Side-by-side
United KingdomvsUnited States · early years
Two national histories of the Unification Movement, plotted on a shared year axis. Drawn from the movement's own published histories.
David S.C. Kim arrives in Swansea
Rev. David S.C. Kim enrols at Swansea University (then part of the University of Wales) and becomes the first person to introduce the Divine Principle in the United Kingdom. Among his early contacts is Rev. Joshua McCabe of the Apostolic Church, who travels to Korea for 80 days to study with Rev. Kim and helps with the first English translation of the Divine Principle.
Young Oon Kim arrives in Eugene, Oregon
Young Oon Kim arrives in the United States as the first Unification Church missionary, entering on a student visa to attend the University of Oregon. She had been a professor of comparative religion at Ewha University in Seoul before being asked by Rev. Sun Myung Moon to prepare an English version of the Divine Principle and go to the West. Rev. Moon tells her she will be rejected by 120 people before one accepts and becomes a member.
Eileen Welch — the first American member
Eileen Welch, a married woman with one son in Eugene, becomes the first person in the United States to fully understand the Divine Principle, accept Rev. Moon and his mission. Pumphrey marks her as the first American member by the standard that membership begins when a person grasps and accepts the message, not when they first hear it. She is later blessed with Hank Lemmers.
David S.C. Kim arrives in Portland
David S.C. Kim arrives in the United States in the autumn of 1959, nine months after Miss Kim, and enrols at a seminary in Portland, Oregon. Working quietly under the scrutiny of his fundamentalist Christian college, he begins to find members of his own — including John Schmidli and Vernon Pearson, both later in the 1969 Blessing of 13 Couples in the United States.
True Parents' Blessing marked at Eugene
On the evening of 15 April 1960 Miss Kim holds a special meeting in her room at the Eugene Women's Club, dressed in her best Korean dress, with deep prayer, telling members only that the occasion is of special importance. The new members later learn it was the Blessing of Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han. Some weeks later a package arrives from Korea containing non-perishable food Rev. Moon had set aside from the wedding feast so the American family could partake of it.
The first small group on Oak Hill
On a ridge west of Eugene known as Oak Hill, Doris Orme — witnessed to in her church choir by Eileen Lemmers — arranges for Miss Kim to come to her home to present the Divine Principle to her neighbours Patty Pumphrey and Pauline Verheyen. Pauline and Patty read the first six chapters in a blue-bound mimeographed folder and accept. Doris Orme, Pauline Verheyen, Patty Pumphrey, Galen Pumphrey and (soon after) George Norton form the first American group; Eileen Lemmers is already a member. Early meetings are held at the Eugene Women's Club at 450 East 14th Street.
Centre established at the Pumphrey house on Oak Hill
Miss Kim moves out of her Eugene Women's Club room and into the upstairs of Galen and Patty Pumphrey's farm house on Oak Hill (later Cantrell Road), west of Eugene. The Pumphreys move next door so the house can serve as a centre. George Norton and a young Korean university student soon move in — the first of many communal centres in the United States. Joint Sunday meetings with David Kim's Portland group begin in early summer.
First hardbound Divine Principle printed in Eugene
A new English Divine Principle, rewritten and typed by Miss Kim on a rented IBM Executive typewriter with proportional spacing, is printed by a small printer in Eugene and bound by hand. George Norton sells a piece of property to finance the printing. A monthly newsletter announces the hard-bound edition at four dollars. Miss Kim also announces that she is leaving the Oregon area and committing the Oregon groups to David Kim.
The Exodus — Doris and Pauline leave their husbands
After mounting hostility, Doris Orme and Pauline Verheyen's husbands confront them with an ultimatum: leave Miss Kim or lose your children. The two women walk out with only the clothes on their backs and Pauline's Bible. Their green Jeep station wagon breaks down at the Oregon–California border; they reach Fresno by truck and bus, where a Seventh-Day Adventist landlady tells them God had told her to prepare a room for them. A detective hired by their husbands tracks them down; they slip out a back door and flee to San Francisco. Miss Kim takes their faith as the sign that the work must move there.
Miss Kim and George Norton move to San Francisco · 410 Cole Street
In the autumn of 1960 Miss Kim and George Norton drive a car and trailer of belongings — and the unbound pages of the new Divine Principle — to San Francisco. They rent a large 7-room walk-up flat at 410 Cole Street in the Haight-Ashbury district, which becomes the first San Francisco centre. The Pumphreys soon follow with their youngest son Lloyd. Eileen Welch moves to Portland to work with David Kim and later pioneers Salt Lake City and Chicago.
Pooled pay-cheques sustain the Cole Street family
Members at 410 Cole Street take outside jobs and pool their wages. Doris and Pauline waitress at Foster's; George Norton works as a hospital orderly (he had been a Korean War corpsman); Patty Pumphrey is a bookkeeper at Wells Fargo on Haight Street; Galen Pumphrey eventually works as a mailman at the Burlingame post office. Miss Kim manages the household with extreme frugality, even refusing a heater George once bought for the centre. There is no fundraising; pooled pay-cheques fund the centre, vehicles and printing.
Ercila Schuman — first lasting member from San Francisco
Doris finds Ercila Schuman, a young German woman, at a spiritualist church in San Francisco — the first real member to come from the city. Ercila knows Peter Koch, then in his third or fourth year of engineering at the University of California at Berkeley, and brings him to hear the Divine Principle. Peter becomes the first lasting member to join after listening to Miss Kim's four-hour taped lecture in front of a tape recorder.
Barbara Koch joins · early German core
Peter Koch leads his sister Barbara Koch — an interior architect in San Francisco — to check out his "crazy group", and she also joins. Barbara is later blessed with Reiner Vincenz and the two become leaders of the Unification Movement in Europe and the United States. Aside from the Koch siblings and Ercila Schuman, no American resident of San Francisco joins.
Move to 1309 Masonic Avenue · The New Age Frontiers launches
After about a year on Cole Street the group buys three flats at 1309, 1311 and 1313 Masonic Avenue, on the east end of Haight-Ashbury, for $32,000 in the names of George Norton and Galen Pumphrey (the church is not yet a legal entity). They renovate 21 rooms, set up a print shop in the basement with an A.B. Dick offset machine, and in the later part of 1962 begin producing a monthly newsletter, The New Age Frontiers, sent to scattered members across the country.
John Lofland's first-year reflections in The New Age Frontiers
Berkeley sociology PhD candidate John Lofland, who has been studying with the group for a year and at one point moves into the centre, publishes "Reflection on My First Year with the Divine Principles" in The New Age Frontiers (No. 7, 15 January 1963). His later dissertation and book write the Unification Church off as a small cult with no future; the guest book of some 1,500 people who had come to hear the Divine Principle is later stolen from the Masonic Avenue centre.
The march in Union Square
Around 1963 members come in from Sacramento, Berkeley, San Jose and Burlingame for a rally in Union Square in downtown San Francisco. They march down Market Street with sandwich boards and signs, then preach in the park. The catch for the day is one Chinese seaman who has just jumped ship and cannot speak English — and who turns out to be wanted by the police. Pumphrey concludes the only method that ever works is one-on-one personal contact.
Miss Kim splits the centre
At a family meeting Miss Kim tells the members that nothing will happen at the current rate and they must leave San Francisco and pioneer the surrounding cities on their own. The members resist; she goes away to pray and the next evening returns with the same decision. Doris goes to San Jose, Pauline to Berkeley, Galen Pumphrey to Burlingame, Patty and the boys to Hayward. It is the first time members must teach and raise spiritual children without Miss Kim on hand.
New core members from the Bay Area satellites
Within months strong new members begin appearing from the satellite cities: Edwin (Dr Ang) Ang, Ernie Stewart and Elke Klawitter from Berkeley; Carl Rapkins and Ora Schoon from San Jose; and a married couple from Burlingame whom the Pumphreys bring in. The Berkeley centre is soon strong enough that Edwin Ang can take it over.
Doris to Los Angeles · Pauline to Sacramento · the Werners join
As the new members shoulder the satellite centres, the original pioneers move further out. Doris goes to Los Angeles, where she moves into Teddy Verheyen's apartment and starts teaching there. Pauline goes to Sacramento and moves straight into the house of Paul and Crystal Werner — "a real home church" — where the Werners join. Doug heads to Louisiana and Gordon to Texas.
Miss Kim's Sacramento testimony
On 24 August 1963 in Sacramento, Miss Kim gives the autobiographical testimony that is later printed as the appendix to Pumphrey's history. She recounts her search for God as a teenager, hearing "Jesus Loves Me" as a child, the voice telling her "It was not you who have been seeking me, but I who have been seeking you", her studies in Japan and Toronto, the kidney and digestive illness that confined her in Seoul, and how Rev. Moon's teaching healed her in three days at the end of December 1954.
The Pumphreys pioneer Denver
Over a long Thanksgiving weekend Galen and Patty Pumphrey load a 12-foot U-Haul behind their 1951 Chevrolet sedan and drive their three sons from San Francisco to Denver, Colorado — chosen from a road map left in a booth at the restaurant Galen cleaned mornings. Crossing the Salt Flats in Utah, the boys hear on a small transistor radio that President Kennedy has been shot; a tearful filling-station attendant outside Salt Lake City confirms it.
Pauline pioneers Cleveland
As the second-generation satellites take hold, Pauline Verheyen moves on again, this time to Cleveland, Ohio, where she establishes a group that will host True Father later in 1965. Members are now scattered across the country: Bo Hi Pak in Washington D.C., David Kim in Portland, the Pumphreys in Denver, and pioneers in Texas, Louisiana, Chicago and beyond.
Dr Young Oon Kim — first appointed missionary
Dr Young Oon Kim arrives in the UK as the first official missionary of the Unification Movement. In those days the organisation is called "The Unified Family". She has three months to lay the foundation for True Father's first visit.
True Father's first visit · Holy Ground in Kensington Gardens
Rev. Moon arrives at Heathrow from Madrid on 14 July, accompanied by Mrs Won Pok Choi and President Hyo Won Eu. On 15 July he chooses a damaged London plane tree in Kensington Gardens — near the Peter Pan statue — as the National Holy Ground, because "its damaged condition represented the state of the nation". His first recorded UK speech, "Our Mission is Great", is given on 17 July in a Mayfair house. Sir Anthony Brooke (the last Rajah Muda of Sarawak) is among the welcoming party of seven.
Sandi Pinkerton sent from the USA to pioneer London
After the Blessing of Holy Grounds worldwide, True Father sends Sandi Pinkerton from the United States to London, with Dr Young Oon Kim becoming responsible for the European Movement.
Rev. Moon arrives at San Francisco airport
Rev. Sun Myung Moon arrives at San Francisco airport at 5.50 a.m. on 12 February 1965, the first passenger off a Japan Airlines flight from Korea, accompanied by Mrs Won Bok Choi. Around thirty to thirty-five members line up to greet him: David Kim, David Bridges and John Schmidli drive down from Oregon; Col. Bo Hi Pak, Jhoon Rhee and Alexa Altomere fly in from Washington D.C.; Doris comes up from Los Angeles; Carl Rapkins from Fresno; with local members from the Bay Area. Breakfast follows at the Oakland centre.
Tour of San Francisco · Pumphrey visits Robinson home
On the Saturday Rev. Moon tours Golden Gate Park, Fisherman's Wharf and the San Francisco Zoo at a punishing pace, then visits 1309 Masonic Avenue, where Peter and Shirley Robinson and their three children — the first black American family to accept the Divine Principle and Rev. Moon — are living with Ora Schoon. Over a pot-luck dinner Rev. Moon prays that if the United States does not overcome its racial injustice it will lose its blessing, and that the Robinsons have a great mission to carry the Divine Principle to their race.
First Holy Ground in the USA · Twin Peaks, San Francisco
On the Sunday evening Rev. Moon takes about fifteen members to the top of Twin Peaks in San Francisco. He prays in a cold wind on a rock formation; one clairvoyant member sees his aura grow until it engulfs the group and a shaft of light come down to him. On the Monday afternoon he returns, sanctifies the South Peak (Mother's Peak) and chooses the North Peak (Father's Peak) as the first national Holy Ground in the United States — symbolically tied by Korean soil and Holy Salt to the Holy Ground in Korea. He tells the members "Had you known the importance of this occasion, you would have come here and prayed all night."
Order to unify the American groups under HSA-UWC
At a 4 a.m. business meeting with local leaders, Rev. Moon announces that the national headquarters will be in Washington D.C. and that the separately incorporated groups across the country must be merged legally under the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity. Each existing group is to nominate one board member, who must be a college graduate. He presents the Bay Area group with his flag — white silk with his symbol in red — received on their behalf by Jim Fleming in a black lacquer box.
Departure from Oakland in the blue Plymouth Fury
On the morning of Friday 19 February 1965, Rev. Moon, Mrs Choi, Miss Kim, George Norton, Gordon Ross and Eva Sepp leave Oakland in a new blue 1965 Plymouth Fury III station wagon bought by members for the trip. The plan is to drive all forty-eight contiguous states in forty days and make a Holy Ground in each, often travelling around the clock, eating in the car and sleeping while moving — sometimes at 100 mph on isolated western roads.
Holy Grounds on Mt Whitney and at Bad Water, Death Valley
Leaving Los Angeles on Thursday 25 February with Teddy Verheyen and John Pinkerton aboard, the party climbs into a small grove of pine trees about 8,000 feet up Mt Whitney — at 14,495 feet the highest peak in the continental United States — where Rev. Moon blesses ground covered with a foot of snow. The same day he blesses Bad Water in Death Valley, 280 feet below sea level, the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere — this time covered in salt, not snow.
Wrong bridge at Cairo · Holy Ground in Paducah
Leaving the Oswalds and Weirs in Creve Coeur, St Louis, the party heads for Paducah, Kentucky, crossing the Mississippi at Cairo, Illinois. After accidentally crossing into Ohio, then back into Missouri before finally finding the right bridge, they reach Paducah and bless ground. From there they push on south through Memphis (where local police stop George Norton, accept his Association card and walk away bewildered), to Little Rock, Vicksburg, Mobile and on to Tampa.
Florida · Mr Pak meets the party · Key West
On 8 March the party is greeted in Tampa by the Tampa Family and Mr Bo Hi Pak from Washington. After blessing a Tampa park, they drive down the west coast to Miami Beach, where Rev. Moon dips his finger in the warm Atlantic and writes in Korean in the sand next to Mr Pak's "Ahbogee" (father) the word "Ohmonee" (mother). They continue south to Key West, the southernmost point of the United States, and the next morning Rev. Moon takes some sand and seashells as souvenirs.
Arrival in Washington D.C. · blessing the White House and Capitol lawns
On Friday afternoon 12 March 1965, after passing through Martinsburg, West Virginia and Hagerstown, Maryland, the party reaches Washington D.C. and the Arlington, Virginia home of Bo Hi Pak — Father's designated assistant military attaché at the Korean Embassy and the future founder of the Washington group. Over several days the lawns of the White House and the Capitol are blessed alongside official and unofficial meetings with the Washington Family.
Arthur Ford sitting in Philadelphia
En route west, the party stops in Philadelphia at the home of the famous trance medium Arthur Ford, whose spirit guide Fletcher has previously testified to Rev. Moon as the Messiah of the New Age. Fletcher testifies again — "You are sitting in the presence of Truth incarnate" — before two Episcopalian priests present. Rev. Moon advises Mr Ford to study the Divine Principle and pursue a higher spiritual level. The same day Central Park in New York is blessed.
Holy Ground in Denver · the 1951 Chevrolet
The party arrives at the Pumphreys' small house at 1020 Jay Street in Denver in the evening of 25 March. After a full-house meeting that runs until 4.30 a.m., the next morning Rev. Moon asks to bless Holy Ground. The Plymouth has a burned valve, so he is asked which car to use. Miss Kim explains that the Pumphreys' aged 1951 Chevrolet was the first car the San Francisco centre had; he chooses to ride in it and makes it a historical car. He blesses a very large elm in Denver City Park.
"It is fulfilled" · final blessing at Mt Tabor, Portland · return to Eugene
On 29 March 1965 Rev. Moon gives his final official Holy Ground blessing of the United States at Mt Tabor Park in Portland, Oregon, declaring "It is fulfilled!" The party then drives to Eugene, the birthplace of the American Family, where Miss Kim escorts him to the houses she had first lived in and held meetings, and Rev. Moon blesses a Holy Ground in Eugene as a special favour. They visit Oak Hill itself before driving overnight back to Oakland, arriving at 5 a.m. on 30 March.
Rev. Moon departs San Francisco
On the morning of 31 March 1965 the Bay Area Family accompany Rev. Moon, Mrs Choi and Mr Nishikawa (Mr Choi of Japan, who will later work in San Francisco) to the airport to see them off — with strongly mixed emotions, knowing they will not see him again for another year, but happy that his world trip is continuing. The first chapter of the American movement closes with the first national leaders meeting completed, every state grounded, and the small early family scattered as pioneers across the country.
First UK centre at 17 Emperor's Gate, South Kensington
June Darby — witnessed to on holiday in Italy that August by Doris Walder (Orme) and Martin Porter — joins Sandi in London. The first centre is established at 17 Emperor's Gate.
HSA-UWC founded as a UK registered charity
June Darby, Evelyn Hardman, Patricia Hardman and Marion Dougherty register the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity as an educational charity in the UK. The movement soon outgrows Emperor's Gate and takes a seven-bedroom house in Streatham, south of the Thames.
True Father's second visit · with True Mother
True Father and True Mother — pregnant with their third son Hyun Jin Nim — visit London together for the first time. Forty members from across Europe squeeze into the Streatham centre "like sardines". During the visit Miss Kim consults with True Father on Blessing candidates; Doris Walder is matched to Dennis Orme, who has joined only a few months earlier. Members are asked to pray from midnight to 3 a.m. for 120 days for the new couple.
European Blessing of 8 Couples
Eight European couples — including Doris Walder & Dennis Orme — are blessed by True Father in Germany. This becomes the spine of European leadership for the next two decades.
True Father names Great Britain "in position of Eve"
In a speech of 19 March 1972, True Father explains that Britain — by virtue of its role in the world wars and its centuries of Christian missionary sending — stands in the position of Eve in the providence. The same year the movement expands to twelve UK cities.
Fourth visit · "England will be completely clobbered"
True Father visits Britain and announces a coming surge: "The time will come when I bring many thousands of the International Mobile Team from America. I think that England will be completely clobbered. I think 3,000 Unification Church members will completely overwhelm Britain."
Fifth visit · Third ICUS Conference
True Father returns later in 1974 for the third International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences — the academic outreach project that will become a defining feature of the 1970s and 1980s providence.
Cleeve House and a network of centres
By 1976 around fifteen centres are established in the UK. On-going workshops run at the farm near Swindon, at Cleeve House, in Dunbar, and at Lancaster Gate HQ. A print works is set up; in 1977 a fishing venture starts in Falmouth, Cornwall with two line-fishing boats — including Baby Lion, built by Ed Stacey — selling mackerel across the south of England.
42 Lancaster Gate rented as national HQ
No. 42 Lancaster Gate — previously a nurses' hostel — is rented from the Norwegian Embassy and becomes the British national headquarters of the Unification Movement. It is finally purchased in 1979.
True Father's seventh visit · longest outside the centre nations
True Parents arrive at Heathrow as a complete surprise to European members. They are delayed three hours by immigration before being granted temporary admission; an extension is later won in court after the British government tries to use the US "Koreagate" Fraser Committee subpoena as evidence. Rev. Moon's counsel — Mr Fox-Andrews QC — gets the judge to reprimand the government for relying on press speculation. The visit lasts over 120 days, the longest True Father ever spent in any country other than Korea, Japan or the US.
Blessing of 118 couples in London
118 couples from all over Europe are blessed in London. Tabloid coverage focuses on the 40-day separation condition ("Moon slaps 40-day Sex Ban on newly-weds") and the familiar charges of brainwashing.
The Daily Mail libel case begins
The Daily Mail runs a series of articles headlined "The church that breaks up families". On behalf of the British church, its president Dennis Orme sues the Daily Mail for libel.
Jury finds for the Daily Mail · longest libel trial in English history
After coming to court in October 1980, the jury delivers its verdict on 31 March 1981 in favour of the Daily Mail, adding a rider that the tax-free status of the church "should be investigated by the Inland Revenue on the grounds that it is a political organisation". By the time it ends — with the Court of Appeal dismissing in December 1982 and the Lords refusing leave on 10 February 1983 — it has become the longest libel trial in English legal history. Huge costs are awarded against the Church.
"Pornography Destroys Love" rally · Trafalgar Square
CARP holds a national rally in Trafalgar Square — the movement's major UK event of the year — drawing members and supporters from Aberdeen to Plymouth.
Attorney General's case to remove charity status — dropped
Under pressure from MPs after the libel defeat, the Attorney General launches a legal action to remove the HSA-UWC and SMM Foundation trusts from the Register of Charities. The church spends four years preparing affidavits. In February 1988 the Attorney General announces in the House of Commons that, after "exhaustive investigation", he is dropping the action — he has no evidence to counter the "strong presumption" of the UC's charitable status. Costs are awarded against the Government.
Home Secretary refuses Rev. Moon entry
The Home Secretary refuses Rev. Moon entry clearance "because of your character and conduct". The fallout from the 1981 libel verdict still hangs over the movement.
Immigration adjudicator overturns the entry ban
After an appeal, the Adjudicator allows it and orders an entry clearance to be granted. The government does not appeal. Letters of consent are issued in late 1991 and summer 1992.
British members join the 1,267 and 30,000 Couple Blessings
British members participate in the 1,267 Couple Blessing for Previously Married Couples on 10 April — the first Blessing to include participants of other faiths — and in the 30,000 Couple Blessing on 25 August.
Tim Miller appointed National Leader
Tim Miller is appointed as National Leader of the Unification Movement in the UK.
Tim Read appointed · 11-year tenure
Nine months later Tim Read is appointed as National Leader and serves for the next eleven years — the longest-serving UK National Leader in the movement's history.
FFWPU inaugurated in the UK · New Connaught Rooms
True Mother had been due to speak in London on 19 October but is called back to Korea one week before; Rev. Chung Hwan Kwak comes in her place and delivers her speech to a packed audience of over 900 in the New Connaught Rooms in Central London. The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU) is established in the UK.
WFWP-UK registered
The Women's Federation for World Peace UK — first led by Barbara Zaccarelli from 1992 — is registered as a limited company. Linda Brann is appointed president in 1996, followed by Martina Coombs until 2006.
True Mother's 82-city World Speaking Tour reaches London
True Mother speaks at the New Connaught Rooms in London to an audience of 1,300 — including 440 guests and VIPs — as part of her 82-city world tour. A meeting of all European leaders is held under the guidance of Pres. Kwang-kee Sa, European continental director.
True Mother's third World Speaking Tour
True Mother returns to the UK as part of her next world speaking tour, with conferences continuing at the Russell Hotel in London and meetings on "Marriage and the Family" at venues including Woolwich Town Hall.
True Parents' World Tour · 40th anniversary of the European movement
True Parents' world tour marks the 40th anniversary of the European Movement, dated from Young Oon Kim's 1965 arrival in the UK. By this point the British movement has shifted focus toward interfaith and intercultural reconciliation, service projects, and family-values work.
Three Generations Tour · True Mother and True Children
True Mother and the True Children tour Europe, including the UK, on the Three Generations Tour.
Global Peace Festival
The Global Peace Festival comes to the UK, expanding the movement's reach through the new Global Peace Foundation and the Family Church.
True Parents' European Speaking Tour
True Parents return for a European Speaking Tour. After arriving at the Hilton on the Thames, the programme includes a reception at the Houses of Parliament with speeches by Members of Parliament.
True Father's Ascension
At 1.54 a.m. Korea time on 3 September 2012, True Father ascends. 250,000 people pay respect at the altar in the Peace Centre and at altars around the world — including one at the Lancaster Gate HQ. The British altar is set up in the same room where True Father had given his first public UK speech in 1972.
True Father's Seong Hwa
True Father's Seong Hwa ceremony is held at 1.30 p.m. with 50,000 mourners present in Korea.
UK Memorial Service · Friends Meeting House, London
A Memorial Service for True Father is held in the Friends Meeting House in London, organised by UPF and Ambassadors for Peace, with VIPs, interfaith religious leaders, Ambassadors for Peace and members in attendance.
UK Leaders meeting at Cleeve House
The post-Ascension era for the UK movement opens with a national UK Leaders' meeting at Cleeve House.