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Preferred Mode of Operation - Emergency

Another factor that influences the use of leadership styles in the unification is the preferred mode of operation – emergency time periods.

Everybody will agree that in an emergency – be that a serious disease, a burning house or a war – the range of suitable leadership styles shrinks. The one that comes out on top is coercion. That’s because the priorities are clear – the body must be healed, the house evacuated, the enemy defeated. Clear is also who must control the situation – the doctor, the fire fighter, the officer. Everything else is secondary, details are not important – at best, they are dealt with ‘later’.

An interesting fact about the unification movement is that it has been a history of one emergency following the other. This does not mean that the movement has been threatened by extinction, at least not visibly. But regardless of how good or bad things were, the goals were always more formidable than the results. Consequently, the enemy was not yet defeated and more sacrifices were required by the soldiers.

The basic principle behind this shall not be questioned here. Most members share Sun Myung Moon’s views about the world situation and what has to be done to bring about God’s will. They do accept the need of personal sacrifices in terms of comfort, money, career etc.

However, problems are unavoidable when on a regular basis leaders decide what the followers have to sacrifice and when and how long. Naturally, emergencies last for a short time. Coercion is accepted to end the danger quickly. However, human nature does not lend itself to strings of emergencies that last for decades. However, that is exactly what happened in the movement of the past.

All these factors resulted in a certain culture that can be described as uncreative, inflexible, based on extensive hierarchies. Members of these hierarchies develop a tendency to seek out whom to follow and settle for carrying out directions. The other option is to leave the system.

Most of those who staid have grown used to stringent control from above, where ‘above’ ultimately means a group of Korean leaders that are strangers to a non-Korean world and who seem to have no intention to change that. That kind of environment is usually not a source of creative thinking or innovation.

These are strong statements and there may be notable exceptions. However, among Western members and leaders the opinion seems to be widespread, that ‘as long as the Korean leaders are there, the movement will not be successful in the West.’ Quite a few leaders also find the option acceptable to ‘leave the system in order to serve God.’ These are not low level leaders.

Indications abound that the current style of top down leadership has to cease also in the east. The environment created by a top down leadership is simply not suitable to develop a culture that reflects the professed ideal of movement – a world under God, where people relate directly to God as their parent, without the need of a savior, acting freely on their conscience, loving, giving out of themselves.

It is obvious that many members will have to change, too. Even though it may be to their best, it can be a scary experience and the desire to stay where they are may dominate the desire for the ideal for quite some time to come.

Considerable hope lies in the fact that all this here basically describes the movement of the past and part of the presence. Life is strong and God works in his own ways. There are many reasons to expect that the future will be different. The second generation of members – the technical term for the physical descendants of blessed couples – does have a mind of its own. That also applies to the children of Sun Myung Moon himself, the most prominent of which is Hyun Jin Moon, his third son and possible heir to the throne. Having been raised and educated in USA his approach and vocabulary is decidedly different from the lingo of the past. So different that a considerable power struggle between the old and the new guard can be observed within the movement.

Check out ‘The Future’ to read more.
 

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