Thesis: Apply Reverend Moon’s Thought to Church Growth
This book represents an effort to apply the thought of my teacher, Reverend Sun Myung Moon, to the challenge of developing a church. It deals with the goal of the Unification community to be valued by society and to expand by attracting dedicated members.
I write this as an evangelical Unificationist, a person convinced that the Reverend Moon and his wife, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, are the True Parents of all humankind. This means to me that, through them, God has disclosed His heart, love and nature in a way that builds upon the world’s faith traditions and brings them to fulfillment. I believe that the expansion of this message is the most important event that could take place in the world today.
I believe that it is the believer’s responsibility to do this and that God works through our imperfect selves and congregations, which are “vessels of clay.” To make of ourselves and our church communities as effective as they can be, I believe that believers can learn from the best practices of other churches. I present research that shows that the churches that are expanding today in America, and have done so for the last three centuries, are those adopting a specific type of organizational form, that I call the “populist” approach.1
Divine Principle’s Support for the Populist Approach
As I began exploring the populist approach, I found that the Divine Principle advocates this approach. Its teachings go so far as to assert that in the era of the Second Coming, after the ages in which God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit took direct responsibility for the world, “the people of faith on earth and in heaven are to bear the third responsibility to defeat Satan.” That is, the first responsibility was God’s directly. It went from God to Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and finally the salvation of the world is in the hands of “the people of faith on earth and in heaven.” In our present time, God will work directly through common people, and this is the basis of the populist approach. “Hence,” the Principle goes on to state, “this period is called the age of the providence based on the believers’ responsibility.”2
The period after the Second Coming of Christ … is called the age of the providence based on the believers’ responsibility. — Exposition of the Divine Principle
Father Moon’s Populist Beginnings
Further, I found that Father Moon began his church on a populist model and calls for the same in activities like home church and family church. Thus the Unification Church has a strong foundation to utilize the populist model.
Evangelism as the Root of Peace-Building
This short book begins with the point that believer’s responsibility is to win people to True Parents. I then make a case that Unification evangelism — sharing the breaking news — is the method to bring world peace, because it is the root of peace-building. I dwell on this in response to the argument that to expand the Unification Church is counter to the goal of peace.
This reflects the view that religion is a problem, or that religions are good if practiced well, but the world doesn’t need a new one. To follow this line of thinking, the world needs something new, but not a religion, and the True Parents founded that “something new.” The nature of that is not well-defined, but it is something between a family and a culture and not a religion. If this is so, then the Unification mission is not to grow a church.
Why Grow the Church
I believe that it is necessary to grow the church, and that the process of doing so will shape the church into what God wants it to be. Therefore I will begin with a discussion of the extent to which a “church” is the proper vehicle for the work of True Parents.
Personal Disclosure
By way of self-disclosure, I have dedicated myself to the Unification Church since my conversion at age 24 and this includes my professional career in pastoral roles, in the national administration including as president, and as president of the Unification Theological Seminary. I have been given leadership roles also in para-church organizations pursuing ecumenical, interfaith and educational missions. My writings here reflect my understanding of the church in these capacities. The church has blessed me enormously.
Book Outline
I present core values that lead to outreach and growth and then a discussion of the populist church model in American history and contemporary scene. I explain why the populist, decentralized and organizationally flat churches that train and empower their members and focus on direct experience of God grow. I present an outline of the differences between the populist and denominational models, and how churches that have adopted the latter can, if they so choose, change in a populist direction.
I conclude by pointing out the populist affirmations of the Divine Principle, populist characteristics of Unification Church practice historically and today, remarks on how the populist approach can serve as a platform to achieve True Father’s vision of the unity of religions, and the Divine Principle’s indication of how the kingdom of God will appear.
It takes super-human effort to grow a church, so if we are not sure that it is really necessary, the outcome is predictable.
Dedication
With a desire to serve God and True Parents, to whom I give all thanks, a readiness to receive correction, and a hope that this will lead to greater good, I present this offering.
Tyler Hendricks Red Hook, New York June, 2010
Footnotes
Footnotes
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populist — n. “an advocate of the rights and interests of ordinary people, for example, in politics or the arts”; adj. “emphasizing or promoting ordinary people, their lives, or their interests.” Encarta® World English Dictionary © 1999 Microsoft Corporation. ↩
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Exposition of the Divine Principle (New York, NY: Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, 1996), p. 186. (Henceforth, EDP.) ↩