“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
Part I. 2009 Annual Review
Work of God through John 3:16. I thank and praise God for his wondrous love and amazing grace toward sinful people like us that he gave his one and only Son Jesus so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. In 2009, after coming back from European Directors Conference, we began to study John’s gospel. We came to learn that Jesus is God. Jesus is the God of creation, the God of love, and the God of salvation. John 3:16 made us realize that our God is love and that the love of God should be the foundation of God’s ministry. Many of us had been working hard to produce results in disciple-making. But we learned that the core of the gospel is the love of God. Therefore, the first and foremost important thing is to practice and proclaim the love of God within and without the ministry. The word of God from John’s gospel gave us clear spiritual insight and orientation for daily life.
Personal Bible Study: In 2009, we studied John’s gospel. In that year we undertook the translation of Daily Bread into Portuguese. So far we have been supported by Brazil UBF, since we use the same language. That year Neusa began to translate Daily Bread from English into Portuguese. All co-workers took their personal Bible study from daily bread and weekly group Bible study from the seven step Bible study program and from the book of Genesis. Neusa led the group Bible study, and she prepared her Bible study in advance with much prayer
Campus visiting and 1:1 Bible study: In 2009 we concentrated on visiting the campuses. Missionary Grace and Missionary Rebeca and Neusa visited campuses 2 or 3 times a week. The three of them met at the center, shared their Daily Bread and prayed. After that they visited campuses with Jesus’ broken shepherd heart. While visiting campuses they met many students, most of whom rejected their love, but some of them accepted the Bible study invitation. Missionary Grace served Daley, Nuno, Ana, and many others. Missionary Rebeca served Romano. Missionary John served Arnildo and Sung Won Choi. Missionary Mateus served Fernando. Neusa, at first was afraid and lacked the confidence to share the gospel with others. But she was moved by the love and grace of Jesus and visited the campus almost every day to reach out to students and share her experience with Jesus. But she experienced much rejection from every corner. However, she was very much encouraged by serving Stefany. Visiting campuses helped us to be focused on our primary task of campus evangelization in Portugal. I thank God for our co-workers’ tireless efforts and their love for perishing souls in Portuguese campuses.
Biblical Events: Last year God helps us to participate in the European International Bible Conference. A total of ten persons, including Neusa, Fernando, two missionary families along with four children, participated. We were blessed with living words of God. Neusa took a spiritual leap and became firm in her commitment to live for God’s glory through campus mission. All missionary co-workers were refreshed and strengthen by God’s word. In our Christmas Worship service 18 people participated. Neusa brought her mother and younger sister Ana. It revealed that she has become a source of blessing for her family. I pray that she may be a source of blessing for the whole nation and for the world. By God’s grace, I could participate in the European Directors’ conference in Bon in January, and later in Budapest. I thank and praise God for answering our prayers and blessing our European International Bible Conference abundantly.
Self supporting and language study: By God’s grace Msn. John and I worked in our company. Despite our difficult situation, we both did well at our working place. Neusa finished her Master’s degree with 19 marks out of 20 while defending her Master’s thesis. We all were greatly encouraged by her. She is praying to get into the Ph.D. program with a scholarship in order to be self-supported. Perhaps time has come to pray for her house church. Though still struggling to dominate the language, through doing daily bread and having Bible study (either personally or with their sheep. or even in group), our three missionaries always use Portuguese which helps them to improve their command over the Portuguese language.
Co-working and 2nd generation raising: Whenever a ministry is based on the gospel fundamentally, there is a spirit of co-working. There will always be differences between any two people. However, we realized that the base of our ministry must be the love of God, who did not spare his one and only Son. We learned that God accepted us as we are, so we must accept each other with all virtues and weaknesses. Therefore, we all became joyful and supportive of each other in serving God’s work. Missionary Grace and Missionary Rebeca met regularly to share in Daily Bread, pray and visit campus together to invite students.
Support to Spain pioneering work: After many years of prayer, God sent Missionary Esther Ham to Madrid as a part time Korean language teacher. We were very joyful and thanked God for opening the door for campus evangelization in Spain. We invited Missionary Esther to Lisbon and had deep personal fellowship with her. We encouraged each other and prayed for Iberian pioneering work.
Part II. Vision and Strategy for 2010
For 2010, we received direction from 2 Timothy 2:15, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” Throughout our time as Bible teachers and workmen of God, we need to be excellent Bible teachers and disciple-makers. All our co-workers decided to be professional Bible teachers and workmen of God in Portugal. We all decided to struggle hard in prayer and Bible study in order to be approved workmen of God.
For 2010, we are praying to double our ministry compared to our ministry size in 2007. Therefore we are praying to have 21 Bible study groups per week and 8 participants in our Sunday worship service. Missionary John Huh took his key verse from Psalm 119:6. He prays to serve brother Arnildo and one more student with God’s word. In 2010, he wants to strengthen his personal relationship with Jesus through deep Bible study and early morning prayer. Missionary Grace took her key verse from Revelation 2:10. She prays to be faithful to serve God to the point of death. She prays to serve 12 Bible study groups per week. Missionary Rebeca took her key verse from Colossians 3:17. She prays to strengthen her relationship with Jesus through personal Bible study and prayer. She wants to bear fruit for God’s glory according to her key verse. She wants to serve Debora, Romano and a new sheep whom she prays to fish. I took my key verse from 2 Timothy 2:15, I pray to be a workman approved by God. I want to be approved by God by handling the word of truth correctly. Therefore, I proposed myself to meditate on God’s word through Daily Bread testimony writing and deep personal Bible study.
We also set up a calendar for 2010. We plan to have two Bible retreats, one in spring (March 27–28) and the other in autumn (Oct 27-28). This year we also pray to organize our first Summer Bible Conference on July 30–August 1. Indeed we believe that the time has come for our ministry to take a jump to the next level and reap the harvest of Christ at Lisbon University. Please pray for us that we all may be approved workmen of God.
Our prayer topics for 2010 are:
1. Raise one ancestor of faith and one prayer mother
2. Each co-worker may be an approved workman of God
3. 21 Bible study groups per week and 8 participants in SWS
4. Powerful words from John’s gospel to Msn Mateus Singh
5. Pray that all Portuguese-speaking countries may be pioneered
