Hendricks argues that interfaith worship fusion cannot be centrally mandated. It has to emerge organically — which means it has to be led by people whose natural social world is already cross-tradition.
Young people often have this: friendships across faith traditions, exposure to multiple worship styles, relationships that precede and outweigh institutional loyalties. A 25-year-old Unificationist who has close friends in evangelical Christianity, Buddhism, and no-faith backgrounds will naturally build a worship culture that makes room for all of them. Not because they’re told to, but because they want their friends in the room.
This is exactly what Moon integrated Buddhist meditation into Unificationist practice — not as a formal ecumenical initiative but as a genuine absorption of what he found valuable. Dave Hunter and Jaga Gavin spent years in contemporary Christian churches before bringing those influences into UC ministry.
Hendricks’s prescription: give worship to youth. Local ownership + empowered youth = organic liturgical fusion. It will “break traditions, turn out differently everywhere” — and that’s the point. Diversity of expression emerges from local ownership, not from central planning.
For MNFC: this is an argument for youth-led worship tracks, youth-designed service elements, and genuine cultural authority given to the next generation — not just youth performance within an adult-controlled frame.