Regional Clergy Meeting: In May, we had a Regional Clergy Meeting
in Tokyo, Japan, with the Assistant Bishop Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss Jr. In
attendance were: The Revs. Peter Devassey, Todd Beiswenger, Tim Zhou,
Gyu Yang, Jong Lee, Soon Lee, Seung Kim, Young Jung, Nang Kim, Yong
Jin, Shiro Matsumoto, Seiichi Sakae, and theolog Jea Shin and Candidate
Sachio Nakato. Australia, India, China, Korea, Japan and America were the
countries represented.
(Hwa Y. Kim, treasurer of the Philadelphia Korean New Church, adds:
Without your help this year our New Church missions in Asia will get very
difficult. Please help us in building the Lord’s New Church in Asia. Checks
may be sent to:
Philadelphia Korean New Church
Attn: Hwa Kim, Treasurer
537 Anne Street
Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006)
swedenborg foundation
The Swedenborg Foundation board and staff held a two-day retreat in the fall
to build on the new direction adopted at the last strategic retreat in 2012. The
Foundation then had shifted its focus to online content – from Facebook to
YouTube – while also encouraging anyone interested to download the Writings
free from its website.
The result so far is that the YouTube channel records more than 200,000
views each month, and three million people are connecting each month with
posts on the Heaven and Hell Facebook page.
At the fall retreat the board agreed that the mission continues: to
foster an informed and increasingly broad engagement with what has been
revealed through Swedenborg. “Our greatest hope,” the Foundation says in its
November/December newsletter, is that by spreading his teachings as widely
as possible “we can help to make the world a better place by giving people a
path to peace and happiness.”
Four specific aspirations are:
• Engaging with millions of people around the world
• Facilitating breakthroughs based on Swedenborg’s thought in physical
sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities
• Ensuring that messaging balances different Swedenborgian viewpoints
in the world
• Ensuring the best systems are in place for board and staff to work
together
The Foundation is also exploring new media channels such as apps and
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