Leadership as Define by True Parents

Published in CIG Newsletter May 2016 issue (this is newsletter managed by IFFA-Korea for Han-Fil families)

How can we best define the word leadership? Through my daily Hoon Dok Hae, i got a great understanding and realization that the Divine Principle & True Parents speeches are amazing sources of leadership principles and managerial system. (read Rev Won Phil Kim’s speeches to understand the practical aspect of True Parents teaching when it comes to practical leadership)

True Parents emphasized that Leaders are Parents and equating these positions will give us a very important clue that for True Parents “leadership means parenthood.” Therefore any particular group of members that a leader leads is similar to the members of the family that parents are taking care of. This is the very reason why True Parents call our church members, sik-ku (식구) means “family members” or “mouths to feed”.

True Parents’ & Heavenly Parent’s dream is to build ONE world FAMILY under God’s Parenthood centered on the culture of heart (심정문화) revolving in and governing the family. This is Unification Community.

Unification Faith is a FAMILY not a certain denomination that is why we are called Family Church and Unificationists are true brothers and sisters (진남매) because Heavenly Parent & True Parents are not founders of a certain religion BUT the parents of humanity. Therefore, all Unificationists should be considering this CONCEPT very seriously. Because we share common parents, we are bound to live according to this environment and tradition. True Parents traditions, heart, vision and lifestyle should be ours. This is what we called cultural alignment.

Common problems arise in leadership because

(1) No sense of family environment in our community

(2) No true atmosphere of brothers & sisters relationship

(3) We occupy wrong position at the wrong time

(4) We don’t possess the same level of heart as members of the same community.

(5) And it is NOT BECAUSE we lack skills and ability nor we lack experiences to lead but we are deviated from the true concept of leadership base on True Parents definition.

These common problems are simply caused by incapably grasping True Parents mind and limited heart to love as Heavenly Parent loves. In connection with this, we have to understand that leadership is not one-MAN army. A leader stands as a leader only if she has members, just like a parent can only be called parent if there are children. Leadership is parenthood and has to build that relationship in a heart-centered culture.

Practical Leadership

**National officers down to local leadership should keep the concept of family atmosphere within an association and all leaders are responsible to create such bond from national level down to local areas. We are in the SUBJECT position, the one that leads the way. Therefore the very first thing we need to exemplify is how to possess that parental heart, how to express it genuinely and how to deal with situations in our area of jurisdiction with parental mind. Whether we are born leaders or not, whether we are called or destined for it or not, whether we are qualified or not, all will surely become leaders in our own rights or in any manner. (example of this is our inevitable mission - Heavenly Tribal Messiah)

**As leaders within our Unification faith community, we need to see to it that Heavenly Parent’s & True Parents’ Words, Will and Works should be our top priority goals and focus. These should be where our energies, time and efforts are. Their Words, WILL & Works should be OURS. This is attendance! This is strategic alignment.

**In leadership, responsibility within a position is of primary importance. We should put more weights in understanding and conceptualizing how to actualize the responsibilities behind it. Results are the manifestation and certification of our position. Dignity comes in the accomplishment of our responsibilities.

**Leaders must show the way! If God’s providence is in this direction, if God’s goal is defined, leaders must be the first to show the path to achieving them. Leaders must be the first to go in the frontline even it means suffering and pain. (some excerpts from True Father’s guidance about leaders)

We are not all born leaders, we lack in many ways, but heaven is not working base on ABILITIES alone, this is secondary. God works base on the purity of our hearts, principled attitude and strong determination.

Amazing results come not from US actually but from God & spirit world. It is arrogance to say that it came from “MY” ability! Heaven’s trust and our absolute faith & loyalty with God coupled by the UNITY we have created with our members bring unimaginable results in our mission

Successful leadership comes on our absolute unity with God’s Will, Works and Words (this is foundation of faith) and true unity with our members forming heartistic bond of parent & child with them (this is foundation of substance).

As we can’t neglect or afford to lose our family members, let’s do our best to give importance to each other and should feel the pain of losing any of our church members too. While LOVE is the one enveloping our family, let’s do our best to make the spirit of LOVE as the binding force too within our faith community. As we are used to practice the system of younger & elder siblings and parent & child positions in our family, let us do our best to bring that tradition ALIVE in our community too from national level down to local areas.

Let’s make God happy and hopeful by building that God’s family in our very own community of faith. That “ONE FAMILY UNDER GOD’s parenthood!”

Some inspirational quotes from True Parents courtesy of Tparents.org:

A great leader is a man who has the spirit to be able to accomplish great things without a penny, and such a boundless heart that he can embrace the whole world.

A leader must have the desire to work harder, offer himself more and become a master of miserable situations more than anyone else. He must also practice that determination.

You can become a leader only after you occupy the position of unchanging teacher and unchanging parent and loyal subject before the unchanging God.

Leaders can never lead without tears. True leaders are those who, foreseeing the forthcoming tribulations of their nation, train their people by driving them into suffering and hardship beforehand.

The leader who commands his followers when they cannot willingly obey will perish.

If you want to rule others, you must first be ruled by them.

The taller a tree grows, the deeper its root becomes in the soil. A tree whose root is shallow will either wither away or be uprooted by the strong wind. A leader is like a root.

In order to become a man of responsibility:

You must establish a foundation to stand upon and control your environment.

You must stand at the head of the line of advancement of the Will.

You must be in the lead in considering the whole purpose.

You must think of and pray for those under you before you eat or sleep.

You must think that you exist for them, not they for you.

You must want to add your effort to what God has already given.

A leader must have the courageous character to make great decisions, as though cutting something in two with a sword. He must be big enough to see a mountain as if it were a small thing, or at times small enough to investigate things like a tiny hair carefully. At times he must be strict enough even to disregard his own kin, yet so benevolent that he is unable to step on an insect.

Have you become a person who can maintain your dignity and honor before heaven and earth?

A leader must:

suffer more than anyone else,

become an offering, and

become a master of the suffering heart.

He must embody these attitudes and practice them before anything else.

If someone does not come to you, you must strive to have him come.

If you cannot take responsibility for a small region, how can you take responsibility for heaven and earth?

A leader should not cease to shed tears.

In order to become a true master, you have to:

establish the God-centered idea of possession,

have a strong sense of responsibility, and

offer your things and not others’ in your service to God.

God needs men of the following types and of nothing else:

the type of man whom a leader can call and consult with, and

the type of man whom a leader can command.

We leaders should leave the tradition that we have become crazy for God.

However poor you become, don’t be taken care of by Family members. Instead have the attitude that it is mortifying that you cannot give something to them.

Love your enemy before you strike him.

The higher and more precious your position, the more responsible you should feel. You should also have hope for the future.

If a predecessor is successful then his successor will also be victorious.

A chief priest must not have an idea of possession since he is an offering.

A leader should become:

a fervent person,

a tasteful person,

a needed person,

an exemplary person,

a person who seeks to sacrifice himself before seeking joy, and

a person who knows the situation and his mission.

A leader is not happy. On the contrary, he is extremely miserable. He has to collide with this world to establish a new historical tradition.

A pioneer is always lonely because he is ahead of others. In his path he has no companion. He copes with materials and creates new ones. A pioneer, therefore, has neither history nor connection.

A responsible leader must know the childlike mind.

A mother must feed her child with milk, even when she is ill. In the same way, a leader cannot become tired and think of his own circumstances.

If someone takes offense at a church director, a Family member who is spiritually older than the church director should emerge. Otherwise, the way of witnessing is completely blocked.

Make up for your leader’s shortcomings and help him grow. He who judges his own leader is the king of Cains. But he who conceals his leader’s faults and tries to take responsibility for him will stand in Abel’s position someday.