During the monthly meeting of the Kaname-kai (the association comprising the head ministers of all directly supervised churches) held on August 27, Daisuke Nakayama, the successor-designate to the Shinbashira, announced that the Seminar for Successors will be held. Intended for successors of the path between the ages of 20 and 40, the Seminar for Successors is schedule to be held in Jiba between August 2017 and March 2018 for a total of 25 sessions. Each session is scheduled to last three days and two nights, designating Church Headquarters facilities as dormitories for the participants. It has been ten years since the Seminar for Successors was last held. With Daisuke Nakayama serving as chairman of the steering committee of the Seminar for Successors, the administrative office of the Seminar for Successors will be set up at the headquarters of the Young Men’s Association.
The purpose of holding the Seminar for Successors is to help participants lead a life of faith joyously and spiritedly every day and make steady progress in their spiritual growth that leads to the Joyous Life.
In regard to the program of the seminar, Chairman Nakayama said: “I would like the program to be centered around implementing the Joyous Life in the course of daily life. . . . I would like to provide participants with an opportunity to give thought once again to the parent-child and husband-wife relationships, which are the foundation of the Joyous Life.” He added that the steering committee is determined to optimize the quality of the program so that many participants will say, “The Seminar for Successors has changed my life.” In order to ensure that as many intended participants as possible attend the seminar, he asked all directly supervised churches to make substantial efforts to reach out to them and call for participation.
Honbu-in Umeo Izutsu, who was appointed vice chairman of the steering committee, then took the podium and said: “It has been emphasized that now is the seasonable time to nurture human resources who will carry the path into the future. If we succeed in having all intended participants attend the seminar, then there is no better way to nurture successors of the path than this. I would like all of you to take the tasks of nurturing human resources as your own concern and engage in those tasks.” He then encouraged all directly supervised church head ministers to start making arrangements to call for participation in the seminar as well as to provide guidance and care to young people after their participation in the seminar.
It was also announced that all directly supervised churches will appoint officials for the seminar. On October 25, 2016, the first meeting for directly supervised churches’ officials for the seminar will be held in the Home of the Parent.