Father as well, had to go through a sacrificial course. However, after the holy Blessing of our True Parents, God did not expect them to have to continue suffering from any difficulties in environment or circumstances. But unfortunately, Christianity did not fulfill the preparations for True Parents, and we as members did not fulfill our own responsibility. Therefore, True Parents have had to stand on the front line and make the foundations alone.

The root of eternal life and the foundations for the eternal family, the eternal race and the Heavenly Kingdom already exist, but Father himself chose to stand on the front line, because we have not fulfilled our responsibility. Day and night, he has been focusing on achieving one goal: the worldwide financial foundation.

I myself do not understand completely Father's purpose in going to Europe. In general, of course, he is visiting each country and giving guidance to the members.

In Father's mind, there are no distinctions between the various European countries. In actuality, of course, there are still many barriers to be overcome. For many people, national barriers are still of paramount importance; but there should be something greater than nationalism which can bind together the people of Europe. Differences in language are on obstacle; also each country is jealous of its technology and wants to protect its industry from competing countries. More ideally, international travel and even international marriages should be encouraged.

After the workshop in Korea was over, my original plan was to return directly to America, but Father called me to Europe. When I visited the place where he was staying with Rev. Byung Ho Kim (who is in charge of Europe spiritually), I was so shocked. It was a very, very humble house, nothing was appropriate for True Parents. Please understand that Father has already finished his 21-year course, after suffering so much persecution. If he wanted to, he could just stay at Belvedere or East Garden; he could relax and take the easy way now

Furthermore, many European countries had been expecting his coming, and they had prepared lovely houses and apartments for him. But he did not go to any church center. Instead, he stayed in a humble place; every morning, even, people had to stand in line to use the bathroom.

Last February Father summoned the European leaders to America for a 120-day training program; each was to bring along three assistants. Some national leaders had been concerned mostly about the work in their own countries, he observed, forgetting the larger international mission. Our ultimate goal is one world, and in our movement we at least want to set the goal of European unity.

After the training program concluded, the graduates returned to Europe and spent 40 days doing pioneer witnessing. Just as in the United States and around the world, many European members also went out for 40-days pioneer mission, beginning on July 1.

To give better guidance to the European movement, Father divided the larger countries into four sections; smaller countries were divided into two or three parts, and the tiny ones remained one unit. Each section will be led by a graduate of the 120-day training program. So our movement in Europe is now apportioned into 40 or 50 areas, similar to the number of states in the United States. Former national leaders will be assigned as itinerary workers or given an international mission or some new responsibility.