HDHC Small Group Leaders Meeting - 11/18/07

We were gathered around the dining room table in the parsonage ready to share lunch and begin the meeting when Rev. Dong Woo Kim appeared. What a wonderful and welcomed surprise. Mrs. Feddema and Rev. Geller shared how much they appreciated Rev. Kim’s guidance for HDFC.  Mr. Rollins remembers all the advice Rev. Kim gave (in HD & Leadership School.) Achille also mentioned something from his experience. 

Mrs. Feddema reported that most of the small groups had been having weekly meetings consistently throughout the year. The leadership had grown through their experiences. Also 2 groups had multiplied. Mr. Accolatse will multiply his group at the end of this year. 

Rev. Kim asked Mr. Inomata (the group that just recently multiplied) to give a testimony of how it happened. Mr. Nagase, the leader of the second group explained that Mr. Inomata follows the manual and always has a meeting whether or not members came. Currently, there are 45 small groups in our region. 38 in New Jersey, the other 5 are divided between Pennsylvania and Delaware. 240 families are in the 38 groups (in New Jersey), 120 families still need to be integrated in small groups.           

Rev. Kim expressed concern about the 2^nd generation as some may not fit into the YAM program. He asked if there were 2^nd generation small groups. Rev. Geller responded that one 2^nd generation group has been meeting weekly.

Summary of Main Points of Rev. Kim’s talk: 

Rev. Kim had just returned from accompanying True Mother for 4 of the talks on the tour. He expressed that it was different this time. Through ACLC and UPF activities new people came. The guests were clearly noticeable. True Mother was always concern about how many guests came. Many of the members testified to the support of the spirit world.  If the spirit world is working with us to bring people to the speeches, why not to HDFC?  

Rev. Kim recently visited Boston. He was asked to give Sunday Service. He had a meeting with the small group leaders. They are very dedicated and are working hard but they don’t have a vision. They are having difficulty in bringing guests, and what to do with them when they do come.  Rev. Kim told Rev. Edgerly in order to break through he needed to go back to the beginning and start from zero.

When we say multiplication everyone must know and understand what that means. If our goals are different we can not succeed.  We need revitalization. We need to change the paradigm or the vision cannot be realized. Everyone has creativity in HDFC. We should meet and share under one vision. We should build a clear education track. We must check if all the 245 families involved in HDFC have the same vision.

Small Group leaders should always reconfirm the vision (statement) to not lose sight of the goal. Otherwise you may be working hard but leading your members astray. Keep reinforcing the vision and goals in your group meetings (like the in the military. The soldiers even dream about what they are trained to do.) If we do this then the spirit world will work with us. Many creative results will come out. The leader’s meetings should be reports about what we have done (small group activities.) Then we can see what is working in a particular area or in certain situations. Those who haven’t had success yet can learn from the testimonies of other group’s success.

In Boston, the Small group meetings are only held in the leader’s homes. Other members in the group are afraid to open up their houses. They don’t feel they need to open up everything to go this way.  In Maryland, they created a textbook. They may have copied it (?) They used it for new people.  They may have the same problem with alignment with the HDFC vision. Without education there is no vision. 

Rev. Kim’s suggestions: Read the mission statement in every meeting.  Leaders should lead members to (embrace) the vision and dream to accomplish it.  After accomplishing multiplication you must raise new leadership otherwise the group cannot survive.  

Once new members start small group activities they should gather 5-6 families. Then multiply. All the members of the group should eventually become leaders whether they lead one group or they are over 10 groups.

Members always look for leadership. When they make a mistake they feel they are just members. However, they expect the leadership to be perfect. Someone who really practices DP and TF teachings is a leader.  Even if you really work hard, but don’t practice a DP lifestyle you can not succeed. Qualification of leadership is to practice a principled lifestyle. Without changing to a principled lifestyle you can not make one consensus and vision.

Education is crucial. We must repeat (the vision and goals) until everyone gets it. We must empower the membership to know and live the standard of a BCF as their daily lifestyle.  They should attend HD school. Once members bring guests we must guide them to become BCF. Just giving them Holy Wine   is not enough. That is why we create DP School to be able to teach new members. The church is one wing and the HDFC (small groups) is the other. They have different responsibilities. HDFC small groups deal with people with love as the base. However, they are not able to provide a conversion experience at this time. That is why the church needs to build up the education track. Through the education track they can become BFC. They will eventually work in the small groups. Most of the Small Group Leaders went to HD School but how many of them are aligned with the vision of HDFC?  We must teach them to align.

Questions, Answers & Comments:

Q. There is a guest coming to the small group who is ready for one – on – one DP. However, there isn’t a certified lecturer in the group. Can the spiritual parent just teach that person? She is a UTS graduate and has lecturing experience. There is concern from past experiences where the guest was not dealt with a parental heart. The personality and heart of the lecturer may be different if it isn’t their own guest. They may not teach the guest with a parental heart of love.

A. Rev. Kim suggested that we should build up really good lecturers.  It is important to have standardized lectures. It is not realistic that every small group have very skillful lecturer. We must be careful. Anyone may be able to give lectures. But the main point of lecturing is for the guest to have a conversion experience.

Mrs. Feddema suggested using the monthly one-day workshop as a way to educate guests.

Members may struggle if they bring guests and there is no one to teach them. We should strengthen the Education system. She will discuss a plan with Rev. Geller. They need more manpower to create an effective Education system. She recalled that many guests from the Cultural Nights were lost because we didn’t have a system to educate them.

Comments:

This year, over 270 guests have come to meetings and social gatherings of the small groups. If we really love and serve the VIPS, they will be ready to be educated. Once we build up a clear vision with all the HDFC membership (240 families) as well as all the leaders. Then 100’s of guests will come (Rev. Geller).  Rev. Kim said if we don’t set-up a good education system we may lose those 270 guests. 

Mrs. Des Lauriers testified that Rev. Tamelessio has been teaching in their group. He remembers what section of DP each guest is studying. When they come to the meeting the group studies that section together with the guest. He is a good lecturer.

Mr. Accolatse shared the challenge he is facing with his group members. Although they have 3 or 4 regular guests, it is difficult to get the members do outreach to bring new VIPs. They are just eating, reading HDH and having discussions. How do we get into the heart of the members? They also have financial struggles. How can he give them hope?

Mr. Shirato commented that people who want money need love. Most people think only of themselves. We need our spouse, children and brothers and sisters more than money. He continued by saying that True Father explained that when we walk, one leg goes up and then down. That can be applied to life too. If we think too much about money we will go in circles. We must believe that money will come if we take care of others.

Mr. Rogers asked if Rev. Kim could enlighten us on how to breakthrough in being able to practice a Principled life.

Rev. Kim responded that when we met the church we felt God and True Parents are with us.

We felt happy. However, long time members are not happy. What happened? There is no connection between the DP and our daily life. My spirit and my life are not aligned with the DP. We look at the DP and we realize that we have to give up many things. We need to do something to change ourselves to have a Divine Principle lifestyle. Most members did fundraising when they were young members. However, after starting their family their lifestyle went back to that prior to the church – a secular lifestyle. We became accustom to a secular lifestyle. Members didn’t find happiness in the DP lifestyle for the past 20 years because they felt they dedicated everything already (before they started their family) so they went toward a secular lifestyle. We must train ourselves to the point where we feel joyful to live a principled lifestyle. If we don’t find happiness in living DP then we will just be teaching the guests the DP. We must feel joy from True Father’s words. Some members still feel pain. We should feel so much happiness and joy that the atmosphere will affect others. Then, we are not just teaching DP.  

If the leaders are doing everything from a sense of mission they will not get results. You must do it with joy and be crazy about what you are doing then others in your group will become crazy too.  Rev. Kim had many friends when he joined the church. His friends thought that he had become crazy. They didn’t want to be with him (a crazy person.) He found more joy being with church members. The love and concern was much more than in his own family. Divine Principle is not the main point, the spiritual atmosphere is.

3 elements are needed to gain spiritual children: 1/3 Jung Sung conditions, 1/3 love & service, and  1/3 truth.  When these 3 elements become one, a spiritual child can be born. The small group mission is to love and serve the guests. The church is responsible for the truth. If the small groups try to take care of all three elements it will not work. Small groups should make the guests feel that the love and care they receive from the small groups members is more than that which they receive from their own husbands, wives and family members. If leaders cannot change their lifestyle they will struggle spiritually. HDFC is a lifestyle not a campaign!

We need to know the HDFC Providence to keep the vision!

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