Young Adults Hold ‘Thrive’ Workshop

Contributed by Sholina Pearson

Participants take a group photo to commemorate the workshop.

From March 4-6, in the small town of Benton Harbor, Michigan, a young adult retreat was held at Camp K.O.H.O.E. (or Kingdom of Heaven on Earth) for the first time in three years. We invited Tasnah Moyer, an incredible young Unificationist from Philadelphia, who serves as the coordinator of the Special Task Force-Generation Peace Academy Alumni Association and on the Board of Directors for the Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles (CARP) USA, to lead a weekend workshop for young adults in Chicago called “Thrive.” The main theme of this workshop was to gain tools to grow in strength and vigor, as well as to prosper and flourish in our lives.

Twenty-five young Unificationists were able to take time out of their busy schedules to gather around this common purpose, wanting to reignite the spark within their spiritual lives and in the wider Chicago community. Despite very diverse backgrounds of community engagement and a wide age range, we immediately came together as if we were a long lost family, breaking out in laughter and excitement through a stirring icebreaker on our first night. Later that same night, Tasnah guided the flow of our thoughts to form an intention for the weekend. As she reminded us, “It’s in our hands to create what we want.” We ended the first night sharing our intentions for the weekend with one another. Though we didn’t know it at the time, this would be the beginning of an emotion-filled workshop.

At the start of the next day, Tasnah vulnerably shared with us about the tough obstacles and immense challenges she has experienced in the past few years, what lessons she has learned and how her experiences have affected her faith. She is a testament to the saying, “the lessons we receive are not meant to be kept within us.”

Tasnah’s presentations were designed  to help us visualize what a wholesome lifestyle of living with intention and honesty within ourselves and relationships, grounding our faith, and creating a soul space for God to enter our life would look like. On top of that, she discussed practical tips for  succeeding in life while single and creating healthy habits for our life of faith.

What distinguished this workshop from many others is the fact that Tasnah has been in our shoes and understands where we’re coming from. Growing up as a Unificationist, Tasnah could help us create a vulnerable and supportive space where we could feel open to share about the issues that we constantly meet with in our everyday lives as young Unificationists, as well as about the sensitive topics we face in our own community.

Through this workshop, we were also able to discuss substantial next steps as a young adult community for the first time. Topics such as how to contribute to and encourage the youth in our movement were brought up, and we ultimately realized that we are all connected to one another centered on our common parents, True Parents and God, our Heavenly Parent.

These are the just the first steps that we’ve taken toward increasing our ownership over our spiritual lives as young Unificationists. I look forward to the next steps we’ll take as a community, and hopefully offer these as a source of comfort and inspiration to our peers around the country.