Cham Bumo Gyeong: Episode 69

Cham Bumo Gyeong
Book 3: The Beginning of True Father's Public Course and the Founding of HSA-UWC
Chapter 3: Founding the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity
Section 3: Conditions of Devotion and Guidance on Faith, Continuous teaching
Section 4: Pioneer Outreach to 120 Areas, Paragraph 07

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Continuous teaching

In the early days of the church, former church president Eu Hyo-won single-handedly undertook the task of giving Divine Principle lectures to the guests who were witnessed to. Newcomers listened to his lectures in the evenings, and people who came to hear three days of lectures usually slept at the church during the time that they listened to the lectures. It was as if they were attending a three-day workshop. President Eu set the record, giving lectures for 18 hours in a single day.

He could not stand up due to the condition of his legs, so he gave his lectures while half-lying on the floor, propping himself up with one arm and writing on rough printing paper. After President Eu finished his lecture, True Father would speak to the guests. He spoke with all of his heart and strength, until his whole body was soaked in sweat. Those who went through this process were moved and touched by the profound truth of the Principle. From this experience alone they resolved to walk the path of the Will.

Later, President Eu gave introductory lectures in the mornings and afternoons as well.

19  For three years and eight months President Eu Hyo-won gave lectures without taking a break for even one day. This is the historical reality of our church. He gave the lectures despite his disability. When I think of how I pushed him to lecture, I feel as though I am a merciless person. In those days we did not have many members like we do now. When we had one new guest, he would give lectures just for that person, and when we had no guests, he gave lectures to the members. I am sure there are many members who remember this.

20  I did not rest while President Eu Hyo-won was giving lectures. Sitting in my upstairs room, I listened to all his lectures. I was given reports about who had come. In the evening I came down to give lectures myself. Less than a minute after I started speaking, I would see him doze off from fatigue. Then I would pray for him in tears. We experienced such a tearful history together.

The history of the Unification Church is so painful. Why did I have to do that? Why did President Eu have to do that? It was for God. Nevertheless, the spirit world supported us. If it hadn’t, it would have meant that the spirit world does not exist.

21  Even if there is no one at the church when you are giving a sermon, keep the door open and preach while wailing in tears. Then, your neighbors will come and ask what is happening. People will come to see what is going on. Then you can ask them to listen to your sermon.

You should speak with tears. For whom do you shed tears? You do it for the nation, for humankind, for the world and for God. That is the way that you must go. If you collapse while giving lectures on the Word, I will take care of you; if you die from that, I will hold the funeral for you. You will have things to say when you go to the spirit world. You can say you were following my instruction, and while giving lectures, speaking at the top of your lungs, you died.

How serious it is to give lectures on the Word! Do it as a matter of life and death. That was the attitude I had. As a result, God helped me, and I now have become a worldwide figure.

22  After you come out of a seven-day workshop at the Unification Church and walk the streets of the city, you feel as if there is something different about the world. The trains look as if they are out of an ancient legend, and every bus going down the street seems to be upside down. Even the people may seem to be walking backward.

After having such an experience, would you stop coming to the church because you were told not to? In the early days, even if our main gate was locked, members climbed over the church fence. When I told them not to come and chased them out through the front door, they turned around and came in through the back door. It was common for members to stay up all night praying, weeping and crying out in tears.

We need such a spirit at the church. Then something great will erupt like a volcano. In order to make this happen, you have to give lectures day and night. That is why I asked President Eu to give lectures for as much as 18 hours a day, which he did for three years and eight months.

 

Section 4. Pioneer Outreach to 120 Areas

Forty-day pioneering

Beginning July 1, 1957, the members fasted for seven days together with True Father, who continued this fast for a total of 40 days. Then, beginning on July 20 he dispatched the members in two-member missionary teams for a 40-day pioneer outreach campaign in 120 areas throughout Korea. Through this full-scale outreach activity, membership increased and new local churches were established. In 1958 Father further strengthened the system of outreach. In 1959 headquarters organized three different 40-day workshops to train evangelists. Later, 40-day Divine Principle workshops were held regularly as part of the work to raise up leaders.

1  How are we to live when carrying out God’s Will? You cannot live just for yourself and be concerned only with solving your own personal problems. You need to go beyond that and be concerned with the problems of the whole. You must make a pure offering of eternal value. Engage in providential activity as an evangelist of heaven. If you feel called for this mission and go out to witness, God will be with you. If you live with this heart, the historical re-creation of love will surely take place.

2  A special 40-day outreach campaign started on July 20, 1957. All the members in Korea began a seven-day fast on July 1. Through fasting they made a new start. I fasted with them and announced this special 40-day campaign.

In the Unification Church, we hold a 40-day witnessing campaign starting on July 20 every year. This is during the school break, the hottest time of the year. We need to sweat and work intensely for the providence during the hottest period of the year. This is a good way to pay indemnity. Indemnity conditions have to be set strategically. That was why I chose this most difficult time for witnessing.

When you go out witnessing, you are not to carry any money with you. If you have money, you should give it away. You have to go to your assigned area and meet your expenses by doing manual labor or whatever jobs you can do that will help the people in your area. By shedding your blood and sweat in activities to help the people, you are undergoing training.

3  In 1957, when the Unification Church started its outreach activities for the first time, I sent missionaries out to 120 locations throughout Korea. I instructed them to go to their assigned areas with only two changes of clothes and enough money for a one-way trip. It was during my 40-day fast, and I encouraged them to do a limited fast, such as a liquid fast with a drink made from mixed grain powder. I said they had to start by doing manual labor for their food, then later they could accept the food that people offered them. This is what they did, starting from the lowest position of having nothing and overcoming.

I too went this path. For three years I fasted on my birthday. I ate sitting on the floor, setting my food on a newspaper as if it were a dining table. I ate only a bowl of grains with no more than three side-dishes, including kimchi and soy sauce. This was how we climbed up through all the stages. This is restoration through indemnity. Even the clothes I wore were hand-me-downs.

4  When the members left to begin the 40-day outreach campaign, they did not complain or ask for money. Even though they were persecuted in their areas, they went from house to house to save even one more soul. As they went around early in the morning, all the dogs in the village barked at them. That irritated the villagers, so they would not give our members any work there to earn money. That is why they had to take a bus early in the morning and work far away.

With the money they made from their labor, they bought puffed rice. Then they offered that as a snack to guests before giving lectures. You need to know that practices like these are recorded as part of the providential history of the early days of the church.

5  During the outreach campaign that we held in 1957, there were memorable moments. When members ran into each other on the street, they were so happy. They shed tears when they said their goodbyes, hating to separate from each other and looking forward to meeting each other again. This was also the bond that members created with their spiritual children, with whom they spent many hours walking along mountain ridges together. When they had to separate, they were so sad to have to say goodbye to each other.

You cannot buy such moments, not with any amount of gold. Do you feel how priceless they are? If you forget such memories, what do you think will be precious in your life? In the future, you must accompany me not only in Korea but throughout the world, implanting my new teaching and introducing the heavenly tradition. That will be the source of your pride. Yet, when can you make and collect the precious stories and teaching materials that you will need to share in order to do this work? There is no better time than now.

6  Throughout the 1950s, even before the Unification Church was officially launched, I gave members all kinds of training. I directed them to fast, go pioneering, and much more. In those days members missed me very deeply. They came to the church to see me, staying late into the evening. I would walk with them to their homes, but even then we could not say goodbye and ended up walking back to the church together. Sometimes we spent all night like that, coming and going. And it was not only with me; the members did the same with each other.

In those days in Korea, we did not have many vehicles like we do today. Most people walked. On many occasions as we walked home in the moonlight or at dawn, we shed tears with burning desire and determination, pledging to live for the nation, the world and heaven. I have many unforgettable memories of those times. They were circumstances that taught us the real meaning of patriotism, of putting the nation ahead of one’s family. The high spiritual atmosphere moved us in those days. It was stronger than one’s first love in the secular world. I will always remember that time.

As church leaders, it is your responsibility to maintain that atmosphere. It has to be one of the goals of your activities. Make effort to maintain the standard that connects your church to this foundational tradition. Understand how I established this tradition and teach your successor how to inherit it. Even if you are doing well now, if your successor cannot do better than you are doing today, the Unification Church will decline. The future must always be better than today. Always keep in mind that you need to invest yourself into the members now, for the sake of the future.

7  It is not enough for you leaders to just speak or lecture about the Word. More importantly, you have to be able to plant the Word so that it yields a harvest. You cannot harvest these fruits in an instant. It takes more than three years. That is a principle. That is why you need to work hard for three years.

Hence, in 1957 I chose 120 locations for witnessing activities and sent our members there as missionaries, saying, “Go with the attitude that this 40-day assignment to your area will continue for three years. Take the position of servants. Be loyal to the people you meet in your village, and work for them as hard as you would if they were paying you to work as an employee. This is how you can teach them the way of loyalty. Don’t just talk about loyalty, but demonstrate it through your actions. Then, even if you do not say anything, other people will contribute to keep the work going after you have left. When people begin to respond this way, your work can truly take root in that village.”

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