Cheon Seong Gyeong: Episode 279

CHAPTER 3  The Mission of a Church Leader

Section 1.  The Mission and Responsibility of a Church Leader

(1)  When a priest performs a ceremony, if the people do not attend, he should consider it his responsibility. So if people do not come, you should strike yourself, shed tears on their behalf, and pray that God will forgive them. You should think that the people stayed away because you are a sinner, and repent of your sins representing the people and the nation. If you pray on a wooden floor, that floor should never remain dry; it should be soaked in tears twenty-four hours a day. Then God will guide you to the ones to whom you should witness. When they come to see you, you should serve and attend them as a servant, as if they were kings and queens. You must do so because you as a sinner need to remove your sins. The more you serve and attend them as kings and queens, the faster you will indemnify your sins. When you go down below them and serve those sinful people as if they were Heaven, you can set many indemnity conditions.

(2)  The people who are in the position of Cain need to support the priests. The priests are the ones who make offerings to redeem the people. Since they do so to redeem the sins of those in Cain’s position, those people need to make offerings to their Abel and support him. In return, Abel must offer his life for Cain. Cain's offering is based on material things, whereas Abel's offering is based on the people. They become one at that point and the groundwork for restoration is laid. The high priests who represented the people of Israel were in the position of Abel. Hence, by paying the price of hard work to restore Cain, they could claim the people in Cain's position as their portion. They claimed people, not material.

(3)  An altar cannot be set up unless the high priest fulfills his responsibility. It requires a priest. An altar cannot be prepared without a priest. What, then, is required for you to become a high priest? You need to belong to a blessed group of people whom God loves. Otherwise, you cannot attain that position. In Israel, the priests were from the tribe of Levi. Not just anyone could become a high priest. The Levites did not receive their own share of the land; the only thing that belonged to them was the temple. At the center of the temple was the altar, and it was on the altar that the sacrificial offerings were made. The only thing the chief priest could claim as his share was the sacrificial offering, and this only after he had made the offering on the altar and thus benefited the people with redemption.

(4)  What should the Unification Church do? At the present time, we should stand in the same position as the Levites. That means we should possess nothing of our own. Then we can be in the position to become high priests. Each of you ought to become a high priest with a temple. After you obtain a temple, you need an altar. After you have prepared your altar, you need to make offerings. To save people during the Old Testament Age, God had the high priests kill sheep and heifers and offer them as sacrifices. He even asked Abraham to offer his most beloved son as a sacrifice. Now, however, what do you love the most and deem most precious? It is your own self. That is why I am asking you to offer yourself as a sacrifice.

(5)  Consider the people in leadership positions. They cannot be happy just as they please. In fact, they are often quite miserable. Why are they miserable? It is because they feel that they are always in debt. They are always thinking, "I must be good to the members in my my church," and always feel indebted to them. When a leader sees that one of his members is miserable, he or she should talk to that person all through the night with concern about that persons life. If that person is in a life-or-death situation, it is the responsibility of the spiritual leader to block the way to death, even at the cost of sacrificing himself. The leader needs to stand in such a position. Thus, the leader should consider whether he or she is living for the sake of the members, and how much he or she loves them. A leader should not think of the members as strangers, but as family. They are like branches of a tree, and should be well cared for so they can grow.

(6)  The person to whom you witness is called your spiritual son or daughter. That person is your own branch. How much have you endeavored night and day to nourish that branch? To do so, you need to become either the trunk or the root. If you are the root, the more branches there are, the more nutrients you will need to absorb from the soil to supply all that the trunk and branches require. You will need to constantly nourish them, without rest, to meet their needs and help them grow. If you are limited and unable to supply the nutrients that the branches at the top require, those branches will wither and die. Hence, you need to have something within you that connects to the bounty of life that surrounds you. If you are grateful for your life, life will always spring up and flow through you. Although your circumstances may be painful, you need to preserve a sanctuary deep in your heart where life can dwell, a nest where you can find peaceful rest. Then God will be with you.

(7)  It is important to take responsibility. Yet you live without realizing that you have to shoulder responsibility not only for this era, but also for history. You need to realize, "My ancestors, my current household, and my future descendants all depend on me." Therefore, as a spiritual leader you must not think you are free to do as you please. It is your obligation to live in keeping with the one way, even when you are surrounded by enemies. What is the one way? It is none other than following the way of the heart and teaching the way of filial piety. Even when eating or sleeping, you should be immersed in such a heart. Then you can develop.

(8)  You do not know how often I have shed tears because I missed you, family members. God has also shed many tears as He sought His true sons and daughters. When a person comes to your church, you should never think, "How large a donation is this person going to make?" To think only about money is the viewpoint of a Pharisee. A church leader who thinks that way will never prosper. You leaders must love people rather than their money. When you love people, money will naturally follow. Nevertheless, most people's thinking is the other way around. Also, some leaders say that you should witness only to people who are young and handsome, but this is wrong! The church is an extension of the family. In families there are grandmothers, grandfathers and middle-aged women and men, as well as young people. If the Unification Church consisted of only young people, this situation would need to be corrected.

(9)  When something good is available, a spiritual leader should strive to use it for the benefit of All his people. If his people already live in good circumstances, the leader should be able to give them something of greater benefit. The leader should always be in a position to give something. From this perspective, God deserves our sympathy! If you ask world-famous spiritual leaders whether they feel truly happy, they will reply that they do not. They are in a position to give at all times, and they have to deal with people from various social classes. It would be simple if they had to deal only with people who are like themselves, but in fact they need to deal with many kinds of people because they are to live for the sake of all. Problems arise when they cannot give everything to all people at all times.