Good morning. In the early days of our church it was very difficult to reach prominent people because of their prejudice and misunderstanding. Our church was persecuted and many people didn't want to receive our members. This was a problem. If we cannot speak to them, people will never understand us and we cannot make friends with them. But now after many long years of suffering and hard work, the time has come. So we must use this time fully. There is no doubt that once people begin to understand us they will become our friends. The main reason people persecute us is that they think we have no theology or base upon which to witness and thus assume that we trick people into joining our church. Public relations is a high level of witnessing, but the purpose is the same: to help people understand our truth and our work and to make friends with them. They may become members in the future, but that is not our goal.
It's difficult to do things by yourself. We gain better results when we have friends and colleagues to work with. Up to now you all worked on your own, by yourselves. But from now on we must organize PR under one organization and direction. You can discuss the best way to contact different types of people. There are many ways, but one important thing is that we should always listen first. Give people the chance to express their beliefs first. They will be content sharing their opinions and views and you can discover the best way to reach them. It's important to listen first if our PR work is going to be successful.
We are working for God, not ourselves. So we should be confident that God is guiding us. You must pray that God can work through you. You should feel: "God is with me. He is beside me, so I have nothing to fear." Of course you must be humble, but in your heart you should be confident of victory. It does no good if you are fearful or timid. You should have an air of confidence and dignity as God's representative. Invest your whole personality in your work and work with confidence. Let people feel God's heart of love through you. If you speak without confidence, you won't inspire anyone. But if you speak with confidence and zeal, even if you only speak briefly it will have a great impact. You should be able to impress others with your personality. This is important. People not only hear your words, but see what kind of person you are, so you must be sincere. A sincere person cannot lie. If you aren't trustworthy, people won't believe you no matter how eloquently you speak. This is why we say that PR work is actually done with your character, sincerity and heart.
I always pray to God to give me the skill of diplomacy and the ability to move people to become our friends and supporters. We mustn't forget that our ultimate goal is to make them God's friends and supporters. Everyone should pray in this way. God is the best diplomat, so we should learn from Him and inherit His diplomatic skill and ability. If you pray and work with this attitude you can obtain better results and with experience become great PR people and heavenly diplomats. We need many such diplomats.
We don't have many resources, so we must invest our manpower and money to gain the best results. You should discuss how this can be done. You are the most experienced PR people in our church, so when you develop, our work will develop as well. You represent our church, so each of you should try hard to improve; try to become the best diplomat. You are pioneers in this field. I hope you can work well and bring good results for Heavenly Father. Thank you.