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(CANADA) Canadian Labor Day Conference was Held on September 6, 2021

by UBF HQ
Sep 21, 2021
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REACHING THE STUDENTS OF TODAY

Thank God for blessing our Labour Day conference. In preparation for the new semester and Fall ministry, all 18 Canadian chapters met in a virtual one-day-conference to (1) pray for the beginning of the new semester, (2) gain God’s wisdom in serving this generation of (millennial and GenZ) students, and (3) be empowered by the Word of God to serve new student ministry.

The conference was held on September 6, which is a national holiday which marks the beginning of the Fall semester for most of the university campuses in Canada. Chapter for east to the west coast, separated by up to 4500 km (2800 miles) and covering 3 different times zones, we thank God technology which allowed God’s servant from each chapter to meet in a virtual conference.

The conference consisted of two main sessions: a morning session and an evening session. The morning session was all about prayer. Because of the pandemic, our Canadian coworkers have not had the chance to see each other since our last national conference in 2018. All 80+ attendants joined in prayer at the same time to pray for (1) UBF international, (2) prayer topics for each Canadian chapter, (3) each others’ personal prayer topics, and (4) the upcoming Fall ministry. Everyone was devoted to at least 1 hour of prayer. It was a powerful moment in our conference as you could sense the presence of the Lord with his holy people crying out for his mercy and blessing for Canada.

The evening session was consisted of a Bible message on John 4 by Canadian coordinator Philip Wong, to learn about the spiritual dehydration and thirst of this generation of students. Although we may struggle to bridge the generational gap between many of God’s servants and this generation of students who are mainly millennials and GenZ, the spiritual thirst remains the same – we all thirst for the living water of Jesus, just as the Samaritan, who despite all the human barriers between Jesus and the woman. “Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14).

Our evening concluded with a special presentation by Dr. Abraham Suh from Asan UBF (Korea) who would impart his wisdom in serving a fruitful ministry in Asan. Dr. Abraham spoke of how he is not a man gifted to fish for young students, but rather he worked hard as a student of Jesus to learn how would connect with one broken soul in John 4 and how to apply this with students of today. Dr. Abraham’s presentation was a great blessing and source of encouragement to this Fall ministry with a vision and hope to invite students to drink of the living water Jesus.