Sun Myung Moon - Unification Church

Unification Church

Moon formally founded the Unification Church in Seoul on 1 May 1954, calling it "The Holy Spirit(ual) Association for the Unification of World Christianity." The church expanded rapidly in South Korea and by the end of 1955 had 30 church centers throughout the nation. In 1958, Moon sent missionaries to Japan, and in 1959, to America. By 1971, the Unification Church of the United States had about 500 members. By 1973, the church had some presence in all 50 states and a few thousand members. Missionaries were also sent to Europe. The church entered Czechoslovakia in 1968 and remained underground until the 1990s. In 1975, Moon sent out missionaries to 120 countries to spread the Unification Church around the world and also in part, he said, to act as "lightning rods" to receive "persecution." Unification Church activity in South America began in the 1970s with missionary work.

In the next few decades it expanded to most nations of the world and now claims to have five to seven million members. By 2010, Moon had given much of the responsibility for the Unification Church's religious and business activities to their children, who were then in their 30s and 40s.