…in their lunch break. Franklin Fortune was explaining how you can tell all the good players in the World CUp because they have been trained by Man. Utd. We had our monthly get together. It was good.

There were a lot of inspiring testimonies from different people that spanned from:

- someone paying Simon Rosselli’s kids £20 to NOT wash their car as they went on a house to house fundraiser

-to a member in North London who couldn’t sleep one night and went out early at 4.30am to put outreach flyers through her neighbours’ doors. One of them had also found it hard to sleep and had been up praying at 5am; when the flyer with True Parents picture came through the door. She went to our site and found out that there was a prayer evening in LG and came along the same day with her husband to take part.

We discussed the arrival of Father’s biography in a week or so and organising a book launch. And a long list of other topics…

After lunch we had a short presentation on a seminar I had attended on practical time management. I think the concept of learning how to delegate well was an attractive one for all of us. Basically we want to skill up our staff more and organise more training, this was a step towards that:

We meet on Wednesdays now because there is always just too much going on in the communities on the weekend these days. It’s a good sign.

Here are some more pictures:

hello familyfireplace community

getting down to business

(he missed the group pic.) Mind Body United chairman: Chigo gave a good update on the team. They got some silver for best sportsmanship.

40 UK Community leaders, department leaders and UPF/WFWP leaders gathered in HQ at 7am for a time of worship together and a chance to bring us into one mind and heart also learning some new songs. It was great to welcome the new STF young people to UK and to the meeting.

After a hearty breakfast, we spent the whole morning sharing testimonies about what we had all achieved and learnt in 2009 and what were our plans and determinations for 2010.

In the afternoon, we had an exciting brainstorming session about defining the role of the pastor with a view to being able to evaluate their success and development. Tim Read and Matthew Jubb gave a presentation on the new and improved Family Fireplace website and how to best keep it attractive and informative.

At last years strategy meeting, one key goal was to establish a network of small groups in each community. David Hanna gave an update on progress and again explained how they should function and grow organically. One of our main activities over the next 3 years will be outreach and Blessing. Franklin and Cecilie Fortune lead a discussion on how best to encourage this activity and empower blessed families to support this activity in their local community.

Here are a few reflections from attendees :

Jeff Bateman , North London Community leader : The tone of the day was well set with a reading from Divine Principle “Christology”  section. Each person is as important to creation as the parts of a machine which cannot be replaced. Therefore each individual has the value of the Whole of creation (paraphrased see the actual words on page 165)  – such profound words! If we feel more connected to each other we will find strength for what we are doing. Connection vertically with God and True Parents and with the new spirit that Hyung Jin Nim is inspiring us to bring.

June Darby, FFWPU Trustee : I was so grateful that I could attend the meeting because I was really uplifted and inspired by the day’s proceedings. It was so easy to pray for everyone because there was such a high spirit present. I felt as though everyone there was being enfolded and held by God and True Parents’ Love and Presence. It was an amazing experience. I felt such an incredible love from God for everyone present – they were all so humble and sincere in their desire to change and improve themselves and their ministries. I was very moved by the love each one had for True Parents, by how they are trying to care for and respect members and how they are trying anew to reach out to share and testify to their conviction and love with new people. They were all trying so sincerely to unite with Hyung jin nim’s directions.  I thought that he would really be happy and comfortable in England when he visits us. It was also very inspiring listening to their reports as they all testified to dramatic encounters that they had experienced with God in the past year.

I left LG feeling so much hope for the future. Whenever I look at Leaders now in the future I shall be seeing them from a new perspective, with respect and love, for I can never forget how I saw them all with God and True Parents’ eyes of love and appreciation.
I was very moved by Mike’s report at our service about how Simon’s sermon had set the tone for the day. H e said that Simon had spoken about how we need to first care for and value the unique gifts of all our members before we embark on witnessing, that it was important to be a loving and caring community first and that we should analyse and meet our own needs and wants; that the success of our witnessing would be according to our love for God, True Parents and people and the strength of our faith, conviction.

Susan Crosthwaite, Blessed Families Department : From 6.30am to 5.30pm we sat in an informal style, ate delicious meals prepared by our STF team guided by chefs Michael Franklin and Constance Rennie, and reconnected with our national team…some whom we see only once or twice a year. We were asked to focus on the theme of uniting with True Parents Pure Heart.

My most important memories which come to me over and over as the days pass are:

Ron German’s story.  This is what I remember from it….he was woken up in the middle of the night and given a very clear message from heaven ( meaning God and/or spirit world ) to tell an old friend who introduced him to our movement to buy his house.  He followed the message without delaying when he got up after dawn, and asked if he could visit her.  She answered that she would do it, on one condition….that Ron and his family stay living in it!  As Ron spoke I was stirred by his real and living relationship with the living God.  Thanks for your most sincere faith Ron! This has enabled Ron and Catherine to be full time community leaders for Wales.

Another thing which comes to me over and over is a memory of Simon Cooper’s eyes.  When I was speaking to the group, I was moved by the loving look in his eyes…he looked so proud of me, and so encouraging!   Several times he made the most complimentary comments after someone’s presentation…so generous and positive and caring. Thank you Simon! As we launch into 2010 with the desire to multiply ourselves by sharing our faith with others, I will often think of these beautiful people – the 40 staff who are the shepherds of our UK movement – and thank God for such heart. Probably the most memorable words will be of Patricia Earle’s – love for people is what moves the spirit world to send prepared people to us.  When we love and serve them, they will open up to understand the wonderful truth we have to offer.

Some people don’t find Sunday service inspiring. So they stop going. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t want some spiritual inspiration every now and again.

So out pops Refresh – a project started by me and Steven.

Are we a service? Are we a small group? Even we still aren’t too sure about the answer to that. All we know is that we try to think outside of the box.

What do we do? We’ve tried different ways of inspiring people, from meditation/reflections/prayer to watching short videos (like the one below) and then discussing to testimonies to simply having a round-table discussion about faith-related topics (favorite Unificationist tradition, anyone?). We also try to make things interesting with stuff like outings and end-of-the-month dinners.

Where and when is it? Refresh is every Sunday at 6:30pm. (Don’t worry, we almost never run over 1 hour for the main spiritual guidance.) And in recent developments, Refresh has developed into a roaming service. Can’t make it? We can come to you now!

Be sure to check our Facebook page to see where the next event is. If you become a fan, you can get updates straight into your Facebook News Feed every time you login.

We hope to see you sometime!

It was a decidedly Autumnal day as we left Birmingham for the 2 hour drive down to Cleeve House, myself, my wife Patricia and daughter Natasha. Leaves were racing across the local park in regimental lines, and then suddenly swooshing up into the air in swirling, dancing spirals.

No different on the M5 motorway, as we hurtled into a gusting gale-force headwind, with huge clumps of dead grass being up-rooted from the central reservation and hurled into our path. Quite exciting, once you got used to it.

Turning into Cleeve House was like arriving at an oasis in the desert, wonderfully enhanced by the smooth, new tarmac drive. But why so many cars parked in front of the House? A notice on the front door stated “Choir rehearsal – main room. Community Leaders Meeting – please use the back entrance.” A 20 second dash through torrential rain, round the side and in through the back door, where the inevitable warm welcome awaited from Carlo and Barbara.

As well as transforming the structure and fabric of the building, they have perfected the art of hospitality and entertaining, making the whole place financially viable. What a feat!

No surprise then when we sat down in the Library to begin our meeting – dark blue table cloth, jugs of water and bowls of Lichfields’ mint imperials on the conference table and, yes, notepads and pens for everyone!

Simon opened the meeting with prayer, welcomed everyone and then gave a report from Headquarters, including his own new responsibility as Pastor for the Newly formed `HQ Family Church’.

Matthew then shared various concerns relating to our Youth, the largest group of whom are now in their late teens and early twenties. They are also increasingly ‘mobile’, and he outlined a developing Chaplaincy Initiative which it is hoped will address and cater for some of their needs, and allow for them to connect with local communities, wherever they are studying or working. We agreed that this initiative needs to be more widely publicised.

A unique feature of our day was the welcome presence at the meeting of 8 young adults, all with responsibility for secondary school-age students in our movement , and their valued contribution to the morning debate about the relationship between our two generations, elders and youth, parents and children.

We concluded the morning session with discussion about the forthcoming AGM on Friday, and then retired to the tea room for a hearty lunch provided by local Pastor, Mike Moore.

For the afternoon session, our young participants held their own meeting and discussions, and as Community Leaders we focused mainly on reviewing the recent World Peace Blessing, and then planning for the next European Blessing in January. We shared about developing the confidence to reach out to couples and families whom we know, and adapting the Blessing to meet their needs and situations, rather than presenting it as a pre-determined package.

We left Cleeve House with the strains of the choir, still rehearsing in the main room for the evening’s concert to raise money for Kenya, ringing in our ears, and broke all previous records for the journey back to Birmingham (owing to a 70 mph tail wind), where the leaves were still dancing in the local park.

It won't be like this...

It will be a bit more like this.

We want to welcome you to the Annual General Meeting of the UK FFWPU!

Reports from Lancaster Gate headquarters will be sent out in advance of the AGM. With transparency in mind and the goal of supporting effective communication we are also planning to hold a question-time session with a panel of key leaders and figures within the British movement.

With all that is taking place locally and internationally in our Movement this presents a unique opportunity for you to address a panel with your questions about the movement and its general direction. The make-up of the panel will reflect the various aspects of our movement… this is your chance to grill them on the issues that you care about!

We will also be voting in a new board of trustees, and there will be buffet style refreshments and a chance for socialising.

Look out for more details soon…

Matthew Huish and Niall Robertson will be helping with the preparations and further promotion.

By Teresa Hays

The European leaders meeting held at Livingston house on the 2nd-3rd November, hailed people from far and wide to take part in what has become an  important event, a chance for Reverend Song to pass on providential updates and news and a chance for our movement to digest and work together on a European level.

Being an average, student aged person in London, I had no connection to such a meeting, it was something maybe you heard was going on but in mine and probably many cases the reaction was indifference, how does this meeting effect me in any way? What will come out of it which is different from what is currently going on? What is the value of these meetings? Is it constructive?

I had several questions in my head and wanting to know what other people thought, I set out to find some answers. I asked Franklin Fortune his opinion and I was very moved by his honest and sincere point of view. He spoke very openly about his heart towards Rev. Song, explaining that sometimes its hard to completely understand the providential reasons for why we must do things here in Europe. In particular he spoke about cheon song conditions, how after some time each condition seems more like a routine then anything else, more like “heavenly tax”.

Something he realized at the meeting, was that the cheon song conditions are more of a chance for us to contribute to True Parents’ providence and goals. As Rev. Song is not always available, he cannot provide everything on behalf of Europe, subsequently the cheon song conditions gives us as members the opportunity to take sincere ownership over the progress in Europe, he went on by saying “the choice is ours”.

As I took some time to sit in the meeting, listening to all the many reports about countries and projects going on, it became clear that indeed there was a lot of talking, too much for my own attention span. But more then this I could begin to see the value in creating relationships and partnerships with each other.

This point struck me, wanting to get more answers I interviewed Tim Miller. Mr Miller had been working very closely with Rev. Song and was coordinating the meetings over the two days. He emphasized the importance of communication, communication between nations as well as vertical communication and understanding between Europe and our international movement. I also spoke to Simon Cooper about this point who admitted that working together on such a large scale isn’t an easy task as Europe has such rich and diverse cultures, but nonetheless growing in our connection to each other and Rev. and Mrs Song is important.

I ended my visit in reflection and came to the conclusion that most of the people attending came out of it feeling re-motivated with new direction and determination. In short I think the meetings were constructive in the way that it gave leaders the chance to re-connect with each other, a good and insightful visit. Watch the video:

30th October
By Lisa Hayashi

North London one day HARP workshop

In the half term North London HARP Reamonn Batemann organised a day of ‘heartwash’ where HARP kids could have a get together in Lancaster gate with a turnout of around 15 people from the North London and West London congregation. I thought it was a good opportunity from fresh HARP members to the elder second generation to interact. The schedule consisted of ice breakers from uncle mike’s (Mike Stout) legendary games and a comic video about relationship in marriage. We had a delicious meal made by Michael Franklin (and vegetable chopping from Erena Shaw) to give us enough energy for the day. We had a short talk by Matthew Huish who talked about important need-to know facts about purity, the main theme for Second generation this year, with valuable points in which levels we could relate to where I am sure everyone found motivating. In the afternoon we had another session of sports in Hyde park, both mentally and physically challenging (this time only a few scratches and bruises harhar).

In the evening we had another beautiful meal from Michael Franklin and we ended the day with a film, ‘Lady in the water’ by M Night Shyamalan- better known for The sixth sense. To be totally honest, I didn’t understand the film at all but it was no doubt interesting to see Shyamalan drowning in a bog of his own creative juices.

Overall the day was pretty awesome and it was good to be in the company of these barely credible people. The only down side was the attendance so hopefully if another opportunity comes along, people take it!

Credit to Reamonn B, Michael F, Erena S, Jonathan B, Mathhew H and Uncle mike for the day!

If you ever wondered what goes on at one of our monthly community leaders meetings then here is your chance to find out.

community representatives from around the UK

We try to move around the country each month and most of our communities have hosted the event over the last 18 months. It is a chance for representatives from all our FFWPU communities to come together, share, and discuss a wide range of topics. (we still need to get oursleves up to Scotland, just needs a bit of planning.)

Just to give you my opinion, in the video the Large’s dog steals the show….

This community event was held on Saturday 20th June. A big thanks to the West Country members who prepared the room and a very wonderful lunch for everyone. Also a big thank you to all the youth who joined in Chieko’s parallel meeting, (this is the 2nd month CHieko has held a youth discussion while the rest of us go through our usual agenda.)

And finally a big thank you to Philip and Petra Hill for coming down to share with Chieko’s group and also the Masters and Keiko de Giles for making her house available for that extra gathering.

all the generations represented

Gathering together before the crashes....

Early arrivers

Julian's Protec Extra 300L 3D aerobatic flyer

A group of us met at Cleeve House for a model flying weekend. We had helicopters, a 3D aerobatic plane and gliders. We decided to take a group photo BEFORE we started – which was just as well, since none of us escaped without a crash!

Julian’s Protec Extra 300L 3D aerobatic flyer really flew well – mostly because the pilot knew how to fly well too! The plane is made from lasercut Depron with a brushless direct drive motor. Once the sun had set on the first day, we settled down to watch The Aviator, based on Howard Hughes’ life story. The second day was a little more windy, but we still managed to get out a few times. Just to be in the countryside was great!

There will be another meeting this summer. Contact us if you want to join in!

Our pastors and staff often meet in meetings. So much so that the word “meeting” is a very loaded word, and thoughts of listening to long reports, spin, and imperfect communication come to mind.

Well, we have been changing that: recently in HQs when we hold a meeting we try to have our reports emailed in advance and down to a page or two. We give each other 10 mins or so to quietly read through if we haven’t done so already by email, and then get on with discussing what is really a priority.
But there is that whole other aspect of being a team, which are the personal relationships we have with each other. So, some of the London pastors and our couple have started a little midday sharing in the week, at our home. It is really nice to get to know more about how we all think and feel, about how we are in our families. And the food is good. On the way out at the end we start to talk work, and of course there is always a lot to communicate, about upcoming events, workshops, etc, but putting some focus on our personal relationships is definitely a good investment. Hope the pictures help you catch the atmosphere.

sharing the food

the brothers doing food prep

the pastors

Chieko and Cecilie