BUT GOD DEMONSTRATES HIS OWN LOVE FOR US IN THIS …(Romans 5:8)

This year, God blessed our 1,000 times of united prayer and sacrificial co-working of all European UBF missionaries and shepherds. God revealed his wonderful hope at the European Summer Bible Conference that Europe will be spiritually rebuilt and changed to a missionary sending continent again. Through the historical 2009 European Summer Bible Conference, most house church ministries in Europe could receive great hope for their pioneering ministry and for European mission.

We thank God, that he has blessed our 2009 Fall Bible Workshop Conference. From 6th to 8th of November, Bonn, Mainz and Düsseldorf II UBF chapters held the conference at the historical city of Prüm. The theme of the conference was the unconditional and absolute love of God, which is demonstrated in Christ who died for us when we were still sinners. Through the opening message based on Romans 5:8, M. Samuel Peter Ryu from Mainz UBF introduced us to this love of God.

On the first evening, Sh. Xenofon Grigoriadis delivered the first main message on Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane (Mk 14). We were moved by Jesus’ struggle to submit his own will under the will of God for our salvation. On that evening, we prayed earnestly with a repentant heart, crying out to God to renew our prayer and mission spirit. We renewed our life purpose as missionaries and shepherds to serve God and challenge the spiritual revival of Germany, rather than to improve our life condition.

On the 2nd day, we studied Mark 15, “Jesus’ suffering and death.” Sh. Joachim Dietzel’s message illustrated the suffering of Jesus. We learned that Jesus even had to suffer the separation from God in order to fulfill his mission. Jesus willingly suffered on the cross and finally cried out: “Father, why have you forsaken me?” We realized that Jesus was forsaken by God for only one reason: that we might not be forsaken, but that our relationship to God might be restored. Through his death on the cross our sins, our rebellion is forgiven and we can now live as God’s beloved children and his servants. Sh. Joachims’ main message was powerful and heart moving. May God bless German mission coworkers to learn such a sacrificial love of God and bless Germany to be a shepherd nation for Europe.

In the afternoon, we had a personal time with God and wrote testimonies about the love of God. In the evening, Sh. Titus Keller – who was our special guest messenger from Düsseldorf II – delivered a dynamic and heart moving message based on Romans 3:24. Through the message, we deeply realized that we are living only by God’s grace. We realized that we were all sinners who rebelled against God like Saul did before he met Jesus. We are saved not by our good deeds, but only by the wonderful grace of God, which is displayed in his unconditional love through Jesus. Sh. Titus testified how the love of God changed his life and encouraged us that this grace applies to all of us as well. We pray that God may continually bless his house church to be a source of blessing for pioneering of Düsseldorf University and for New Generation in Germany and Europe.

After this wonderful message, we heard 12 graceful testimonies which were full of grace and repentance. The testimony sharers accepted the love of God in Jesus and made personal decisions to participate in the sufferings of Christ for the world salvation work. Some sharers even shed their tears on the podium. It was also encouraging that some high school 2nd generation missionaries shared their testimonies which were written from their heart. 2nd generation missionary Steven Suh from Downey, LA who is staying in Bonn for spiritual training, shared his life testimony, testifying the work of God in his life. Spiritually, he was nearly a dead person, but his spirit was revived through the word of God at the 2009 European Summer Bible Conference and he found his life direction in Matthew 6:33 to seek first the kingdom of God.

On Sunday, Sh. Ehrfurcht Kösters delivered the last main message based on John 21:15, “Feed my lambs.” Through Risen Jesus’ love toward his disciples who had gone fishing, we were reminded of God’s great and unconditional love for us. Sh. Ehrfurcht had many failures and doubted the love of God, but God loved him unconditionally. His message was interrupted several times, because he shed many tears of joy.

M. Petrus Chang gave the closing message based on Acts 1:8. His message gave us a clear direction to trust in the Holy Spirit and to be witnesses of the love of God to the ends of the earth. We all wanted to remain in the conference, which was full of love of God. But we returned to our mission field with decision to love God’s sheep on our campus and feed them.

The conference was not only full of the love of God, but also full of joyful laughter, because of Sh. Joachim’s humorous business announcements. We also cannot forget the morning devotions, which we had in five separate groups. This gave many young messengers the opportunity to serve the Word of God from their hearts. The morning devotion messages Ezekiel 37 and Acts 19 gave us hope for the spiritual revival in Europe, especially through intensive one-to-one Bible study and disciple making ministry.

As we returned from the conference, we held Sunday Worship Service with a meaningful message about the importance of the house church ministry. Sh. Stefan Elsholz delivered the message based on Romans 16:3~5a. We prayed to God to send out sacrificial house churches like Priscilla and Aquila to 1,700 universities in Europe. In this fall semester, we pray to serve the disciple making ministry with the love of God through one-to-one Bible study actively and raise up 12 disciples of Jesus in every fellowship. May God also bless our John’s gospel study in this fall.

In Christ Jesus,
Peter Schweitzer