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| A Kingdom of Priests
and a Holy Nation |
| Now if you
obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations
you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth
is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy
nation.” Exodus 19:5,6a |
|
 UBF
History |
III.
Pioneering overseas mission field
| Year | |
Month
day | |
Place |
| 1969 |
|
The first missionaries to Germany: Inkyung Seo,
Hwaja Lee, Dongran Sul |
| 1969 |
Jul. 17 |
Köln, Germany |
| 1972 |
May |
The first missionary candidate team: Sarah Chang
(Washington), Grace Yoon (Wright), Humble You (Kyungsoon
Suh, LA), Rebekah Kim (Boksoon Kim, Akron), Saeyun Moon
(Atlanta), Okhee Lee (Hanyang), Taeok Kang (Sae Daejun),
Sarah Lee (Kihyang Lee: Köln), Sarah Chang (Bonn),
Sookchul Huh, Moonhaeng Park, Wolsin Lee |
| 1974 |
Sep. 20-25 |
The First World Mission Report in Switzerland with
169 attendants. |
| |
Mar. 10 |
New York, USA |
| 1975 |
Jun. 30 |
Chicago, USA |
| 1976 |
Apr. 29 |
Georgia, USA |
| |
Aug. 8 |
Guatemala |
| 1977 |
May 2 |
Toledo, USA |
| |
Jun. 13 |
Sent out Dr. Samuel Lee and his family to Chicago,
USA |
| |
Jun. 28 |
Washington, USA |
| |
Dec. 31 |
Dortmund, Germany |
| 1978 |
Oct. 3 |
Columbus, USA |
| |
Nov. 1 |
Pittsburgh, USA |
| 1979 |
Jan. 20 |
Bangladesh |
| 1980 |
Jan. 3 |
Bonn, Germany |
| |
Aug.15 |
Stuttgart, Germany |
| 1981 |
Aug.24 |
Boston, USA |
| |
Sep. 8 |
Winnipeg, Canada |
| 1982 |
Feb. 20 |
Mexico |
| |
Apr. 10 |
Indiana, USA |
| |
Aug. 6 |
LA, USA |
| |
Aug.18 |
Malawi |
| |
Sep. 14 |
MSU, USA |
| 1983 |
Apr. 15 |
Milwaukee, USA |
| |
Sep. 1 |
Madison, USA |
| 1984 |
Jan. 20 |
Argentina |
| |
Jun. 29 |
Paris, France |
| |
Jun. 30 |
The Philippines |
| 1985 |
Jan. 1 |
Hong Kong, China |
| |
Jan. 18 |
Saudi Arabia |
| |
Apr. 1 |
Heidelberg, Germany |
| 1986 |
Sep. 3 |
Sweden |
| |
Apr. 15 |
Triton, USA |
| |
Aug. 3 |
Arizona, USA |
| |
Dec. 10 |
Toronto, Canada |
| |
Dec. 30 |
Hamilton, Canada |
| 1987 |
Feb. 11 |
Tokyo, Japan |
| |
Mar. 9 |
India |
| |
Aug. 1 |
Kansas, USA |
| |
Sep. 1 |
Bochum, Germany |
| |
Sep. 6 |
Wright, USA |
| |
Sep. 20 |
Mainz, Germany |
| |
Sep. 24 |
Italy |
| |
Nov. 1 |
Aachen, Germany |
| |
Nov.17 |
Australia |
| 1988 |
Feb. 25 |
Bolivia |
| |
May 26 |
Venezuela |
| |
Jul. 1 |
Lehigh, USA |
| |
Jul. 9 |
Libya |
| |
Aug.15 |
Baltimore, USA |
| |
Aug.17 |
Paraguay |
| |
Sep. 28 |
CSUN, USA |
| |
Nov.23 |
Malaysia |
| 1989 |
Apr. 1 |
Spain |
| |
Jul. 18 |
Switzerland |
| |
Jul. 25 |
Taiwan |
| |
Sep. 5 |
Great Britain |
| |
Sep. 8 |
Hungary |
| |
Sep. 22 |
Holland |
| |
Oct. 17 |
Austria |
| |
Nov.16 |
New Zealand |
| |
Dec. 7 |
Kenya |
| 1990 |
Jan. 5 |
Lyon, France |
| |
Feb. 7 |
Indonesia |
| |
Feb.14 |
Kuwait |
| |
Feb.15 |
Texas, USA |
| |
Apr. 3 |
Dominican Republic |
| |
Jun. 20 |
Peking, China |
| |
Jun. 26 |
Somalia |
| |
Aug.10 |
Sudan |
| |
Aug.17 |
Bulgaria |
| |
Aug.26 |
Swaziland |
| |
Aug.28 |
Russia |
| |
Sep. 1 |
Sri-Lanka |
| |
Sep. 16 |
Czechoslovakia |
| |
Sep. 21 |
Nigeria |
| |
Sep. 30 |
Belgium |
| |
Oct. 19 |
Egypt |
| |
Nov. 23 |
Namibia |
| |
Nov. 29 |
Romania |
| 1991 |
Jan. 22 |
Brazil |
| |
Mar. 14 |
Suriname |
| |
Mar. 25 |
Greece |
| |
Jul. 23 |
Yugoslavia |
| |
Aug. 1 |
Uzbekistan |
| |
Sep. 1 |
Ukraine |
| |
Oct. 9 |
Mongolia |
| 1992 |
Jan. 15 |
Latvia |
| |
Feb. 11 |
Byelorussia |
| |
Feb. 15 |
Kazakhstan |
| |
Jun. 10 |
Uganda |
| |
Aug.14 |
South Africa |
| |
Aug. 27-30 |
The Second CIS International Conference at Moscow
with 328 attendants. |
| |
Sep. 1 |
Denmark |
| |
Sep. 10 |
Estonia |
| |
Sep. 15 |
Lithuania |
| 1993 |
Jan. 19 |
Pakistan |
| |
Mar. 24 |
Thailand |
| |
Jun. 24 |
Slovakia |
| |
Aug. 5-8 |
The International Conference at MSU, USA with 1,320
attendants. |
| |
Jul. 1 |
Vietnam |
| |
Jul. 12 |
Ghana |
| |
Aug. 1 |
Arlington, USA |
| |
Sep. 2 |
Nepal |
| |
Dec. 20 |
Trinidad Tobago |
| 1994 |
Jan. 24 |
Moldova |
| |
Apr. 2 |
Turkey |
| |
May 23 |
Iran |
| |
Aug. 25-28 |
The Fourth CIS Summer Bible Conference at a site
near Moscow with 218 attendants. |
| |
Dec. 5 |
Yemen |
| 1995 |
Jan. 12 |
Zambia |
| |
Jan. 19 |
Ireland |
| |
Feb. 8 |
Israel |
| |
Feb. 24 |
Finland |
| |
Aug. 3-6 |
The International Conference at MSU, USA with directors
and representatives from 50 nations and 1700 American
attendants. |
| |
Aug. 27 |
Jordan |
| |
Sep. 4 |
Zimbabwe |
| |
Oct. 3 |
Lebanon |
| |
Oct. 17 |
Singapore |
| |
Nov. 3 |
Qatar |
| |
Dec. 4 |
Fiji |
| 1996 |
Mar. 27 |
Cameroon |
| |
May 7 |
Vladivostok, Russia |
| |
Jul. 24 |
Chile |
| |
Aug. 2 |
Egypt |
| 1997 |
May 15 |
Nepal |
| |
May 23 |
Peru |
| |
Jul. 7 |
United Arab Emirates |
| 1998 |
Feb. 2 |
Poland |
| |
Oct. 28 |
Singapore |
| 1999 |
Jan. 15 |
Taiwan |
| |
Apr. 19 |
Kyrgyzstan |
| |
Sep. 9 |
Pakistan |
| 2000 |
Apr. 16 |
Panama |
| |
Sep. 11 |
Tanzania |
Conclusion: Should we be the same or be different?
God led our UBF ministry for the last 40 years based on
Ex 19:5,6a, “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant,
then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.
Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom
of priests and a holy nation.” Looking back, we realized that
God led us to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation for
the last 40 years.
Then what is the meaning of ‘a holy nation’? Even though
we can explain the meaning of ‘a holy nation’ in many ways,
Mother Barry explained it as “people whom God is with.” Last
night Shepherd Andreas Krawinkle explained it as “those whose
hands and hearts are clean.” Here the word, “holy,” means “separated
or different.” Therefore, “a holy nation” means, in one word,
“different people.” When God led the Israelites out of Egypt,
God intended them to be different people from peoples of other
nations. God wanted them not to serve man-made idols but to
serve God, not to follow their sinful desires but to live according
to God’s laws, not to worry about what to eat, what to wear
but to carry out God’s mission as a kingdom of priests and a
holy nation. But to our disappointment, as soon as they went
into the land of Canaan, they became identical with the Canaanites.
Like worldly people, they served idols, only enjoyed flowing
milk and honey, and abandoned God’s mission. Finally they invited
God’s wrath upon themselves.
When God established our ministry, God intended us to
become “different people.” God raised us up to be different
from worldly people, gave us a specific mission different from
that of other ministries, and led us to carry out our mission
in different ways. Now it has been 40 years since our ministry
began. Forty years reminds us of the forty years of the Israelites’
wilderness training. Since the forty years are over, shall we
go to the land of Canaan and enjoy flowing milk and honey? Sometimes
it may be good to enjoy milk and honey. But one thing is clear:
whether we enjoy milk and honey or not, in any and every circumstances,
God’s will for us is that we become different people, a kingdom
of priests and a holy nation.
For the last two years our ministry experienced a painful
division. Someone said, “Well, the time is changed. We have
been persecuted a lot. Now let us change our ministry as one
which serves the same common functions of the church.” Others
said, “We must maintain our specific mission, spirit and way
of working in UBF to the end.” To be the same or to be different:
that is the question. But we know the conclusion very well.
Until now, God led us to live different lives from that of the
world. Because of this confidence that we are different people,
we were willing to dedicate our youth to God and endure all
kinds of hardships. If the UBF ancestors and we wanted to be
the same with worldly people, why did we rejoice in all kinds
of sufferings? The spiritual heritage God had given to the UBF
ministry is, in one word, “different lives.” No matter how difficult
it may have been and how many persecutions we had to endure,
we must maintain this spiritual heritage God had given to us
through the UBF ancestors of faith.
Therefore, we must go back to a Bible-centered ministry.
In order to serve the word of God, we must encourage one-to-one
Bible studies, Daily Bread and testimony writing. We must study
the Bible and write messages based on the Bible passages. We
must continue to raise up spiritual leaders through campus evangelism
and carry out the world mission work through self-supporting
lay missionaries. We must treasure the UBF ancestors’ gospel
faith and missionary spirit such as manger spirit, soldier spirit,
giving spirit, self-supporting spirit, and pioneering spirit,
and maintain them to the end.
“Now if you obey me fully and
keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured
possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for
me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
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