World Clergy Leadership Conference Launches In America

Photo credit FFWPU-USA

Nearly a thousand religious leaders from around the world convened for the first World Clergy Leadership Conference (WCLC) convocation in New York City on December 27. The two-day peace conference, spearheaded by Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU) co-founder Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, united Christian leaders and welcomed religious guests from across the U.S. and spanning Asia, Africa, Europe, and South America. “We are now called to come together to bring international peace that we need in our families and to save this world,” said conference speaker Bishop Noel Jones of City of Refuge megachurch in Los Angeles. “We have come together in the WCLC to leave our mark and humble ourselves because there is no peace without humility. And where you find the height of humility, you’ll find the depth of love.”

Clergy guests enjoyed multiple panel discussions and the opportunity to mingle and network in the Grand Ballroom of the Manhattan Center during the conference. Designed to unite Christianity, the WCLC aims to promote global peace and reconciliation through family values and a healthy society. “When we look at the world, we see nations and leaders centered on their own interests, and we see the division within the religious world,” said Dr. Ki Hoon Kim, FFWPU regional chairman of Family Federation North America and national co-chairman of the American Clergy Leadership Conference (ACLC), which cosponsored the convocation. “As clergymen and women, it is our responsibility to overcome these divisions. We must love each other and unite around God’s love, which is greater than our differences.”

Many clergy weighed in on religious divisiveness among other issues plaguing society. “We must highly value God’s Word and ourselves, our family, and our entire region,” said the special advisor to the Faith and Opportunity Initiative at the Office of Public Liaison at the White House. “Our generation needs to share our knowledge and tools to educate the next generation. Maximize what God has given you through your relationships because relationships are the currency of the kingdom. Being unified does not mean everybody does the same thing. It means everyone does their one thing well.”

As speakers shared the stage, a powerful uplifting energy swept through the room during each forum session. Dr. Luonne Rouse, ACLC national co-chairman and the convocation emcee, spoke about the importance of clergy at this time. “We believe God has anointed you all as clergy,” he said. “All the world faiths are represented here.” Religious leaders encouraged further collaboration and unity, noting Dr. Moon’s many global initiatives as she continues the peacebuilding legacy of her late husband and FFWPU co-founder Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon. “Dr. Moon has made tremendous contributions toward world peace,” said Prophet Samuel Radebe, founder of The Revelation Church of God in Johannesburg, South Africa. “Peace begins with me, and my family. A spiritual problem needs a spiritual solution, and if you have a good family upbringing with spirituality, you will become a better person.”

Dr. Moon, affectionately known as the Mother of Peace, has been a strong advocate of family values, promoting a message of hope, love, peace, and unity through international rallies. “The most important thing God told us to learn about love is the family,” said Dr. Su Man Kim, chairman of the Korean Clergy Leadership Conference (KCLC). “Nothing should be allowed to separate our families and marriage. The Marriage Blessing has a special power to strengthen families and the world with true love.” 

“The longest journey one can make is the journey from the head to the heart,” added Rev. Dr. Peniel Jesudason Rufus Rajkumar of the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland. “Challenges of bridging communities goes hand in hand with the challenges within. We need to teach our children how our histories and futures are bound with others. We need to let ourselves be pulled by the spirit of the divine in unexpected ways.”

Uniting Christianity through the WCLC will lay the foundation to enable God’s providence to bring the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. “We are one global village; what affects you affects me,” said Archbishop George Augustus Stallings, Jr., founder of the Imani Temple African-American Catholic Congregation. “If we cannot learn to live together as brothers and sisters, we will perish together as fools. Now is the time to create one family under God.”

The WCLC convocation concluded with a peace declaration signing and pledge among the clergy, as well as a special banquet dinner and musical entertainment in the Hammerstein Ballroom at the Manhattan Center. Guests then joined thousands of religious leaders attending the Peace Starts With Me clergy rally at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on Saturday, December 28, which served as the official launch of the WCLC.