The Words of the Hendricks Family

Unificationism In America: Models Of Success

Tyler Hendricks
2000
Journal of Unification Studies Volume III, 1999-2000

"If you have been in the Unification Church for decades and you do not have any spiritual children, then you are parasites, robbers!"
(Moon, 1994.5.10)

If the Unification Family Church cannot grow in membership, enabling members to gain spiritual children, then it is creating a membership of parasites and robbers. Assuming no one desires that their life of religious sacrifice lead to this outcome, I will argue in this article that members can support each other's achievement of successful spiritual parenting through development of church life. The basis for this development is a change in thinking about how to gain members.

In light of the Unification Church's family-based belief system, it is ironic that it frames the task of witnessing as an individualistic matter. Its model is True Father clinging to a pine tree on a mountainside in desperation to save humankind. Saints who can win souls by themselves, however, with no church environment, are few and far between. Most people require a support system in which to bring someone to God. That support system is the church. Most of the current members joined an active church center. Most gained spiritual children when they were working in an active church center. This article is about making that church in America.

To approach this, I will first say a few words about religion in America. This is to show first that there is a generalized religious culture in America that is Protestant Christian in spirit. To generate the give-and-take action necessary for to succeed, the church must relate with that context. Rev. Moon acknowledged this principle with reference to the Unification Church in Japan. He stated, "An important issue in the evangelical work in Japan was to find a way so that Japan would not condemn the faith and ideas of the Unification Church because of a perceived contradiction with the core of Japanese culture. At the same time, the Unification Church had to maintain its integrity and educate Japanese society in such a way that the Unification Church faith could take root in Japan." [1]

1. The Religious Spirit in America

On the one hand, American religion is highly diverse in terms of origins and doctrines. On the other hand, in terms of behaviors and attitudes, American religion is quite uniform. Whether the groups in view are Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim or any other, there are huge areas of commonality.

The development of this religious style began with the second generation of Christian Americans -- the offspring of the Puritans. The first-generation Puritan services centered on a highly theological reading of providence, interpreting the public duty according to the times. Services presented careful explanations of God's providential will, warnings to those who do not comply, and serious hymns laced with the promise of salvation and threats of damnation. (In other words, these services were similar to today's Unificationist services.) It should be noted that while Rev. Moon and most conservatives rightly praise the Puritans, they were a short-lived phenomenon. They did not keep hold of their second generation.

Their children attended church because there was only one church in town and it was against the law not to attend. But in general the children's hearts were not there. Elders were no longer hearing the testimonies of saving grace that the Puritans knew, to their eternal credit, was the authentic sign of salvation. Their children drifted spiritually from the church and substituted good morals and worldly success for the real experience of salvation. It was not until the Great Awakening arrived that the Americans found their spiritual home. The offspring of the Puritans went the way of the Awakenings. Sects like the Baptists, Methodists, Quakers, Shakers and "Independent Congregationalists" blossomed.

These new sects were manifestations of popular enthusiasm, versus institutional and traditional forms. They were established by inspired lay people, based upon their direct religious experience and sense of God-given authority. They were evangelical, not territorial, and they ignored the conventional parish lines of the state churches. They were unpretentious, based upon self-evident truth. They had lively music that the older folks did not like. They were self-taught. A scandal to the established churches of the East Coast, these services broke the barriers between black and white, men and women, adults and children, allowing individuals to make up their own mind and preachers to find their own truth within the scriptures.

After the Revolution, Americans loosed the church from the state. Since no one was forced to attend church, the churches that grew were those who found the way to minister to people's direct needs. The conventional churches -- the Presbyterian, Congregationalist and Episcopalian -- grew proportionally to population growth and immigration. Joining their ranks were the Catholics, who grew to large numbers by dint of immigration and effective youth education. Today they are numerous and are healthy in many ways, but they have a dearth of priests. By the 1960s all the mainstream Protestant churches were shrinking. The churches that have grown throughout American history are those that assimilated the spirit and style of the Great Awakenings: the Baptists, Methodists, and their offshoots in the Holiness movement, Pentecostalism, Fundamentalism, the Latter-Day Saints, Seventh-Day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses and thousands of independent Bible churches.

a. Continual New Expressions of Truth

Sociologist of religion Donald Miller has coined the term "new paradigm church" for certain current manifestations of this tradition. He describes three contemporary exemplars of this as "changing the way Christianity looks and is experienced. Like upstart religious groups of the past, they have discarded many of the attributes of establishment religion. Appropriating contemporary cultural forms, these churches are creating a new genre of worship music; they are restructuring the organizational character of institutional religion; and they are democratizing access to the sacred by radicalizing the Protestant principle of the priesthood of all believers." [2]

I acknowledge that Unificationists have been very innovative over the years. Consider the video series for Christian clergy, the CAUSA slide lectures, the True Family Values workbooks, and the Pure Love Alliance and International Educational Foundation curricula. And yet, none of these have served the purpose of bringing people into the Unification Church. None of these have had the objective of bringing people into a life changing, heart-relationship with God through the church community.

Unificationists have not developed the Divine Principle itself into a listener-friendly study course. Is it proper to develop better expressions of Principle? Of course! As Rev. Moon said, "When lecturing on the Principle, people don't like it when it is done in the old way." [3] This is the most creative era of human history, due to God's providence. But Satan is a great innovator too. Communism fell, but Satan had a backup plan called secular humanism, or, to put it bluntly, paganism. Paganism is individualistic, free-sex ideology dressed up in spiritual trappings. Unificationists have to adapt what Satan is doing! This is a simple application of the principle of the false preceding the true. Martin Luther and John Calvin both hired people to adapt songs that people were singing in the taverns for use in the church. Luther is cited to have said, "Why should the devil have all the good tunes?" (This phrase is sometimes also attributed to Salvation Army founder William Booth, another leader who broke the musical conventions of his time by adapting popular songs.)

Rev. Moon cautions Unificationists not to look to the past, whether the American past or the Korean past. "Now what goes forward into the future of hope has to emerge," he said. "Although some religions insist on going back to the past, today's situation is not the same as the situation of the past. Could today's problem be managed by the contents of the past? We should not go back to the past." [4]

The Unification Family Church should go forward in America with a grasp of the characteristics of American religion. Then it can know what the people expect, what they can understand, and hence, it can fulfill the first requirement to create give and take action: make a common base.

Here is my appraisal of the characteristics of American religion:

Friendly, warm and embracing
Informal, casual
Efficient -- no frills for their own sake
Competent
Practical, useful, makes a difference in my life
Unpretentious
Flexible
Innovative, whether in a conservative or liberal direction
Responsive to the culture
Laity dominated
Less concerned with buildings, tradition and ritual
More concerned with saving people
Non-intellectual, even anti-intellectual in relationship to secular knowledge
Emotional and physical, not conceptual

Here is the view of a noted Christian analyst, George Barna, on the topic of the shape of successful Christian churches in the 21st century, based upon present trends: [5]

Decentralized
Lay-driven
Horizontal
Accepting
Focused on mission and vision
Specialized in terms of audience
Relevance-bound, not tradition-bound
Participation and innovation by members
Personal transformation more important than gaining knowledge
Accessibility, impact and integrity more important than size, efficiency and image
Growth facilitating rather than attention grabbing
Relationships and experiences rather than more and better-run programs

A study by Richard Cimino and Don Lattin reveals that these characterize not only the growing Christian churches, but all growing spiritual movements in America. [6]

2. Resources and Models

It is my belief that Rev. Moon has always promoted the principles of "new paradigm" growth, the principles embedded in American religion. Of course this is not all he is promoting and teaching. But his teachings provide the examples and theological foundations to grow the church this way. Rev. Moon's words on church development provide one foundation and model for the Unification Church in this American context. On that basis, models of other church communities that are growing can be examined. Finally, there are the movement's own models of success as reference points.

a. Rev. Moon's Words on Ministry and Church Development

Rev. Moon developed his church from the 1940s through the 1960s in Korea. By the time he came to America, he was working on the national and world levels. One thing he sacrificed in coming here was his role as a local pastor. An experienced local pastor knows that to give that up is a big sacrifice -- one of the many of Rev. Moon's sacrifices during his long course. Of that period, he later said, "Now, I am very famous and so busy that I cannot give the Divine Principle lectures. The old days when I was raising members was the most exciting period." [7]

Rev. Moon built the American membership through crusades and set up state leaders and mobile unit commanders to continue a mobilization strategy. The church sought to win 30,000 members in order to shake America through the Bicentennial celebrations, but fell far short. Nevertheless, it proceeded to establish media vehicles, the seminary and high-level outreach into the religious and political communities. It never paused to build a literal church community in America.

This is why today the Unification Church desperately needs to discover Rev. Moon's model and pattern of church building, based upon his ministry in Korea. It is fortunate that now there is access to some of his words on this topic. It is amazing to find that many of his words parallel the strategies evident in the new paradigm Christian churches. It is the strategies developed in these churches that comprise a second resource.

b. Models of Churches that Are Growing

The early seventies were a time of intense spiritual activity in America. Many American readers may recall, as do I, the return to Christianity by many of our peers. These young people transformed Christianity in the context of the youth culture of the times. They rejected the Christianity of their parents' generation, the liberal, staid, bureaucratic mainstream Christianity under-girding the "vast wasteland" of American culture. They rejected the churches that spurned rock music, colorful clothes and long hair on men. These young people, our peers who followed the path of the Jesus movement in the seventies, kept the music, hung loose with the clothes, kept their hair long if they liked, and accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Salvation, they realized, is a matter of the heart, not the hair or other externalities.

Many of these Christian groups faded away, but some took root and created a new wave of Christianity in America. They are what sociologist Donald Miller calls "new paradigm churches." [8] They didn't all grow out of hippie communes. The Jesus People merged into the already flexible, innovative Baptist, Holiness and Pentecostal communities and found new ways to live the gospel life. Out of those half-hippie Bible study groups they have developed and are developing new forms of community life, and today they are growing like wildfire. Without any missionary plan, world-conquering vision or denominational subsidy, as of 1996 the members of just two recent Bible-study start-ups, Vineyard Community Churches and Calvary Churches, had grown into 1,290 congregations in some thirty countries. Many of these churches contain thousands of members, although the median size is about 150. They grow by the principle of volunteerism. The founder of the successful Vineyard Fellowship in Columbus, Ohio, was kick-started by spirit world. He was persecuting a Christian evangelist on his campus when the Holy Spirit spoke to him. The Spirit said, "Do you think you could do better?"

There are three points to be made here. One, what Rev. Moon asked and I believe expected the membership to do in America was very much like what these Christians are doing. In faith I believe that there is a deep connection between these seeds that Unificationists left uncultivated as a result of their attendance to the wilderness course, and the methods for harvest developed in the American Christian churches. These ministry methods for church health and growth are ours already. A reading of Rev. Moon's teachings encouraging Unificationists to use exactly these strategies reinforces this belief.

Two, the most successful Unification church, the Oakland church of the 70s and early 80s, exemplified many traits of these other churches. What these other churches have done, and what the Unification Church has failed as yet to do on a large scale, is integrate this high-intensity, culturally attractive faith with family life.

And three, the growth of these new paradigm churches is a work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit for the sake of the Second Coming dispensation. It stands to reason that working with these churches can help all to realize their aspirations.

Some may object that Unificationists cannot follow what other churches do because "we have the Messiah so we cannot be compared with nor learn anything from them." It is true that there are doctrinal and practical differences. Nonetheless, there are major similarities. Both are groups with a message of salvation trying to get others to join through the Holy Spirit (or what we call "vitality elements"). Both are trying to win souls out of the same secular city. Both are competing against the same competi­tion, the same temptations. And, when it comes down to it, people join churches because they feel God's love, a love that heals, gives hope and binds families together. Most Unification Church members joined for the same reason.

Further, churches, no matter what their doctrine or organization, face common problems. Every church struggles against:

Dry lifeless sermons and services
Lack of congregational participation
Stressed-out leadership
Uninspired members
Antiquated or unsuitable facilities
Difficulty in gaining and keeping members
Difficulty in reaching youth
Isolation from the larger society
Becoming ingrown
Aging leadership and membership
Declining tithing
Marital struggle and family breakdown

All churches have these problems. Churches grow in proportion to their ability to overcome these challenges. Unificationists can learn from the ways in which others have overcome the same problems. At least one major Christian leader, Rick Warren of the Saddleback Church, tells his audiences that he learned from what the Unification Church did as a successful group back in the seventies. [9] Others, such as Bill Hybels at Willow Creek Church, state that in their early days they were taken to be a Unificationist front group. [10] Such were the similarities back then. On April 15, 2000, Mrs. Moon pointed out that Rick Warren's success was due in part to his adopting our workshop system. She called the church leaders present to create success equal to Rick Warren's, and more because they have a deeper revelation of God's Word.

Another objection is that these groups are so friendly to the culture that they have lost the prophetic edge. It cannot be denied that the Unification Church pushes the doctrinal envelope into the future. But the best of these churches are, in my estimation, counter-cultural even if not radically prophetic. Look, for example, at the home-schooling movement and the pro-choice movement that many of these churches support. The Promise Keepers surely have their share of liberal mainstream critics. John the Baptist was a prophet who gained a large hearing in his society. There is no law saying that a prophetic message cannot stimulate joy, radiate vitality, give life and draw upon culture-specific metaphors and media. What I am proposing need not compromise the Unification Church's prophetic message. Ironically, these churches receive the "you are too culture-friendly" criticism from bureaucracy-bound Christians!

c. Unificationist Models of Success

Some of the best Unificationist models of success are in areas other than the church per se. Three models of movement success in America are the Universal Ballet, the True World Group restaurants and the New Yorker Hotel. Later, we will examine lessons to be learned from the most successful Unificationist congregation, the Oakland Church. What can be learned from what these leaders and members have already accomplished?

1) A Lesson from the Universal Ballet

POLICY: Identify something you are good at and have a passion for, and do it.
ACTION: Invest funds and work with talented, gifted people even if they are not our church members.
Provide long-term support from the movement
Practice! Practice! Practice!
RESULTS: A world-class ballet company
Fulfillment for all parties
A real contribution to the world of ballet and of culture in general
True Parents' prestige boosted

2) Application of the Lesson from Universal Ballet to the Church

POLICY: Gifts-based ministry: find the people who want to be church leaders and are good at it.
Allow others to find what they really want to do and help them turn that into a ministry.
PROJECTED ACTION: Invest in church leadership and church development and keep a steady course, protecting that territory for the long term.
Continually upgrade the Unification Theological Seminary for the education of leaders and laity.
Study and develop models of success.
Encourage and validate innovation and reward success.
Build a foundation to support consistent focus.
Practice! Practice! Practice!
PROJECTED RESULTS: A world-class spiritual movement
Fulfillment for all parties
A real contribution to humankind
True Parents' victory

3) A Lesson from the True World Group

POLICY: Close restaurants that are losing money, even in the face of a providential goal.
ACTION: Two-thirds of restaurants were closed.
Number of restaurants dropped from 100 to 35.
RESULTS: Gross monthly income rose from $2.6 million to $3.2 million.
Average income per restaurant each month rose from $26,000 to $91,430.
Administrative overhead was reduced.
Profits increased.

4) Application of the Lesson from True World Group

POLICY: Close church centers that are not growing and sell unneeded buildings. (Compare with the demolition of those historically priceless halls in which thousands received liberation at Chung Pyung Lake, or the original farmhouse in which Rev. and Mrs. Moon lived at New Hope East Garden, Jardim. Does anyone miss them?)
PROJECTED ACTION: Research the viability of our church centers.
Close probably two-thirds of church centers and bank accounts.
Reduce the size of regional and national offices.
PROJECTED RESULT: Members are freed up to develop local projects according to need and interest (schools, new churches, social action).
Slimmed-down regional and national offices have better focus.
Increased results, energy and pride.

5) A Lesson from the New Yorker Hotel

POLICY: Utilized professional management, a working, hands-on board and disregard race in determining leadership.
ACTION: Entrusted the New Yorker project to an active American board and hired industry professionals.
RESULTS: The building moved from a $60,000 monthly subsidy to hundreds of thousands in monthly income.
The building is completely renovated.
New Yorkers' respect for Rev. Moon and the Unification Church rises, with positive New York media coverage.

6) Application of the Lesson from the New Yorker Hotel

POLICY: Utilize professional management and a working, hands-on board. Disregard race in determining leadership.
PROJECTED ACTION: Work with professional management and a hands-on, working board.
Empower our church leaders with training and support.
Develop vertical culture with indigenous appeal.
PROJECTED RESULT: Increased membership
Increased financial foundation
Substantial foundation for Rev. and Mrs. Moon in America.

By way of summary, the policies listed above fit into the culture within which today's Unificationists are working. They entail training, collegiality, sensitivity to people's wants and needs, practicality, and utilizing the gifts God has given the membership. To borrow an insight from Jack Whedbee, these policies describe how to strengthen the hyungsang of the providence, the body that can be an effective vehicle to serve the sungsang, Rev. Moon's mind that is pushing forward relentlessly. Without a strong body, the mind cannot achieve its full potential.

3. Lessons from the Oakland Church

The Oakland community, 1972-82, employed clear strategies by which they achieved success. They were not the only Unification Church in America expanding at that time, but in Oakland these strategies were implemented with the greatest consistency over longest period of time. Although I know that not all of Oakland's practices were laudable, and that today's members cannot utilize these exact strategies today, there are still very important lessons to be learned -- both what to do and what not to do. So let's look at this witnessing model a little more closely, with an eye to the positive lessons.

a. Stable, Step-by-Step Educational Program

The main point is that each step ends with an invitation to take the next step, and the next step is ready to go immediately and is harmonized with the previous step. Therefore, people have a clear and simple goal in doing outreach: just inspire the person to value the next step.

b. Simple, Attractive, Non-Confrontational Introductory Lecture

It should be very upbeat, simple to a fault, humorous, inspirational and idealistic. It should be full of commonplace truths that, although no one practices them, no one can deny them.

c. Weekend Workshop Components

Simple but essential lectures on creation, fall, Jesus and history, that address fundamen­tal questions about the existence of God, the purpose of life, good and evil and that the Messiah is on the earth.
Energetic music, joyful, heartfelt and easy to learn
Small group discussions that focus on each individual's response to the lectures and questions. Groups have a leader and assistant leader with well-defined roles. Saturday evening entertainment, on the foundation of small group activities such as preparing skits and song writing and performing together.
Testimony time after the entertainment, prepared well by an older member who tells his or her story of joining the movement.
Serious prayer
Care and concern about each guest -- the epitome of guest friendly! For this to happen, it is vital that the new guest's spiritual parent attends the workshop with the guest. This is the personal bond; the spiritual parent is most concerned about the guest's welfare; and it is a reward to the spiritual parent for bringing a guest.
Often, members who are getting dry spiritually can replenish their hearts at the weekend workshop.

d. Education Track

Seven-day workshop, twenty-one day workshop and a formal course of study and training lets new believers put the theology into practice in daily life ("actionizing"). This constituted a seamless track to bring new believers into full missionary life.

e. Relevant Material

Presentations were based on common sense and the Bible, and had a good deal of humor and illustrations. When I attended an Oakland 2-day workshop in 1980, I was struck with the focus on theodicy -- how one can believe in God in the face of the world's evil. There was a good deal of emphasis upon the human portion of responsibility as well. In other words, the message was not ideological but rather addressed the primary arguments for why one should believe and devote him/herself to a godly way of life.

f. Relatable Leadership

Americans were out front, with non-Americans leading by supporting from the background. Mrs. Durst did not hunger to stand in the spotlight. I was in Oakland four months and saw her only in late evening, members-only fellowships and when she would offer a song and words of encouragement at the conclusion of the weekend workshop. The difficulty to gain access to her only added to her spiritual authority.

g. Efficient Organization

Oakland had a stable core staff and clear hierarchical system. While expressing a great deal of horizontal affection, that church had the strongest vertical system I ever experienced. And concerning the (in)famous Oakland "horizontal" spirit, consider Rev. Moon's words: "Multiplication does not happen on the vertical level; horizontally good give and take multiplies. That is why church leaders should relate with church members horizontally. Progress will follow." [11]

h. Functional Facilities

Oakland workshops took place in facilities that were simple, rustic and even Spartan, with sleeping bag accommodations. They were functional and they fit their niche market's expectations.

i. Niche-Witnessing

Oakland witnessing was "niche-witnessing." Members knew exactly who was their target and they designed their program perfectly to suit that type of person. When that type vanished from the American landscape, naturally the Oakland church was challenged. Today, not many people will drop what they are doing to accept a stranger's invitation to dine with a group of people from all over the world. As the Oakland leadership did, there is need today to identify a niche and create a suitable program.

j. Small Group Life

The new member became part of a small group in the center (a "trinity"). The trinities were mixed gender and carried on all public activities together, meeting together for breakfast and discussion of the day's schedule, and reconvening at dinner, for evening visitations or lecture attendance, and then a closing prayer. After that, the trinity leaders would meet Mrs. Durst, making the Oakland church an early example of the "meta-church" structure in which everyone is in a small group.

k. A Spirit of Joy

This was an absolutely necessary aspect of Oakland life. One sister was said to push herself to leap out of bed every morning praising God. I was struck by the constant phrase, "That's great!" applied to anything and everything. There were signs in the bathroom reminding users to "leave a plus." People recited the phrase, "The Principle is the power" and "Glory to Heaven, peace on earth." Positivity and gratitude were encouraged. I thought it corny at the time, but realize now that it is a very effective psychological means to live a successful life. Robert Schuller, anyone?

4. Application of the Lessons from the Oakland Church

I believe that Unificationists can and should apply these effective strategies in the context of a family church, making them work in a less intense environment. In fact, I would go so far as to conceive of the family church as an expanded form of the effective workshop.

I find it helpful to categorize these strategies into four areas: worship, education, small groups and personal ministry. The spirit and impact of the introductory evening program is created in the worship service. The curriculum of the workshop series, two-day through 40-day, is provided through a variety of course offerings, including Sunday school, evening studies, small group curricula, weekend retreats and so forth. The intimate personal contact is created in the small group ministry and counseling for personal ministry.

Here is a brief elaboration of each of these areas.

a. Worship

Worship together bridges the gap of trust. It is a setting where guests are willing to listen. A good Sunday Service that provides an experience of God is a necessary part of any successful church. It serves the purpose of Oakland's evening program. This means the Sunday Service must be seeker friendly and culturally recognizable.
Effective churches place a great deal of emphasis upon the music at Sunday Service. Music creates the atmosphere of worship -- the "spiritual atmosphere." The "worship team" is also the choir/band, and they are seeking the same experience of God as everyone else -- they are not performers, they are co-worshippers. A good Sunday Service means to bring down the Holy Spirit, to give people spiritual nourishment, healing, happiness and hope.

b. Education

Education bridges the gap of understanding and develops the learner's perspective. Once people are attracted to the church, they must be taught. It will not do to jerry-rig a workshop whenever there's a guest; there must be a regular education program in place -- basically a series of Principle presentations. Teaching should be clear but not doctrinal; it should utilize the rich resource of the lessons in Bible stories. Education should be provided through a broad range of offerings, including evenings and weekends.

c. Small Groups

A small group ministry bridges the gap of commitment and nurtures the individual's lifestyle. All growing churches have small groups, even just Bible study groups. This was also a key factor with Oakland, both in workshops and center life. Donald Miller found in his surveys that everyone said that the real life of the church is in the small groups. The Willow Creek leaders found that the bigger they became, the smaller they had to become. Small groups are essential to the Unificationist ministry as well.

d. Personal Ministry

Personal ministry bridges the gap of offering and develops each person's gifts. A personal, gifts-based ministry means that the individual discovers the unique gift that is his or hers, and offers it to the world for the glory of God. The church exists to be the environment in which this takes place. The church is not for the purpose of displaying the glory of the pastor. It is the place to bring out the glory of every individual. In Unification parlance, personal ministry translates into Tribal Messiahship. The purpose of church leadership is to empower Tribal Messiahs.

Conclusion

Over the past few years, Rev. Moon has been calling for a restructuring the American church. I believe that it is time to do that. The Unification Church in Taiwan broke through by connecting the Principle to the Confucian cultural tradition of the people. The Unification Church in Japan adjusted in order to work within Japanese society. On what basis can the Unification Church work within the American context? There are models of the movement's success in America, and these models largely coincide with American Christian tradition. They coincide with what others are doing successfully and resonate with Rev. Moon's teachings.


[1] Sun Myung Moon, Way of Unification, Part 2 (New York: Family Federation for World Peace and Unification International, 1998), p. 35.

[2] Donald Miller, Reinventing American Protestantism: Christianity in the New Millennium (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), p. 1.

[3] Sun Myung Moon, The Way of the Spiritual Leader, Part 1 (New York: FFWPUI, 1998), p. 124.

[4] Moon, Way of Unification, Part 2, p. 314.

[5] George Barna, The Second Coming of the Church: A Blueprint for Survival (Nashville: Word, 1998), p. 177.

[6] Richard Cimino and Don Lattin, Shopping for Faith: American Religion in the New Millennium (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1998).

[7] Moon, The Way of the Spiritual Leader, Part 1, p. 238.

[8] See Donald Miller, Reinventing American Protestantism: Christianity in the New Millennium (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1998).

[9] Report by Rev. Kevin Thompson. See Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995).

[10] Lynne Hybels and Bill Hybels, Rediscovering Church: The Story and Vision of Willow Creek Community Church (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995), p. 64.

[11] Moon, The Way of the Spiritual Leader, Part 1, p. 181.


Dr. Tyler Hendricks is President of the Unification Theological Seminary, where he also teaches courses in Ministry. He served as the President of the Unification Church of America from 1994-2000. This article is an adaptation from his book, Family, Church, Community, Kingdom: Building a Witnessing Church for Working Families (New York: HSA-UWC, 2000). Dr. Hendricks received his Ph.D. in Religion from Vanderbilt University in 1981.

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