Kook-jin nim Completes 120 Church Visits

Kook-jin nim Completes 120 Church Visits

How We Are Growing in Korea Yet Denied Basic Rights in Japan

Kook Jin Moon
June 15, 2009

Kook-jin nim, accompanied by Ji-yea nim, spoke to a mainly Japanese audience at the "Original Divine Principle Workshop" on June 15 at the Chung Pyung Heaven and Earth Training Center. What follows are extracts from what he said that day.

Hello brothers and sisters. It's very good to see you today. Yesterday I had the chance to go to Changwon to visit our church there to present "thank you" awards for the Cheon Bok Gung donations. There has been a big improvement in that church. In a very short time (a year) it has grown substantially. The congregation has doubled in size and donations have increased by a similar amount.

The atmosphere was full of life. The church was overflowing. I was very happy to see such an improvement in such a short time.

Our international president began his ministry in Mapo, Seoul. This was the start of our church reform in Korea. His ministry has been very successful in a year and a half. He soon moved to the Headquarters Church, which he has grown to more than five thousand registered members.

Some other church leaders have been saying that they can't create that kind of success here in Korea. After looking at how much the church in Changwon has grown because of the change in church policies, though, those church leaders and other members can no longer say that. If our church is well run and our church leaders are ministering well, our church can grow here in Korea successfully. The Changwon church is a good example.

As you know, we have been doing some very difficult restructuring in the Korean church. We have been encouraging the smaller churches to merge and unite, so that we can create viable churches; these would have a greater economic foundation, greater ability to provide better services for the members, to provide education for the second generation and to create a better church environment, as well as better church meetings. That policy as a whole is working.

Recently we had another round of mergers in the Korean church, which we encouraged, and that is having a very positive effect. I know that a number of our church leaders were very concerned about the changes in the organization. We really appreciate their ability to look at the overall welfare of the church and to think about the church as whole. Because they have looked at it from that perspective, they were able to accept the changes and cooperate in building a more successful church.

You may only see that these mergers are reducing the number of churches, but the result is not that we have fewer church members. More members are coming to church. This is a very important thing to understand. We are doing this restructuring to prepare the foundation for growth and development, and for the future prosperity of the church. As a result, we are seeing very good indicators that our church will become more successful. We are therefore optimistic about the future.

We have also introduced the video center education system that has run very successfully in Japan for many years. Our leaders here were saying that that system cannot work in Korea because the Japanese and Korean cultures are different.

When I came to Korea, I was told that many times, but I didn't think it was true, so I decided to build a Japanese-run video center in Korea. Instead of picking a Korean leader to run it, we picked Japanese leaders. Mrs. Erikawa is responsible for that organization, and under her is another Japanese sister who is the head of the video center. The staff is Japanese, but the lecturers are Korean sisters.

Since we started this system, it has been working. Our courses are fully booked. There are two hundred people going through the program right now, even making donations to Cheon Bok Gung... these are Koreans! [Applause]

As we build Cheon Bok Gung, we are also going to open another video education center, in Cheon Bok Gung itself.

As it is a very effective education system, we will continue to educate our church leaders and members in Korea about how the system runs and why it works, and how to run it properly to bring results. So, once the system is properly started here in Korea we can continuously grow and develop the church. With the church reform we are implementing now, with the reorganization and the introduction of the witnessing system, there is a great deal of hope for the future of the Korean church.

As you know, our businesses here in Korea have gone from losing quite a bit of money to being profitable. The management structures here have improved quite a bit, and so the organizations in Korea have become stronger and sounder than they have ever been. These are good and positive signs.

We are hopeful that we can achieve the vision we have given to our brothers and sisters in Japan and all over the world that through the Cheon Bok Gung providence, building the new headquarters church in Korea, that we will be able to gather up to twenty-one thousand members. Actually the church will have the capacity for almost forty thousand registered members. So we can build, with the current facilities, quite a large church here in Korea, and when we move to the completion stage and build completion-level Cheon Bok Gung for two hundred and ten thousand members, we will have the largest single church in Korea. When we have accomplished that, we will have built a church foundation through which we can directly pursue the creation of Cheon Il Guk. That is the mission of witnessing to the entire nation of Korea. As we build an institution, a church, that is so significant in size, we will be in a position whereby we can communicate directly with the nation of Korea through the media, to explain True Parents' teachings and the meaning of inheriting the true love of God. So we see the great potential to fulfill our providential vision here in Korea, and that is really our hope for the future.

You know, every time God blesses us, He also gives us a very big challenge. In the Korean church things have changed quite a bit and now the organization is functioning. Yet in Japan we face some quite serious challenges, and we have done a lot of work to try to fix our problems there. But as a result of those challenges, our ability to conduct some of our activities in Japan has been reduced.

There are organizations in Japan that are very dedicated to trying to persecute our church, especially anti-Unification Church attorneys. Their purpose is not to have us fix the problems, which we are sincere about doing, but their goal is to destroy the Unification Movement. We want to persuade them that, yes, we want to fix our problems, but that it is not okay to persecute our church. Our Japanese brothers and sisters are very good people who have a very good motivation to serve God and the nation. All of you have truly led very sacrificial lives. The faith that we hold as Unification Church members is a profound one. We are a religious institution and we have been living religious lives. No one in society can say we are not. Those who insist on attacking us by saying we are not a religious institution are carrying out religious persecution. That is going too far. We cannot accept unfair persecution. Where we have areas to improve, we can accept that criticism and better our organization, but to persecute us to the extent of saying we are not a religion is unacceptable.

Our brothers and sisters in Japan have lived very devoted lives. Our opponents -- anti-Unification Church groups -- have been violating our human rights quite extremely. They have been kidnapping our brothers and sisters and even torturing them. From what I understand, nearly five thousand of our brothers and sisters were kidnapped over the past twenty years. Yet the police department has done little to address this gross violation of our human rights and of the rights of our members to believe what they desire to believe and what they know to be true. We have begun to look into this problem.

We have started to collect testimonies of some of our brothers and sisters who were kidnapped. They have gone through tremendous trauma...

Yet, this is our mistake too, because we have not made society clearly aware of this issue. We need to be more vocal about our rights as human beings. We need to express to the police, "Okay, if you find some problems in our organization, we'll fix them. But why don't you deal with the criminal behavior the anti-Unification Church groups are perpetrating? Why do you only listen to their accusations about our church but not stop their criminal kidnapping of our adult Japanese members?"

This is a serious problem. We need to become aware of those forces in Japan who really want nothing other than to destroy our church. This is something which together as a community we have to make clear to the Japanese government and to vocalize. Step by step within our church we have to discuss these very serious issues. We need to organize and find the best way to represent our sincere religious convictions to society. This is so that although they may not agree with our beliefs, they can understand we have basic human rights and the right to believe in the religion we choose.

Brothers and sisters, we have some great challenges in front of us, but we cannot let these challenges overwhelm us, nor can we sit by and let people falsely accuse us without protesting against them.

With the help of God and the help of our faith and love for all our brothers and sisters -- our love for each other, and for God and True Parents -- we will overcome these difficult challenge and build in Japan a new Unification Movement, where we truly fulfill the promise our True Parents have given us to establish the kingdom of heaven on earth, including in the nation of Japan, by restoring -- through witnessing -- all of the nation's people.

Thank you very much. 

Words to Members at the Renew-America Campaign

Kook Jin Moon
March 28, 2009
South Point Hotel, Las Vegas, NV

Hello, brothers and sisters. I’m very happy to see all of you today. I just must say I am extremely inspired to see our new leader of the Unification Church movement here in America. You know what inspires me the most about her? She actually speaks fluent English. You spoke wonderfully today, sis. We’re really proud of you and we know you’re going to do a super job. I’d like to thank you for your warm response. For me, I must say, usually when people see me they run because honestly, to tell you the truth, if you have to meet me in private, I’m going to be probably firing you. So this is the nature of my job. My job is actually to deliver the pink slips. So for your warm response I’m truly grateful.

For the last now four years our True Father has asked me to work for him. He actually drafted me because I was happily employed running my own business. But apparently Father needed somebody to fix some of the problems he had in Korea and so he asked me to come. So I’ve been working now for True Father as my public service and doing the best that I can to try to help the church out.

For the last four years we’ve been doing a lot of restructuring. That means the companies which we had, we’ve had to downsize many of them, we sold many of them, and as a result we’ve been able to make our business group in Korea profitable. But now we’ve been given this extra challenge of this recessionary economy, and now we have even more restructuring to do to overcome this difficult time.

So at this time we have many, many challenges for our movement, not only in the businesses but also in the church. I don’t know if many of you have noticed but during the last 20 years our movement hasn’t really been growing. That’s true here in America but it’s also very true in Korea. We’ve actually been stagnating as a church. We haven’t had much church growth. If you study the results of the last 20 years you can see Sunday service attendance flat or declining. The donations to the church, tithing, have been declining. And during that period we did so much PR work, so many events, where we had different events or different organizations, even big rallies of 100,000 people. But yet those activities did not make any result. So this is something which is fundamentally a problem which we face in our Unification movement.

This problem is something which I believe as brothers and sisters and members of this church we should start to seriously address because we are not just a community of people who have individual opinions. We are a community entrusted with a very specific mission given to us by God through our True Parents. As you well know, when you have a mission, you have responsibility. We will ultimately be held accountable for our actions and activities and the results of those actions and activities, in this world or the next. So let me share with you why I feel so strongly about this issue.

You know, brothers and sisters, God has really given through our True Parents to all of us an incredible truth, and that truth and the teaching of our Divine Principle can be summed up actually with just one sentence. This is the power of the word that we have been given. That can be summed up very simply, that we as individuals, our responsibility is very simple. It is to inherit the true love of God. This is the essence of True Father’s teaching. What does that mean? It’s very simple. If you have a chance to study Christian theology, it’s very deep of course. In many regards Jesus Christ gave us a great message, to do unto others as you would have done unto yourself, and from that we learn so many lessons of brotherhood -- friendship, care, concern, and compassion.

But if you study Christian theology, they teach you very specifically and clearly that the essence of God and His divinity cannot be known because God is both omniscient and omnipotent, and therefore we as individual human beings, beings of limited understanding and knowledge and power, that we as such small things of creation can never understand the fullness, the full divinity of the creator. This is what Christianity teaches us.

But if you think about it from another point of view, as small human beings and as individuals in this world we may say, wow, God is great. He’s so all-powerful and mighty and we’re so powerless -- it may sound good to us that we’re able to worship such a high and mighty God. But think about it from God’s point of view. From God’s point of view, what are we doing? We are condemning God to an eternity of loneliness, of being by himself, because nobody can ever touch him. If you cannot know God, then God is truly alone. And if God is alone then he is truly the God of suffering and of angst.

This is the great revelation which our True Parents bring to us -- he has informed us about the suffering of God, the heartache of God. And he has proclaimed in the Peace Messages and told us very clearly that God’s divinity can be known. And he’s explained to us very clearly what that divinity is. The divinity of God is true love and true love is a love that can bring even Satan to voluntary surrender.

It is because of this revelation that God has been liberated and freed. It is because of this revelation that we can speak of humanity being one family under God. And this is the powerful message and the powerful truth that our True Parents have brought to this world and to all of us. And this is why, brothers and sisters, we are not a community of folk who live for the sake of ourselves, but we are a community with a mission, a mission to spread this truth and this word and this understanding to all people of the world.

That means that we have to hold our leaders accountable for results and performance, and we have to demand results and performance. We have to see growth in membership, we have to see growth in contributions. Brothers and sisters, it is a time now where we no longer talk about creating the ideal world or creating the nation of Cheon Il Guk. It is a time now when we actually substantially can actually build it, and this is our mission. This is why we have responsibility. This is why we have to hold our leadership accountable from today forth.

I’ve been working in business a long time so actually when you study the language of business, it’s not actually a language of words, but a language of numbers. And we use those numbers to understand and measure our performance and results so that we can take out opinions and we can focus on facts. And by being able to do that, then we can measure who’s actually contributed. And really that’s what we need to do. We need to be able to see the facts clearly, so that those who make real results can be heard. Those voices of actual contribution can be heard. That’s what we need. We need to elevate those who do, elevate those who create, elevate those who contribute. Honor them, spotlight them, give them the podium, listen to them. The people who just spew a lot of air without doing anything, those people need to learn to be silent and listen and learn from those who do.

This is a great country. America is a great land, the land of freedom and individual responsibility and individual courage. And we have those people here in our American movement, men of courage and responsibility. I would be most pleased if you Americans take pride in your church, take pride in your mission which is given to you by God, and really unite with your new leader, head of the Unification Church here in America, In Jin Moon, to really make the Unification Church in America successful. That would make me most pleased and proud, and would make our True Parents most pleased and proud.

With that said, I don’t want to take any more of your time. I know you’re very busy people, and especially you have a lot of work to do, so I’ll close my statement. Thank you very much. 

Development of the Church

Kook Jin Moon
March 15, 2009
Giessen, Germany

Pres. Song

Kook Jin Nim did a 120 church tour in Korea and could see the situation of the church there. Since Kook Jin Nim took responsibility over the Korean Foundation the businesses are turning around to make profit instead of burdening true parents financially. He shows his filial heart and devotion through his work. Lately Father told Kook Jin Nim to take responsibility for the Japanese providence. Japan has been investing itself totally for the providence, Father understands this and believes Kook Jin Nim is the one to revive Japan.

Kook Jin Nim

I’m sorry you all had to stay up so late to go to church; I’m here to give a little talk to explain what we’re trying to do for the development of the church. I’d like to thank you for you contributions for the new temple in Korea. Europe was 3rd after Japan and Korea in the donations.

My work is in improving the management of our church. Originally I was working with the Korean business foundation, restructuring it and making them profitable. It’s a good thing that happened because now the general economy is doing poorly.

Then we started looking at our church, and there are serious problems. For the past 20 years it has been in stagnation and decline. I visited 120 churches in Korea and I saw the problem with management, or rather the lack of management.

You can get discouraged, but with experience in life problems can be seen as opportunities. Because if things are not working well, then you can make them work well. We’re a young church; we need to understand it’s only 40-50 years old. The Catholic Church is 2000 years old, they have had a lot more time to develop procedure and canon law. We need time, too.

Initially our church grew a lot, and then we started facing the problems that our success created. I’m sure you all know we have a lot to offer as a movement: the principle and the truth True Parents gave to us is extremely powerful. It’s shameful we haven't expanded our church more. All this is due to our youth as an organization, and the fact that the Christian foundation didn’t accept True Parents.

At this time we need to look at the direction our movement is going and will go in the future. We need to see how we can establish True Parent’s vision. In the past few years True Parents have talked a lot about establishing Cheon Il Guk (CIG). For many of us, thinking of CIG, we cannot conceptualize what it means. What is CIG? How do we create it? When do we know it’s here? Then there are other questions: How can we contribute to build it? These are questions we need to solve and get answers for, make it simple so we can move forward. For someone to move toward a goal, we need a clear vision for that goal. I like to explain things simple.

We as humanity have received incredible blessings to prepare for the 2nd coming, and one of those blessings is democracy. If we want to restore a nation, then 50% of a nation needs to be in our church, it’s simple. If we re-define CIG, then we can work toward that goal, now that we’ve made the goal clear we can then work toward it. It might take longer than 7 years, it may take 70 or 700 years, if we work toward that goal then we can fulfill it. We need a clear vision of what we want to create.

The next question is, if we want 50% of a nation, how do we do it? How do we witness to half a country? I think it’s not too difficult or complex. It’s the reason why at this time True Parents are putting forward in our work to build the Cheon-bok Gung, the new Unification HQ.

When our world chairman started his ministry he had 70 members, now he has 6,700 members. I don’t know if you’ve been to HQ in Korea, Cheon-pa Dong. It’s not that big and to accommodate the congregation we do 7 services a week. Its’ a big change; when he started he did one service with 100 people there, then change came quickly.

In the Tongil group, there are a lot of companies. When I came there less than 10% of employees were church members. In the last 2 years, since we’ve been re-educating the staff, we probably brought 500 to 600 employees into the church. They come to church and tithe; they donate to Cheon-bok Gung. Since we started the Cheon-bok Gung providence we’ve raised 80 million dollars. We signed a contract to buy one of the city halls in Seoul, and we have 50 days left to raise another 5 million, so then we have a growth stage Cheon-bok Gung.

It’s probably 6 times bigger than our current HQ. We’ll be able to have 3,000 people per service, and with 6 services we will have about 16,000 people coming. That becomes a serious church, but that’s just the growth stage. Then we’re going another step up. Because the goal we have is to have a church for 210,000 people.

Think about it. When we achieve a perfection level church, it’s no longer the church of a single denomination, it’s a national institution. As that, it puts us in the position to converse directly with the nation, and if we can talk with the nation, then we can convert the nation. It’s just that simple, not difficult. The point we’re making is this: if we have a goal and a will and if we work together, we can substantially fulfill our vision of what we want the world to look like. We have the power to create the nation of CIG, to build the perfection level Cheon-bok Gung. If we want to do it, it’ll happen.

The interesting thing is this: our community isn’t that big yet. By the time we finish renovations for the growth level church, we’ll have invested 100 million, but for the perfection level we’re going to need another 500 to 600 million dollars. If we want to do that we’re going to need a lot more people to donate to that. We need to become a universal church that can bring people in and inspire them to donate to it.

Our challenge is to expand and share that vision, not just share, but to bring people into our family and share our burdens. When you think about family, what is a family? What do we mean by family? Have you thought about it? A family is a group of individuals. Of course you share the good times, but you really call someone your brother or sister when you share the burdens and difficulties. As we witness and bring people into our family, this is the direction we have to go. We need to get people who are willing to share the burdens. The nature with which we interact with people outside our community has to change.

We’ve done a lot of events and shared the good times with these people, but have we ever tried to share with them the burdens? No. So we’ve spent so much energy into them, but they never help us back.

We did a study in Korea: we spent 200 million dollars over the past 10 years into events and the results were a decrease in membership and tithing. I don’t know what your experience in Europe is, but it’s something to think about.

We’re pursuing the direction to build the congregation. Unless explicitly commanded by Father, we don’t do events, we want to build the church, get people to give 10% tithing, and explain to people not just about sharing joys but also our burdens. We don’t want to waste money.

That’s why Cheon-bok Gung is important, because it gives us that clear direction. Our church is focused on building our brotherhood of faith, bringing all the people of the world into our community. Once we build the temple, it becomes clear to all the Unificationists that this is, what we have to do. Once the world temple is done, it’s clear that you have to build the national temples.

How do we do it? How do we get people to give us their checks? (It’s not a small amount of money we need.) Also this is simple. The truth we have is profound. It can be put into one sentence. Our faith is not difficult to explain. When you talk with people, you only really have 2 minutes to do it, otherwise you lose their interest and you lose that person. So as a community we have to understand how to do 2 min witnessing. That’s the power of our teaching -- we can explain it in one sentence: inherit the true love of God. That’s 90% of our theology.

People will then ask, what does that mean? And then you can explain it. If you look at the peace messages, True Father explains what the divine essence of God is this: God is true love. For those of you who have grown up in the church you might not understand the significance of this, but to say that the divine essence of God is true love, for other theologies that’s like a nuclear bomb. In Christian theology God’s divinity cannot be known, because we’re lowly human beings who cannot understand Him. Christians say, “God you’re too great and mighty, so you will be forever lonely.” That is the theology of Christianity.

The teachings of Jesus are great in bringing people together, but God becomes isolated in the corner where he is by Himself, that is the reality of Christianity. That is the power of what True Parents give us in the liberation of God. He says, the divinity of God is not unknown to men. He says, we can know true love. He says, we can even bring Satan to voluntary surrender, and when we inherit this love, then we become like God. We approach his value and divinity. When the people of the world understand this truth and inherit the divinity of God then the world of sin and evil will transform to a world of good, and this is CIG. Think about it, it’s very simple, principle is very cohesive. The conclusion is that our theology is very marketable, very easy to explain to people. And this is, why we’ve raised all this money, because it’s easier to bring them in.

In Japan the people who donated the most money are the people who have been in the church from 3 months to 1 year, that’s the period where they donate the most money. When people join, they bring in a lot of resources, and then we can fulfill our vision. Church growth is not that difficult. Our church has inherited so much value, it’s not difficult.

I invite all of you to pick up this power and use it, then all of us will be liberated.

Thank you very much. 

Japanese Leadership Changes

Kook Jin Moon
February 22, 2009
Translated from Japanese by Mr. Yoshiura
Fukuoka Church, Fukuoka City, Japan

May contain errors, so pls. recheck facts when necessary. Done in summary form and should not be considered definitive. This is the idea of the "spirit" of the message

I – Video (Regarding the change of leadership at the Japan church).

Mr. Oyamada prays.

Welcoming Kook Jin Nim. Kook Jin Nim speaks in English:

I'm very happy to see you. We'll bid farewell to the former leader. I've known your new leader for four years now. When True Father called me to Korea, the first person Father told me to work with was (Korean, but referring to Rev. Song).

...I was a bit concerned how he could help me fix the foundation. Rev. Song (don't know if this is the correct spelling) was very honest and loves True Parents. Even though he's a grandfather, he's very intelligent...

Now he has to follow the foundation's rules and regulations. Since he's the general secretary he has to learn the computer and online things... So the new leader of Japan is computer literate.

We in Japan have serious problems to deal with. And so it's our challenge how to solve these problems. These problems challenge our very survival in Japan. So it's very important to understand the nature of the problem, to continue spreading the truth of True Parents.

During this time I'd like to come together with new chairman and build an even better church; build a church society will come to respect.

In Japan, time is money so I'll keep my message short.

Video message from Hyung Jin Nim's couple:

...True Father asked Kook Jin Nim to create a new system in Japan.

Kook Jin - meaning nation - for the nation. He really works for the nation. Please start a new history with your new leader.

Thank you everybody. I hope you can progress more.

I hope God will bless you forever...

Next, Im Dou-sun, outgoing leader, speaks:

I was not enough but True Parents gave us the command to lead Japan. For two years and one mo... I'm sorry I couldn't fulfill my responsibility well. As the representative of the True Father, Kook Jin Nim is here.

We have this ceremony. Our worldwide leader Hyung Jin Nim gave word through the video. This is a blessing... I really want to work for True Parents from now. I'm leaving Japan for Korea.

This is a blessing for Japan so Japan can progress more. With joy and hope I want to leave Japan. I don't have special words. I really hope you can progress and develop.

Mrs. Im Dou-sun speaks afterwards:

...I made determination not to shed tears today. I really have a more free feeling. I shouldn't feel like that. I had to take a heavy work(responsibility) from True Parents. True Father sent me to Japan and I was thankful to work for True Parents.

...True Father is taking care of Japan as the mother country. Through taking care of the Japanese providence, I could give comfort to True Father. I understood True Father's heart. I'm sorry I couldn't fulfill my responsibility well...

Mr. Tokuno, as the representative of Japan, gave flowers to the former leaders.

Giving of plaque, certificate of appreciation to Im Dou-sun's couple.

Photo session with Kook Jin Nim.

Brief background of new leader Rev. Song:

Born in 1940. 1961, he joined the church.

Blessed in 1968. Has 2 sons and 1 daughter.

Graduated from education school in 1979.

Graduated from the UTS in 1994.

Worked as national leader of Argentina.

Worked at Chiba and Hokkaido. He became the leader of Hawaii and Japan. Visited whole churches in Japan.

Published a book.

Speech by the new leader:

..Yesterday I came from Hawaii. I went to meet True Parents.. True Father said to Kook Jin Nim, please go to Japan to help him (me). 3 mos. ago I went to Hawaii. I have responsibility there.

I really had a lot of blessings. I want to respond to True Parents' request.

4 years ago, True Father asked me to help Kook Jin Nim...I really worked, inherited everything from Kook Jin Nim. We have many miracles. Japan as mother country worked so hard. Im Dou-sun worked so hard for Japan.

During the pioneer time in Korea, Im Dou-sun worked hard in Korea. Then he worked hard in Japan. I'm thankful you worked with Im Dou-sun.

Japan became the mother country… True Father had been using me for 49 years. My position is like a special helper. I came as a helper...

You have to become a queen country. It's different from the past. I worked with many things...We have to work for witnessing...True Father is really guiding Japan, so we respond as loyal sons and daughters...

Im Dou-sun's couple went to the podium and offered a prayer.

End of video

II- Main sermon by Mr. Kihara

From last week, everything was changing. Feb. 17, there was a meeting. Many leaders have to go back and forth for 3 days. There's a big change now. I really want to explain this situation.

Feb. 18 we had a leaders' meeting. We didn't know Kook Jin Nim is coming. So they called us to come.

Hyung Jin Nim is in Korea. Kook Jin Nim is taking care of Japan (new overall chairman of the Japan UC, similar to In Jin Nim's role in the US. Rev. Song, from my understanding is like the Continental leader). In the US, it's In Jin Nim.

Kook Jin Nim got the responsibility. They have a special meeting in Tokyo. They had some election. They chose all leaders by election. They asked us to write one name.

There was an election for 12 other leaders. After that, they were finished. Kook Jin Nim said there are many problems but we have to make a new start, have a new concept.

We have to report the correct information. We didn't have correct information from Japan.

So they wrote down names and there was an election. Mr. Tokuno was chosen again (president). One district leader is a lady. This is not a public info yet so I can't say it clearly. We didn't got the public (official) information yet.

From 18 districts (no. of districts in Japan UC movement), it was reduced to 12. From Hokkaido, Tokyo is no.5, to Kyushu, the total no. is 12. The original 9 and 10 districts are now one. Name of district had also changed.

Another big item is Im Dou-sun retires and a new leader came. This is a new settlement, start. This time Kook Jin Nim came. He said we have to overcome the peak...With hope and determination we have to go.

Recently in region 10 a new leader (regional leader) came. At fer 10 days, he was changed again.

...(deleted several sentences). A queen is only 1 person, for the nation. She's a special chosen person. You can become a daughter or mother but queen is a special, chosen person.

So we have many tests. We have to make a new organization. Our organization for the last 30 years, have to change into a new one. Concept has to change.

We really overcame the peak but from now on, we have to change our system. This time is like that. Now I want to emphasize the change from mother country into a queen country.

Now, in order to become queen, we have to change our attitude. We can't say "I'm tired." No one can appreciate a tired queen.

Even people from Okinawa will come here.

Today is a time of change for Japan. Top leaders worked so hard. They shed lots of tears for Japan, everyday. Otherwise, Japan can't overcome this.

From now, we need to have joy. From February, we had many changes. God was liberated and so we have to do witnessing with joy. We can do with kigansho.

True Father really loves brothers and sisters from the bottom of his heart. Kook Jin Nim wants to adjust the Japanese concept.

Repent and have a new start. Instead of criticizing, don't say negative things. We have to respect each other.

Leadership change is not because of our failure but because it's a different level. With hope, Kook Jin Nim came to save Japan. Rev. Tokuno was reelected. We have a wonderful leader here.

We might have a new direction. This is change for new development. 

Substantiation

Kook Jin Moon
January 29, 2009

Under a tight schedule, Kook-jin nim spoke concisely to the national leaders on January 29, at the Cheon Jeong Peace Palace. Here are excerpts from his message:

How do we go from being a church that has great internal thought but no external reflection of that greatness, to a church whose external form matches its internal nature? This is the challenge we have in our church, and this is what we have not been able to accomplish up to this point. It is not God who is creating the suffering on earth. God does not create suffering. The suffering and difficulty we see all around us and all around the world today is not from God, but is our doing. It is our imperfection, our inadequacies, our jealousies, our selfishness that create the suffering in the world today. So this is the challenge that we as a movement have to overcome to move into the future.

And it's by focusing on a project like building a temple for our entire world Unification Movement -- something of substance with external form -- that we can show the entire world what our internal nature is. This is the great blessing we have at this time, because there are a number of benefits that come from focusing on doing something substantial. We have the opportunity, for the first time in our church history, to organize globally and to do so based on real, substantial goals, a clear purpose and clear goals of how much money everyone needs to raise. By pursuing this temple project we are creating a church that now focuses on not only its own internal thoughts of greatness but also thinks about how it can translate that internal nature into external form with results.

This is the wonderful blessing of this temple. We are coming to the point where if we want to succeed in building Cheon Bok Gung, we have to measure and evaluate real results, real performance. In the past, in our church's culture, evaluations were often done based on an individual's ability to make a good report. Whether or not the report was accurate or had substance was secondary. The question was whether you could make a good report, and because we had this very vague and opaque system of evaluating one's performance and ability, our performance has been very opaque....

I'm not going to tell you that you should have more faith, because faith comes from making substantial results, through give and take. As you make more results, you gain more confidence....

This is why we want to start thinking about how to change. We want to think about making an environment where we can become confident in our beliefs; and confidence in our beliefs will enable us to make real accomplishments. We will be able to go out and witness to accomplished people. We will be able to witness to them, and we will be able to ask them for funds -- because we ourselves will know that what we are doing is for the benefit of the greater good....

We want to make a much more transparent environment in our church, an open environment, where we can encourage people to make real results. This is why I think at this time it is so important and so great that we have an opportunity to focus on a project of real substance, one in which we can measure how well we are doing. We know how much money we need. How much have we made? And as we pursue the project of building Cheon Bok Gung, think about all the conversations we need to have with all of our brothers and sisters all over the world. What is the temple project about? We need to explain the temple and why it's important.

In order to explain the temple, you have to understand Divine Principle, because the way it is designed, the temple is Divine Principle. Not only that, you have to clearly give them conviction and confidence that their funds, if they do contribute, will go to the temple. As you see their funds going to the temple, you yourself will gain confidence; and as you gain confidence, you will be able to bring more and more people to our teachings. I know we have lots of difficulties and challenges currently, as other religions do. When you look at the life cycle of religions, the early stages were very difficult. Look at Christianity. Their founder was crucified. Look at Buddhism. People tried to kill the founder of Buddhism quite a few times during his lifetime. And the founder of the Mormon religion, Joseph Smith, was killed.

Granted, when we look at our situation today, we see there are a lot of challenges, but we gain our hope and our strength when we think about what we are going to pursue in the future, because the goals we want to pursue are very clear. We want to pursue real results, real accomplishments. We want to build a real temple. We want to bring real members, our brothers and sisters, to join our congregation. What do I mean by "real" brothers and sisters? When you have a family, when you have brothers and sisters, why do you consider that person your brother or your sister? Because they not only share the good things you have, they also share the burdens. This is what it means to become a community of faith. It means we take upon ourselves, on our shoulders, an equal burden with every other member of our community. In sharing the burden, we become a community of faith, and as we enlarge that community of faith that shares the burden together, our community becomes stronger and we get people investing in our community. And as we invest in our community, our faith and spiritual life is strengthened. This is a virtuous cycle we can create today by focusing on a very clear goal.

I don't know how long it is going to take to build this temple. We have started the fundraising for it now.... I am very impressed and moved by our brothers and sisters in Korea. Our Korean church has not been so successful at fundraising in the past, but based upon this temple project, we have seen a great outpouring of desire to contribute. We have seen a lot of donations coming into the church. In terms of percentage of the goal accomplished based on the goals given to the different nations, our Korean church is actually in first place currently. So, we are very grateful to our brothers and sisters here.

We hope that our brothers and sisters around the world can also take an interest in the temple project. It's an opportunity for us to show real performance. And think about it, brothers and sisters, as we study the result of the temple and as we record the donations and all the names of the people who made them, an evaluation of you as ministers will come out very clearly. We will see which minister has created the most result. As you very well know, in order for you, as a minister, to get your congregation to want to assist you, to donate or tithe, you have to be a good minister and you have to minister to your congregation well. You cannot gain donations from your congregation without congregation care. I think this is the real benefit of pursuing projects like this. When we -- not only the Japanese church but our world Unification Church community -- pursue real projects, it gives us an opportunity not only to study and intellectualize our faith but to actually practice it.

When we practice what we know internally, we get real spiritual growth, so that's what we are proposing to do. I hope all of you can understand this a little bit better. I hope that all of you can cooperate and work with us at the world mission office and with our international president to make this project successful and that in the future, we can all work to continue this process of transparent evaluations based on substantial results.

We want to see leaders recognized for their real accomplishments. We want to see leaders promoted for their real contributions to our church, not just because they give us a good talk and make us feel good, but because they are leaders who invest in making our church community more durable and successful for the long term. Those leaders are not necessarily the best public speakers, but they are the ones doing the work. So, this is our challenge from now on -- to find the leaders who are really doing good work and to promote them. Not promote ourselves, but promote good people who are doing good for all of us. When we have learned to promote those who are doing good for all of us, it is only then that our external form will match our internal teaching.

I think that is the greatest truth that the Principle teaches us, the truth we have yet to substantiate as a movement. And that's the truth upon which all our leaders should reflect, whether they are living by it or not -- because it is something that is very easy to lose sight of.

I hope all of you can contribute to and help this temple building project and also work to promote good leadership in our church.

Thank you very much. 

The Temple and Japan

Kook Jin Moon
December 10, 2008

An excerpt from Kook-jin nim's speech to members in northern Japan (Region 16) on December 10

As we build this temple, brothers and sisters, our goal and our mission become very clear. In order to build the Cheon Il Guk nation, we need to witness to only 50 percent of the country. That's all we have to do, however long it takes. We just need to pursue that one direction, and when we do witness to 50 percent of the country, that county will become God's country, will become Cheon Il Guk, will become our fatherland, in reality, in substance. [Applause]

You may think that will take a very long time. But this is why we're building the Cheon Bok Gung, the World Peace and Unity Temple. If we did it another way, it would really take a long time, but when we build the Cheon Bok Gung, where we concentrate all this spiritual power, where we concentrate all this political power and where we concentrate all this economic power -- this temple will be a public, national platform. We would not be able to establish a public national platform even if we had two hundred and ten thousand members that were all separated in five hundred churches; but if we concentrate two hundred and ten thousand members in one church, that becomes a national institution. That becomes an institution the nation will be interested in hearing the opinion of. The nation would be interested to learn what this institution thinks, what its values are. They would be interested to learn what Father's theology and teaching and philosophy is; the national media, because they are interested, would broadcast that to all the people, and because we have such a substantial foundation, the people would seriously consider what we say. By creating the World Peace and Unity Temple, we create the platform to talk directly to the people of Korea. And that will speed up the process of witnessing to 50 percent of the nation.

My brothers and sisters, we for so many years have had a great vision of where our church will be, and we have built a great foundation, but we have struggled with the concept of building Cheon Il Guk, though we talk about it, about how it will substantially happen. But now our True Parents have shown us practically, realistically, how we can build this nation, how we can create Cheon Il Guk. This is truly liberating, because this is a plan we can actualize. We can build a temple. We've done it before; we've built buildings before. We've built factories; we've raised money. We can do this, and we can witness. We have successfully been witnessing here in Japan. Despite tremendous persecution, we've succeeded. In Korea, there is no persecution now. We have built a good environment. If we build a good witnessing system in Korea, we will be able to continuously witness and gather more and more brothers and sisters. That is what we are working on doing. We have been studying the witnessing system here in Japan, and we will bring that system to Korea. These are things we know how to do. These are things we've succeeded in doing. And in order to succeed in our vision and our dream of building the nation of Cheon Il Guk, we need to just continue doing what we are doing just a little bit longer.

I know, brothers and sisters, you have sacrificed and given so much because of this dream, and you have sacrificed and given so much even when you could not see hope of success. But now, consider what I say: Success, the possibility of victory, fulfilling our dreams, justifying our sacrifices, is real. We can accomplish this. That is what I'm proposing to you brothers and sisters.

You know, we have truly been given a sacred mission. That sacred mission comes from what we have been taught and what we have been given, because what True Parents have revealed to us is truly revolutionary and is truly the core message that every person in the world must hear and needs to hear and needs to receive. Jesus Christ was sent by God as his son, and he gave a very important message to man. Even though he was not able to fulfill his full mission as the messiah, the message he gave brought humanity up to a new level, a new understanding. With one small sentence, Christianity has changed the culture of the world, has changed politics, has changed economics, has changed society and culture. It's just the golden rule: to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This changed everything.

The world before this simple message was barbaric and cruel. Life was cheap. But through that one sentence, we learned about love, compassion and empathy; we learned how to forgive, and this has developed society, a culture of democracy, of acceptance and forgiveness. But the inspiration of Christianity because Jesus Christ went to the cross, has reached its full extent. It cannot bring us any closer to God than we are today. This is why Jesus Christ said he must come again. If he had fulfilled his mission, there would be no need for his Second Coming.

Right now in the world, you can clearly see the limit of Christianity. That limit begins from the very fundamental teaching and theology of Christianity. The basic tenet of Christianity, when it comes to God, is that God's divinity cannot be known. Man cannot fathom and understand the divinity of God, because God is omniscient and omnipotent and so far beyond the comprehension of man. This may sound great and glorious, as if we are honoring a great and powerful God, but if you look at it from another point of view, you are actually condemning God to eternal loneliness and separation from humanity, and you're condemning all of us to being eternally separated and divided from our creator. This is why Christianity lacks the vision and understanding to bring us closer to God than we are today. It cannot take us further.

This is why, this century, this time, is the time for the Second Advent. And the ultimate truth and evidence of the Second Advent and the True Parents is that simple message, the simple message that can bring us closer to God and restore humanity to its original position. This is the exact message that our True Parents have given. This is why we know our True Parents are the True Parents of all humanity. Our True Parents have clearly defined the divinity of God. They define that divinity as true love, and they define true love as a love that can bring even Satan to voluntary surrender.

You are all educated people, and you have studied science. As you well know, if you are able to define something, you can achieve it. By defining the divinity of God, our True Parents are empowering us to inherit the true love of God, and by inheriting it and living a life of true love, they are empowering us to become one with God, thereby removing the distance and separation between God and man that was brought about by the Fall and restoring humanity to its proper position, as sons and daughters of God. This is the theological reason, the proof of our True Parents.

It is that simple, but it is that powerful-those words, which define God's essence, carry ultimate power. And those are the words which our True Parents speak. And that is why we know for certain that what they say, the truth that they give us, is the truth all humanity is to receive. And we know that truth is the truth all of the religions are to receive. That is why we have the mission to take this message to all the people of the world. That is why we must build the Cheon Bok Gung, the World Peace and Unity Temple, so that we may have a stage to bring this message to the nation of Korea and the entire world. Please, brothers and sisters, take some time to consider what I have said. Thank you very much. 

Special Service by Kook Jin Moon

November 29, 2008
Headquarters Church, Chungpadong, Seoul Korea
Transcribed by: Regina Shin
Edited by: Bruno Klotz

Welcoming Remarks:
Yeon Ah Nim:

Good afternoon, brothers and sisters! This week we were in Japan, and of course we had a wonderful and memorable experience with Japanese members but we are also very happy that we came back to this sanctuary and to be with you today. We are always honored to have you here in this sanctuary and for those who are joining via internet -- we are welcoming you as well. Welcome brothers and welcome sisters!

Hyung Jin Nim:

Welcoming brothers and sisters! Today I would like to share with you from Cheon Seong Gyeong p. 1058. And this is on chapter 4 "Tradition for blessed families." Father speaks: "All blessed families should arrive before the church service starts and create an atmosphere of grace for the many types of people who will attend, so that they also may experience grace. The number of such members determines the development of the church."

Father here is reminding us that when we come to service then it is important to participate to create that atmosphere of grace, where people can be blessed. And that is really the participation in the service. Brothers and sisters, I always want to encourage you to not only observe service but to participate, sing with the choir, pray the prayers, meditate together and share words with each other.

Today we are going to have very special words. We will have a very special Pastor, Mr. Moon. So, please let's participate today and create this atmosphere of grace that True Father is talking about, and I believe then we will also receive those blessings and take them with us when we leave this sanctuary. Once again, welcome to this service!

Prayer by Hyung Jin Nim:

Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this day that you have blessed upon us, this beautiful autumn day where we can feel the coolness and refreshment of Your peace. We thank You so much that we can gather here in this sanctuary and that we can be contributors here, so that we truly have the heart of ownership; that we are not only observers of this tradition but that we are those who have invested in this tradition to help make it truly brilliant, to help allow it to shine before all the world as a beacon of light and hope.

We pray that we may also extend our blessings to those around us, and we pray that You may be with each of the families here, joining us even via the internet, that they also receive Your blessing, Your grace and Your love. Father, thank You so much for this day that You have prepared for us. We pray that we now may receive that and return with joy to You, so that You may feel true happiness today. We pray these things altogether in the names of central, blessed families. Aju!

Introduction of Speaker by Hyung Jin Nim:

Brothers and sisters, today we have a very special Reverend coming to us and giving us very important words. As you all know, Kook Jin hyung (elder brother) is here in Korea. He is the chairman of the Tongil Group Foundation which has totally revolutionized the organizations in our movement. When he first came, Tongil was at a yearly loss of a hundred million dollars. Three years after he has come it has now fifty million dollars profit a year. Incredible! Let's give it up, brothers and sisters. (Applause) Amazing business genius! He has been featured in dozens of Korean magazines. This month he is the cover model for the CEO Magazine. He got a 6 page interview in there! I want to encourage you to give a huge and welcoming round of applause to our brother Kook Jin hyung when he comes up.

Main Sermon: Kook Jin Nim:

Hello brothers and sisters. How are you today?

I just prepared a very short talk. I'm not too much for words anyway. You know, we are in a very critical time in our church's history and for our organization. There are many important things going on in our movement today. There are many brothers and sisters around the world, including many brothers and sisters here, who are facing and dealing and struggling with some very important questions about the direction of our church for the future. This is really something that we have to continue to discuss and talk about.

When we think about our community, what do we see ourselves as? Are we just another faith community, another denomination? Or are we as the Presbyterians are, or the Calvinists, or the Anglicans, a group of people who come together to share common beliefs and communion and pretty much live with their own beliefs and convictions? Or are we a community which we are comfortable with? Is that the vision for our communities' future? Is that the vision that we have? That's the question we have to ask ourselves.

As we answer that question, we need to understand how and why we find the answer to that question, because we are not just a faith community. We are a community which not only has a conviction but has a mission. This really defines us and delineates our movement and our church from other faith communities. Other faith communities are very wonderful, they have very wonderful members, but their mission orientation is a little bit different. Because the mission that they have been given is different than the mission that has been given to us by God through our True Parents.

You must understand one thing, brothers and sisters. When our True Parents came to this earth and received God's word and His mission and direction, they gave that word to us. And it is an extremely revolutionary message. It turns the entire Christian Theology upside down. This is how revolutionary and powerful a message it is.

Throughout Christian history they taught that you cannot understand and know God's divinity. God's divinity in essence is something which is unknowable by man because man cannot fathom and understand that scope of divinity. But what True Father teaches us is quite different. This is why our theology is so revolutionary. True Father actually teaches what God's divinity is! He tells us very clearly the divinity of God; that God's divinity is true love. He defines it for us. And not only does he define God's divinity, he defines also what true love is. He defines that true love is love that can bring even Satan to voluntary subjugation. And this is revolutionary! It is powerful! The reason why it is so revolutionary and powerful is this: If we as human beings, as man and woman, can understand the divinity of God, understand what the divinity is and how it is defined and achieved, then we stand in the position to directly inherit God's divinity.

This is the blessing which Jesus Christ was not able to give to all the people of the world when he came, because he went to the cross. But this revelation and understanding of God's divinity is the message he was empowered to do at that time, if he had continued to live his life and fulfilled his role as the True Parent of humanity and formed the True Family.

This is the difference. This is the revolutionary essence of True Father's message which makes the word which he is giving to all the people of the world today, so powerful.

It is a message which enables us to become closer to God than in any other time in the history of man. Never in the history of theology, never in the history of man, has humankind been able to restore their original position as sons and daughters of God and come together to live with God as one family.

So, if we understand what Father is telling us from both, intellectual and theological and even the providential point of view, even from the view of Christian theology, we see that his message is very consistent. His message is not only consistent with what he says here today on this earth but is consistent with all the forefathers and prophets who have come before. From Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jesus until today there is a continuity of increasing understanding of God's heart and His love.

You know, when Abraham came, he brought humanity to a higher understanding of God. And Moses even advanced that further. And Jesus, for many thousands of years, has really elevated man's understanding of God to a new level. But in this society, where society has developed modern technology so tremendously, where economic systems have developed so tremendously, it is the time when humanity needs a new understanding of God, so that we can progress to the next level. This is why, as a faith community, our mission is very different from other faith communities.

We have a mission to not only receive the word and God's blessing but to convey it, to spread the message, the word, to empower other people to come to a greater understanding of God and their own personal potential. This is why our mission as a faith community is quite different than other communities. Our mission is to spread this understanding to all the people of the world.

This is the message which the Catholic Church needs. This is the message that the Lutheran Church needs. This is the message which the Anglican Church needs. This is the message that the Buddhists need. This is why our responsibility is different, brothers and sisters. This is why we are called to not only live our blessed lives, to be good people unto ourselves, but we are called to be evangelical, to be soldiers in a sense, soldiers of God, to really bring this understanding to people outside of our community.

And this is the challenge that we face, because we have truly inherited an incredible message, and that message carries within it an incredible responsibility and in a way, a heavy burden. The question is whether or not our community here in Korea can bring that vision further ahead.

Up until now the heavy lifting of growth and development of our church has been carried out by our brothers and sisters in Japan and through the Japanese church. I have gone and taken a look at the Japanese church. I have seen the brothers and sisters there. Yes, they have suffered and sacrificed a great deal but the Japanese church and the members there are no different than you and I. Yet, they carry a disproportional burden of responsibility for bringing our church's message out to the world.

There is no reason why our church here in Korea cannot also be outward reaching and growing through witnessing. There is no reason why our church in America or any other church throughout the world cannot also be a growing church.

But there is a difference in understanding of mission and in mindset. On the one hand the character of our church in Japan is much more pro-active in taking the mission orientation, in taking the goal of spreading the word as a personal responsibility. In our church here in Korea we have a concept that we understand the value of the message and the word that True Parents have given us.

But that sense of ownership, of taking that message, that word and that responsibility, and sharing it outward, that sense or urgency, is relatively weak. So the challenge for us now is how do we, as a faith community, take our understanding of the message and direct this understanding outward, to reach outward.

You know, I have been doing a lot of work here in Korea and I have talked to lots of brothers and sisters and I have heard their arguments to why they cannot reach outward and why they can. I have done a lot of work dealing with people in society. I have met all the presidents of the major newspapers here in Korea. I have met all the broadcasting company presidents. I am in the process of meeting most of the Korean ministers. I've met the chairman of the Bank of Korea, the Head of the military intelligence service, many, many quite important national leaders. They are quite open to True Parent's message. In society there is not a lot of resistance to the message that we have to offer. There is actually quite a bit of hunger to understand and know about what True Parents teach us.

But there is a tremendous lack of self-confidence in our church here in Korea and among our membership. And this mismatch between the nature of the message that we have and the power of the message that we have and the society's desire to receive an important message like this -- there is a gap. That gap is within us individually and organizationally. So this problem we need to solve.

It's not going to be solved by any one person, but collectively we can solve it. If we can help each other to be confident with our understanding of True Parents and our ability to approach those that currently don't share our faith, to bring them in our communities, to have them as our brothers and sisters, not only to partake in the blessings that we receive, but to contribute to the blessings that we receive, to tithe, to give donations to our church that we are building -- this is the step that we need to take, that step of reaching outward, giving our understanding, our truth, and then asking people to be our partners.

Understanding of what partnership means is very important. In a partnership you take the benefit and the responsibilities of that partnership. This is, in many ways, what we have not been able to do in our church here in Korea. We have done many events, many good-will projects, we have made many good relationships throughout Korean society, but we haven't asked people to share in the responsibility of making things happen, of making our burdens their burdens. Because we haven't taken that step to sharing the responsibilities as well as the privileges, we have not gained the confidence that we can overcome and that we can do things on our own. This is the problem with our community here in Korea, and this is the problem that we must overcome.

So, brothers and sisters, our True Parents have really given us a tremendous opportunity. They have given our entire world community a tremendous opportunity. The central project in our church's providence now is to build the World Peace Temple. This is the focus of our church's activities right now. They have given us, not only the Japanese church, but all of us, the Korean church, the American church, the European church, all of the Unification Church community, the responsibility to make this temple, the World Unification Church Temple, the temple for all the people in our movement and all the people who will join our movement.

This is an opportunity for us to not only be bystanders, people who watch the construction and the progression of profits, but to be participants, contributors, to the development of the providence. This is a tremendous opportunity to truly express our convictions, our faith, our belief, to really show and stand proudly in front of the world and say: "This is what I believe in." The construction of this temple is an expression of that faith.

Brothers and sisters, the way we practice and live our lives, the way we conduct ourselves in our physical body, in our physical lives, has a great deal of bearing on our spiritual body and spiritual soul. As we give back and contribute with our hard earned money, then that is actually faith practice. As we do so we gain confidence and strength in our faith. This is a very important reason why we really need to work together not only in Korea but throughout the world to build our Unification World Temple.

I ask you to think about this because it is a very important project. I don't know if you had an opportunity to look at the major sites for other religious denominations, like the Vatican in Rome for the Catholic Church, or even the major temples in Japan for Shintoism, or in India where they have some very beautiful temples. In those areas of pilgrimage, like Mecca, where people gather, they have been gathering there not only for a year, or ten years, or a hundred years, but for thousands of years. Those sites are sites of tremendous religious significance, devotion and worship. Just think about what we are proposing to build at this time for our community, which we know will continue to expand and grow. We are proposing to build the World HQ, the spiritual site, for all our brothers and sisters.

This site and those who contribute to that site will be recorded for the rest of time. The contributors to that church building project will have their names on the walls, based on their contribution. And this is not going to happen again. There is going to be only ONE World Unification Headquarters Temple. It is akin to having the opportunity as a Catholic to having your name written in the Vatican or in St. Peter's Basilica.

So, I hope that everybody really understands the significance of the church that we are building here in Korea. I certainly do. That's why I have made my contributions, quite a lot actually. My brother has, all the other leaders of our church have, so please think about this. It is actually not a church for just our community; it becomes a platform for our community to communicate on an equal status with other major churches here in Korea, to communicate directly with the nation.

We have done a lot of work, we have met a lot of people, we have brought former President Carazo here to our church, we will bring many more dignitaries to come to worship together with us in our church here in Chung Pa Dong, and the scale of this church is still not that big. But yet, we are bringing all these significant people because of the foundation which our True Parents have made.

Once we build this church the scale is multiplied many times and the level of the people we will bring to our congregation and to our services will continue to progress. The quality will grow. We will certainly have congressmen here worshiping together with us. We will have large business leaders, serious politicians. The Seoul City Mayor would probably come to our church, will have to, if we build this church! Not only that, but we will communicate directly with Korean press and the media here, as a major Korean religion. So, when anything comes up regarding religions they will have to come to us. This church and this temple is a platform for us to directly witness to the nation of Korea, substantially, not conceptually.

I'm not talking about gathering a hundred thousand people for a big rally and a big party. We are talking about gathering a congregation centered upon a holy site and building that congregation over the next ten years, hundred years, and one thousand years.

This is fundamentally different. This is an investment for our future, for your future, because as we build this temple and congregation, as we bring in leaders of the nation, leaders of business, they become your brothers and sisters. They will be in a position to help our entire community.

This is why we really need to understand the significance of this project. It is a very expensive undertaking. The land here in Seoul is extremely expensive, and in order to purchase that land we need to raise quite a lot of donations. I personally have put out a lot of money, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars, for this project. There are other brothers and sisters in Japan who are doing the same. Recently there was a sister in Japan who has donated nearly eight hundred million Korean Won.

Our goal for this temple here in Korea is to raise about seventy-five million US dollars in donations. That means we need to find about seven thousand people who can donate ten thousand Dollars to build this temple. This is the challenge because in order for our faith community to achieve this kind of goal we need many more new people to come and support us. We need to bring in new brothers and sisters who can share our dreams, our responsibilities and burdens. This change in thought can actually make it happen. The reason why our church in Japan is able to raise funds is because they do witnessing. The majority of their fundraising is not from the existing members but from bringing new people to contribute to our church.

We really need to think seriously about the direction of our church here in Korea. There are many important and serious discussions which all of you here in Korea need to have with the ministers here. And the ministers have to have a serious discussion with all of our brothers and sisters and the congregations and with people who can help our congregation.

There are certainly people out there who can and will help. I will do my part. Every time I meet any of these dignitaries, I explain them about this wonderful church and the wonderful vision that our True Parents have for the world and the blessing that they are bringing. I ask them to come to church. Many of them say: "If you invite me, I will consider it." Some even say: "I will come." The other day I was talking with the vice-chairman of the Green Cross cooperation here in Korea. They are quite famous; you have seen the green crosses all over Korea. It is one of the major pharmaceutical companies here. I told him about our ministry here and about our wonderful head minister, Moon Hyung Jin, and how he gives very wonderful sermons. He said: "That's wonderful. Can I have some copies of sermons to listen to." So I said: "Sure, I will send you some copies but I will also invite you to come to see our church and listen to our service." And he said that he will come.

Brothers and sisters, what we have to offer is tremendous. We just need to have the conviction to share that tremendous blessing and gift that we have been given. As we share our conviction and express it in our faith and actions, we will be in the position to be able to lead other people, even people of great status. So the question is our personal conviction. What kind of conviction are you going to have in your life? I have made my decision and I lead my life without apology. I express the views and convictions that I have. At the times that I express them they are sometimes not necessarily the most popular, but I feel that it is necessary for me to speak of my beliefs.

So, with that said I thank you very much.

Final Prayer: Hyung Jin Nim:

Heavenly Father, most beloved True Parents!

Thank You so much for the message that You have given to us today. We feel that we are living in a most precious time in history, with True Parents here on this earth and with such a powerful message, that You have brought through them to this world. Now the task for us is to truly be confident in ourselves and in our beliefs, to not shy away from the public and people, thinking that they will attack us or criticize us like in the past. The task is to have a new level of conviction that builds as we share this message, our belief and our faith.

You have truly blessed us. You have waited for us for six thousand years. We have heard that so many times, but let us truly understand and actualize this in the way we carry ourselves. Let us not only conceptually understand that we are precious to You and then leave the sanctuary with shoulders slumped and walking out with no confidence. We pray that we may understand that message and put our shoulders back, that we may have pride in who we are, that we may share this message and confidence with others, that we may be proud of our beliefs, our tradition and our heritage and be able to share this with the rest of the world.

We believe that when we do that You will create miracles and move the hearts and minds of men and women. You will help them understand and be inspired in their own lives to become those sharers of faith. Thank You so much that you have given us this time, that we may truly reflect and understand the providential significance of our lives here, that we may understand that we are not only living for this age but we are connected to thousands of future generations and that we are connected to thousands of past generations.

We pray that we are not only speakers of our Unification tradition but that we are actors and contributors in this tradition, that we may be those that bring this foundation and church to the next level. Let us have this kind of ownership and stewardship, that kind of heart that wishes to see a child truly succeed and blossom. Let us know that the Unification Church is our child. It is our baby. Let us know that each and any one of us must become parents to that church and truly nurture it, grow it, build it with confidence, have it stand before the world proudly and allow it to communicate and share that empowering message to the rest of humanity forever.

We pray that You can give us that kind of strength, faith and devotion. Fill us with that energy. We offer all these things to You in gratitude and everlasting love, in our own blessed, central families' name that are here together as one. Aju!