News

April 11-13, a Spring Staff Conference was held at Sangrok Conference Hall in Cheonan, Korea. It was for the preparation of upcoming 50th Anniversary and World Mission Report. Dr. John and Sungi Jun from the USA, and Stephen and Elisabeth from Russia attended.

On the first day, we had a group Bible study based on Luke 8, “I Must Proclaim the Good News to Other Towns Also.” In the evening, Yonggyu Park, who is a professor at Chongshin Theological Seminary School, gave a special lecture with the title, “The Spirituality of the Early Korean Church and Mission.” He emphasized that the 1907 revival at Pyongyang occurred by the work of the Holy Spirit through those who repented based on the words of God. Likewise, we prayed that our ministry may also lay the foundation on the words of God and that God would use us for his world mission purpose continually. Afterward, Samuel led a prayer meeting and we all knelt down and prayed out loud with contrite hearts for the 50th Anniversary and World Mission Report preparation. Many of us experienced spiritual renewal through it.

The next day in the morning, there was a presentation with the title, “The Spirit of UBF,” followed by five topics: “The Bible Centered Mind” by Elijah; “The Spirit of Raising Disciples” by Elisha; “The Spirit of Self-Supporting Mission” by Changwon; “The Pioneering Spirit” by Deukhyeon; and “The Community Spirit” by Timothy. After the presentations, Samuel spoke on John 1:14 and we prayed together based on his message to serve the 50th Anniversary and World Mission Report with the mind of Jesus. In the afternoon, under Joshua’s leading, we played sports with the spirit of raising 2,500 disciples.

A presentation entitled, “UBF Mission” was announced in the evening followed by seven topics: “One to One Bible Study” by Nehemiah; “Daily Bread” by Moses N.; “Testimony” by John; “Disciple Making” by Moses Y.; “Self-Supporting Mission” by James; and “The Mission to North Korea and Unity” and “Community Service” by Caleb. After the presentations, we prayed all together based on Philippians 2:3-8.

On the third day, after a group Bible study, Abraham from Kyungwon UBF gave us a special Easter Message with the title, “Arise, Young Man!” He testified to the power of Jesus’ words through his personal testimony in his message. Although he confronted a lot of difficulties in the pioneering stage of his ministry, he held on to the words of God and it yielded fruit: disciples were raised and his financial problem was solved. In his message, we realized that we needed resurrection faith based on the words of Jesus in order to have new direction for the next 50 years of our ministry.

In conclusion, our hearts were renewed through repentance and we followed the example of Jesus’ humility in this conference so that we may be able to serve 50th Anniversary and World Mission Report with one mind and spirit.

Thank you.

By Joseph