By Rev. Shin-Hyeong Eom, President of the Christian Council of Korea, Jungheung Presbyterian Church Senior Pastor

God has blessed the Korean church and achieved incredible spiritual growth. Beginning from the 1970s, Korean churches began to take part in world mission and by the end of 2008, approximately 20,000 missionaries had been sent out to 168 nations. Korea now has become the world’s second largest missionary-sending nation. I highly anticipate Korean churches and mission organizations to continue with their passion for world mission. At the same time, I hope that the Korean church and mission organizations may collaborate to effectively carry out Jesus’ world mission command.

I thank and praise God for the University Bible Fellowship (UBF) which has sent out 1,500 missionaries to 90 different nations starting with Germany in 1969. In particular, UBF has set a good model for their disciple-making ministry among the natives through professional self-supporting lay missionaries. This is a different paradigm from that of Korean churches which had been focusing on sending out ordained pastors as missionaries. This book is a vivid display of how Korean professional self-supporting lay missionaries found their “five loaves and two fish” through early morning prayers, campus evangelization, one-to-one Bible study, and disciples-making ministry.

Such a book as this that includes a practical variety of content will not only increase their passion for world mission, but will also encourage the collaboration among the Korean church and mission organizations. Moreover, I believe this book will become a valuable resource to share the mission models and know-how’s for the advancement of Korean church missions. I thank God for UBF professional self-supporting lay missionaries for their faith and sacrifice for Jesus’ sake for the campus mission in Germany and 23 European countries for the past 40 years. Through their tears and sacrifice, the Holy Spirit is working powerfully, raising disciples of Jesus among young people in Europe including Germany, France, England, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, and Romania. I would like to give my most heartfelt congratulations on the publication of “The 40-Year History of UBF European Campus Mission.” I would like to thank Europe UBF Director Dr. Peter Chang and other coworkers for their hard work for the publication of this book. I hope that Korean churches and mission organizations including UBF may collaborate and challenge even more with greater passion for the sake of world mission.