A Vast Army of God

“So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.” (Ezekiel 37:10)

From 13 ~ 15 November 2009 Czech Republic UBF held a historical fall Bible conference in the mountains of Janske Lanye. This conference was especially meaningful, because M. Hannah Shin’s first fruit of faith, Ales was raised as Abraham for the campus mission in Czech Republic. 17 attendants from Switzerland, Slovakia, Germany, and Czech Republic including some New Generation coworkers participated in the conference. This 2009 fall Bible conference hosted by a house church was very meaningful for the ministry in Czech Republic, because Ales was baptized and raised as campus shepherd, which furthermore became a source of encouragement for many UBF house churches in Europe which are serving the campus mission sacrificially.

Sh. Ales, a Charles University student, majoring in Economic System Engineering, came to Bible study in early 2007 and accepted Jesus as his Christ personally through Mark 8:29. Jesus freed him from anxiety and fear. Jesus gave him true peace of God in his heart and through his obedience of faith he experienced God’s help especially in his studies. He decided to be a shepherd for the Czech students and a good co-worker for M. Hannah Shin. We were very thankful for the almighty and living God’s mighty work in Sh. Ales – for blessing the prayer of faith and tearful service of M. Hannah Shin and the co-working of David Shin and the prayers of the missionaries in Europe. In order to bless and raise Sh. Ales as a shepherd, M. Dr. Peter Chang and Sh. Stefan Elsholz from Bonn UBF, M. Johannes and M. Susanna Kim from Bern UBF (Switzerland), and M. Esther Chang from Slovakia UBF came to the conference. Along with Ales, some children, Moses and Somang Kang from Prague UBF and Joan Yoon from Ostrava UBF were baptized, presided by M. Dr. Peter Chang.

The theme of the conference was “A Vast Army of God.” In his opening message, M. Ezra Yoon from Ostrava urged us with Mark 9:23 to overcome impossibilities by faith and live a powerful life in prayer. These days, his house church prays to raise up one Abraham in Ostrava University and for sound and spiritual growth of their children, Joan and Yae-Eun. They especially pray for M. Hannah Yoon to master the Czech language and to be used as a professor shepherdess for the campus mission in Czech Republic.

2nd generation missionary David Shin delivered the main message of the conference based on Ezekiel 37. We could see God’s hope for Czech Republic and Europe, where humanism and materialism dominate, to be changed into a vast army of God. The co-workers in Prague pray to raise up 12 disciples of Jesus and 12 Marias in each of Czech, Natural Science, Agricultural, and Business colleges in the Charles University by the year of 2015. On Saturday evening, Sh. Ales delivered the message based on Matthew 6:33 with a personal decision to give his priority to the word of God on Sunday. M. Hannah Shin delivered the Sunday message on Mark 6:37a and gave us a clear direction to bring our five loaves and two fish of one-to-one Bible study for the campus mission in Europe to God by faith.

M. Dr. Peter Chang studied Romans 16 with the missionaries and encouraged them to serve the house church ministry in Europe influentially and with confidence and by holding on to the hope of God. On Saturday evening, M. Dr. Peter Chang administered the sacrament, through which we could remember Jesus’ grace of offering himself for our sins and renew our mission. We also had a joyful fellowship by riding on the cable car to the 1,299 meter high Černá Hora, where we prayed for Europe. All guests were very surprised by the beauty of Czech Republic and enjoyed God’s wonderful creation.

Through the conference, we could see how God is mightily working in Europe through sacrificial house churches. The mighty work of God in Europe is going on through the house churches, which seems very trivial without any impressive church building. Since there are no more newly built big church buildings in Europe, many think that Europe is spiritually dead. However this is not true. Since Martin Luther’s reformation and the Pietism Movement, God is still working in Europe, yet in a different form than other continents, namely through many sacrificial house churches. God’s will for the world mission through Europe is still alive. In a biblical point of view, the house churches are God’s wonderful instrument, through which He is working from the beginning to this very day. They overcame fierce persecution in the first several centuries and conquered the Roman Empire with the gospel, which led to an explosive work of the Holy Spirit for world mission since the 18th century to today. May God bless UBF’s house church ministry in Europe and use Europe as a blessing for world mission continually. May God raise up an Abraham of faith in each European country through the sacrificial house churches and bless our prayer for doubling our ministry and sending out one house church to all 1,700 campuses in Europe by 2020.

One Word: Europe, A Vast Army of God

Pictures about this conference are available on the Bonn UBF Media Server.