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“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16)

The conference was held in Sechselberg, the southern part of Germany, from November 4-6. Darmstadt I and II, Frankfurt III, Stuttgart, and Muenchen UBF chapters attended the conference. M. Helen from the Mannheim chapter also attended with one brother and three second gens. Dr. Sam Lee from U of I UBF attended with Sam Lee Jr., Jeremiah, and Stephen from America. M. Paul Lee from Switzerland attended. Altogether 90 people attended the conference.  

The theme of the conference was “You are the Christ” based on Matthew 16:16. We all know the greatness of a confession of faith in the context of history, faith, and mission. Yet for many of us, we are too familiar with the passage to study it with a fresh look. So the focus of our conference was to apply this confession to our view of history, the world, and especially our daily lives. Since German education and mass media is strongly rooted in atheistic materialism, the confession of Christ is viewed mostly as a personal matter. So we prayed that we could expand the confession of Christ not only to a personal level, but to school, work, family, and other areas of our lives. 

With this purpose in mind, we began our conference with Isaiah 53 in order to plant a biblical perspective of history. Through this lecture we learned that the basis of our faith stems from history. Maria Hong Jr. from Stuttgart delivered the message. Maria worked in Frankfurt until last year. On the weekends, she traveled to Stuttgart to join the worship service with her parents. However, she resigned from the job in Frankfurt. After quitting, she stayed with her parents in Stuttgart, serving the ministry and looking for a job. Finally, she was introduced to an environmental energy company. This company turned out to be much better than a regular environmental energy company. During the interview, the interviewer asked her, “Do you truly believe in Christ?” The company atmosphere is very spiritual and they also offered her a higher salary. Though she didn’t have enough time to prepare the message, she came to the conference site by taxi after work and delivered the message. She also brought two sisters, Athina and Elina, from Stuttgart. I pray for her to establish a house church.

After the opening message, M. Simon Chung shared his research on “Jesus Christ and the worldview.” He explained our times on the basis of materialism which stems from the Big Bang theory, the theory of evolution, and individualistic naturalism, which has its origin in Rousseau.  It is true that these ideas are at the core of our times because they are supported by an enormous amount of information, but it is not the truth. On the other hand, the confession of Christ is the core truth that passes all generation. 

The following day, Dr. Moses Lee from Darmstadt delivered a message on Matthew 11:1-9 with John the Baptist’s question: “Are you the one who was to come?” (3). Jesus helped John and his disciples saying, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see” (4).  Dr. Moses testified that this word helped him to overcome doubt and despair.

In the morning, we studied Matthew 16. The message was supposed to be delivered by Toni, but he preferred to learn by listening to others. Therefore, Ezra Hong delivered a message on verses 1-12, and Andreas delivered on verses 13-28. Ezra delivered humorously about his struggle to overcome his own ideas, past experiences, and worries. He learned that he must have a spiritual perspective based on the disciples’ example. Andreas was a big hit and blessing for the conference. His message was one of the best delivered by him these past ten plus years. He studied the passage deeply and explained it in various ways. Most of all, his message had power that spoke from his heart.  It was a great blessing for him to visit the El Camino chapter in California in the US. He brought fire to Germany. I am grateful to Dr. John Baik’s ministry and his service for Andreas. I saw several people approach Andreas afterwards and thank him for his message. His visit to El Camino was a blessing for him and all of us. I pray for his future house church.

During the evening program, we had four parts. Dr. Sam Lee delivered on the Book of Hosea. He delivered it in a fresh style and with applications that we had rarely thought of before. I heard that his contrast between man’s sin and God’s love was a great challenge for many attendees. He also shared on his father’s Bible study. Most evangelical Christians claim that the Bible is the word of God, but living according to the Bible truth and struggling to do so is quite a different matter. Our Bible fellowship not only claims that the Bible is the word of God, but we also struggle to live according to its teaching. I was so thankful for this ministry. It was a golden opportunity for me to hear the real life story of the late Dr. Lee.

We heard the life testimony of M. Paul Lee from Geneva. A very distinct part of his daily life is his 2 hours and 20 minute early morning prayer that begins at 4:00 am. After morning prayer, he goes to work. Then he spends another hour meditating on the word of God. He testified that the love of God enabled him to live a stress free life at work and in the ministry. Indeed, joy is the best evangelism. I believe that God will bless him and make him fruitful.

Wesley Jr. graduated from high school this year. When he graduated in May, he planned on leaving the ministry. He wanted to go to Korea to have a fun time and visit relatives. However, when he visited the Yonhee center, David Kim asked him, “What do you want to do in Korea?” He said that he accidentally answered, “I want to learn about God.”   So he studied the entire John’s gospel with Joseph Cho. The Bible study followed a typical UBF style which he hated most. However, even though he didn’t want to do it, he finished John’s gospel by the help of Joseph. He received much grace from John 2 and other chapters. Through the summer conference and second gen conference, he was born again. He even called his parents and said, “I love you,” which made his parents cry. He encouraged many parents who were struggling with their children.

Andreas shared a report on his El Camino visit. He wrote more than 10 pages. His report was so impressive. Later, he shared again with a shortened version. It was still so heart moving. I pray for the same revival in Germany too.  

The following day on November 6, we heard a message on Matthew 17 about Jesus’ transfiguration. The result of a confession of Christ is to follow Jesus. But self-denial and carrying the cross is not easy. However, I thank God for showing us glory beyond suffering. Sh. Samuel delivered the message. His family and M. Abraham Moses family now serve Frankfurt’s pioneering ministry. 

I always wonder if we are harvesting as much as the effort we put in for a conference, but I feel rewarded when I see happy faces. I am strengthened with hope for the future. May God bless Germany and revive Europe.