Gyeongnam District specializes in Second-Generation Education

When I first received my assignment to lead the Gyeongnam District, I made a goal to make our district one that specializes in second-generation education, which is a major concern of all church leaders and parents in the country. Though many difficulties remain in actually educating the youth, we have continued to examine various methods and are organizing our findings. In particular, because financing education in this area is vital, we budgeted a large amount of money to it, in order to establish effective education. Even with this budget, we are continuously expanding our efforts to raise money for educating our members’ children.

I am not saying that second-generation education was possible in our district based on our having sufficient funds. We continuously tried to persuade our members about our methodology. We were transparent in how we used the money, used accurate processes and invested in reliable areas. Gradually, the members began to take interest in funding education and worked together with us.

Some good developments

I would like to report on our progress during the first half of 2016. Twenty-one churches belong to our Gyeongnam District, which is coterminous with the province of the same name in southeastern South Korea. Except for the headquarters church and four other churches, instructors for middle and high school students (Seonghwa students) do not exist in the majority of those churches. Many difficulties existed in educating young people effectively. As we were all contemplating these issues, I called all the instructors of Seonghwa students that we do have and held a meeting.

As a result, we established sister-church relationships in five different zones. We decided to hold joint Sunday services once a month for more effective Seonghwa student activities. Our district selected base churches among the sister churches and dispatched expert instructors to lead the students. They continuously managed, educated and the connected with the sister churches, as well as the base church. Additionally, once the school semester began, the student presidents met to create goals and action plans. In this way, the students developed a sense of personal agency toward the activities.

We employed another unique strategy this year: In the past, the middle school and high school students attended one large workshops, but this year the middle school students attended a traditional workshop while the high school students went on a pilgrimage to our holy grounds. The high school students welcomed this program. What was especially effective about the pilgrimage was that the church leaders, Seonghwa student instructors, and Seonghwa students all worked together to make the trip possible. The students were actively involved in planning the trip and were able to decide aspects of the camp and workshop for themselves.

Next, the Gyeongnam District established goals and themes. For the younger Seonghwa students’ summer workshop the theme was “Let’s unite and live in harmony,” and for the winter workshop, the theme was “Let’s deepen the value of our generation through teaching Divine Principle and absolute sex.” Establishing these themes for the workshops allowed us to create a more effective foundation for raising future leaders.

Rev. Oh’s Seonghwa student organization has made a sisterhood relationship with the FFWPU- headquarters in Bolivia, one of our strategic nations. He plans to bring adult witnessing contacts to Bolivia to work side-by-side with Korean and Bolivian members, aiding Bolivia and FFWPU-Bolivia and deepening the witnessing contacts’ connection to our movement.

Assistance for students’ daily lives

In our district, we have consistently provided professional counseling services for the emotional and mental health of our youth. During the last workshop, we implemented the ASEBA personality test (Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment). We discovered that the majority of the students were in at either the moderate- or high-risk category.

People who test as high risk must go to a clinic for diagnosis and receive treatment, while moderate risk people are able to overcome their difficulties through individual counseling. In this way, we are solving the issues our second-generation members are facing. In addition, these test results reminded us that the role of their parents is vital to the mental health of the students. In response, we are conducting seminars on parenting and marriage so that the students are able to practice their life of faith in a safe environment.

We are also providing study help to the Seonghwa students. For the past two years, we have been training a Study Mapping instructor to improve student academic abilities. This instructor leads a class on self- directed study and mind mapping. The Wonmo Pyeongae Foundation selected this program to receive funding as a field project. We hope this will improve the academic accomplishments of the students and lead to constructive changes in their lives. In the future, we plan to connect this program with our Youth Organization, which includes twenty- to thirty-year-old adults, to train instructors who can volunteer their time to a program that reaches students in and out of the church. This is likely to become an approach

program for college witnessing.

As the pastor in charge of our Gyeongnam district, Rev. Oh plans to visit Google Inc. and Tesla Motors near San Francisco with witnessing young adult witnessing contacts interested in technology and business.

Broad supportive initiatives

Another interesting development is our plan to collaborate with UN Habitat, a United Nations’ affiliate. Already our middle school and high school students received a certificate recognized by UN Habitat. We plan to use this program to approach twenty and thirty year olds for witnessing.

After the last anniversary of the founding of the Seonghwa student organization on August 25, we established a sisterhood relationship with the FFWPU-Bolivia headquarters. Through close cooperation, we are preparing activities for use in approaching twenty- and thirty-year-old adults. For several reasons, we chose Bolivia for these activities. First, Bolivia is a nation where we can create activities that align with UN Habitat. Second, a group active in Bolivia, Aimar, has been teaching the Korean alphabet to Bolivians. Our college students can help with not only teaching the Korean alphabet, but both adults and students will be attracted to the idea of enhancing Korean national prestige in Bolivia.

Third, we will have opportunities to visit various tourist attractions in South America. We can offer witnessing contacts the opportunity to tour the Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flat; or the sites connected with the history of the Incan and Mayan civilizations. Above all, that the majority of Bolivian members are young people makes it possible for Korean adults in the targeted age to meet Bolivian youth.

We are making plans to send a church leader and two college students to Bolivia in the near future in order to make plans for a program. The UN Habitat certificate is a good item for college students to add to their resume or for high school students applying to college.

Parental responsibility

One of the slogans mentioned among the resolutions made at the Korea–Japan Cheon Il Guk Leaders Conference was “In your roles as the Father and Mother nations, strategically support providential nations.” To fulfill this resolution, the Gyeongnam District plans to send $1,000 to Bolivia, a strategic nation, every month to support the Bolivian headquarters (despite our financially difficult circumstances) and to make development plans for the church in both nations and districts.

Furthermore, our district is planning a project, “Hope, Dream Global Challenge” in which young people challenging themselves to fulfill their dreams can receive an opportunity to visit major corporations in the western United States. A second-generation member from the Gyeongnam District is the leader of a

developmental team at Tesla Motors, an electric automobile manufacturer. Through him, we plan to visit Tesla and Google Inc., as well as Stanford University. We hope to provide this opportunity in order to foster young people’s dreams. We also expect this to be a good program to introduce when approaching young people as witnessing contacts.

We are running an English café for young people. A UPA graduate leads an English café (online chat group) every Thursday. Through this program, second-generation members are able to spend time with youth from other nations.

Finally, we have sent two people to the global leadership program in Romania to raise leaders with international experience within the Unification Church. As a result, we are planning to invite second- generation members in our district and from abroad for cultural exchange programs as a means of supporting the future providence. We will do our best to insure that success in our providential vision through witnessing to twenty and thirty year olds.