First I would like to thank ECMI leaders especially Johann and Chris and also Pastor David Yoo for giving us the opportunity to attend and to testify on raising disciples in Europe.

First, let us watch a short presentation about UBF Europe.

Yesterday, Pastor Yoo talked about the mighty work of God in Korea through discipleship training in SaRang Community Church and the great potential of those who are ready to go out as missionaries.

I would like to report about what God has been doing through sacrificial self-supporting lay missionaries around the world and especially in Europe. The ministry in Europe started 40 years ago with three nurse missionaries. Last year, 1,200 attended the European Summer Bible Conference in Germany. So, a fruitful disciple making ministry in Europe is possible. I hope and pray that through our brief presentations the character of this ministry may be revealed.

1. Following Jesus’ example of incarnation

Yesterday, Johann Lukasse talked about the basics of discipleship stressing the importance of a philosophy for the ministry above all strategies and methods. Let me read one verse from John 1:14: „The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.“ We may call this the philosophy: raising disciples by following Jesus’ example of incarnation.

Out of those who followed this example I would like to mention Sarah Barry, one of the two founders of UBF. She was an American missionary from the Southern Presbytarian Church. She came from a wealthy home and looked like a “Mississippi Princess”. At that time, in the early 1960s in Korea, Americans were regarded as superior and were expected to enjoy a privileged life even as a missionary. But she served Korean students with one-to-one Bible study, while living humbly in a Korean style coal-heated single rented room, sleeping on the floor with just a blanket – instead of living in the missionary compound with air-condition and Korean servants. She is now 81 years old and is still living humbly and serving college students with one-to-one Bible study. This humble life touched the hearts of young college students and moved them to seek Jesus earnestly. Later, many of them were following this example in living a humble life of imitating Jesus’ example of incarnation.

The missionaries who came to Europe, starting with those three women missionaries had the same philosophy, the same spirit. The life-giving spirit. The first German to atttend their conference was a young man with long hair, a green parka and red leather boots. He was served like a heavenly prince. He says he can never forget the serving of the missionaries. He became a humble servant himself and the father of four. His first son, Titus, is here with us.

As you can imagine, from a human point of view, it was impossible for Koreans to teach the Bible to European intellectuals and to help them to sacrifice themselves to Jesus. The missionaries faced disdain even from many Christians. However, they accepted God’s broken heart for the local students and by faith they were looking for a way to reach the lost and to obey Jesus’ command. They denied their own culture and studied the foreign language. They knelt down before God and thought of Jesus and overcame the cultural barrier and disdain and finally found a way to raise disciples by imitating Jesus’ grace iof ncarnation.

I was invited to Bible study in my 4th year of university. Before, I had rejeceted twice because they were foreigners. When I was asked again, the missionary who adressed me, could not even speak proper German, so I could hardly understand, what he was saying. I accepted his invitation because I felt pity for him. But on the way, as we dropped by my place and he sat down and prayed. I was moved. So I began to have a basic trust in the love and sincerety of the missionaries. When the pastor delivered the message on Romans 13 I could accept Jesus as the Lord in my heart and that was the turning point and the beginning of a new life. So what convinced me and helped me to learn from the missionaries was their sacrifical life-style. Because of this I was ready to accept admonition based on the word of God and discipleship training. Now I am working full time as a company lawyer, however I offer my heart and strength and time to make an effort to learn Jesus and to embrace one person to grow as a disciple of Jesus, not just me but other leaders who are working fulltime and are serving the ministry.

For both, missionaries and natives in the ministry, being self-supporting means working full-time and – at the same time – study and prepare Bible materials, taking care of the children, preparing the Sunday message etc. Through this they proclaim the Lord Jesus. Some of them share common life with some students who have spiritual desire and help them to grow as Jesus’ disciples. In order to do so they offer not just a part of their time, but also sacrifice their private life. In order to preach the gospel to students they are following the example of Jesus’ incarnation of self denial and sacrifice.

2. World Mission through self-supporting Missionaries

Self-supporting World mission is the fruit of the disciple making ministry. Currently, there are about 2,000 self-supporting lay missionaries in 90 countries. Self-supporting means financial independence. It means working to cover their own expenses. Sometimes it means to take over menial jobs. Some missionaries with a college degree were working as sewing machine operators or chicken killer. One missionary was a Lawyer in Korea, but he delivered newspapers in his mission field. Recently his ministry held a conference with 300 attendants, including 80 newly invited students.

One Missionary went to India as a dispatched employee of a large Korean company. He preached the gospel to many students and raised them as disciples. As he lived a devoted life by faith and prayer, he could also show an outstanding performance at his job. In this way he could prolong his contract for 3 times. As he was promoted to a manager position, he was asked to return to Korea. Going back to Korea meant a comfortable life with a secure future. However he left his job and decided to remain in India to serve the local students and leaders, who were growing as the fruits of the ministry. He opened his own business and currently he is the president of a company with many local employees. This ministry is a blessed ministry. The grace of Jesus is in this ministry. And just like him, his disciples were blessed, 5 of them becomking professors. This Missionary is an excellent example of a self-supporting missionary. He is a missionary first, then an employee or worker in his profession. Many of the disciples have Muslim or Hindu background. He raised up disciples of Jesus in a country where evangelizing Muslim or Hindu people is not allowed.

3. Disciple making through one-to-one Bible study

The strategy and method of raising disciples is one-to-one Bible study but this is not just a method, but rather the expression of an incarnated life-style. Because the missionaries imitated Jesus’ incarnated life-style their Bible study was very effective. One missionary in England studied the Bible with a very intellectual young man, who liked to discuss for hours and hours. The missionary learned to accept the pride of this young man. He overcame his own urge to answer back and continued to teach the Bible. The grace of Jesus worked in the heart of this young man. He now is a lecturer at a famous university in England, but most of all became a Bible teacher himself, practicing what he learned from the missionaries. When he met a proud lawyer, he embraced him and helped him, until he, too, grew as a disciple of Jesus.

Currently, we are experiencing a transfer of the spiritual leadership to native leaders. When native leaders accepted Jesus through the sacrificial life of the missionaries, they adopted the principles of the ministry: disciple making through one-to-one Bible study and World Mission through self-supporting lay missionaries. At the European Summer Bible Conference 2009, the main speakers were native leaders from Germany, France, England and Bulgaria, there were testimony speakers from Greece, Switzerland, Portugal, France, Czech Republic and Romania, all of them commiting their life to the ministry of disciple making. Also, a growing number of native leaders who accepted Jesus through UBF missionaries and received discipleship training were sent out as self-supporting missionaries like Evelyn from Mexico to Peru, Vladmir from Ukraine to Turkey, Oyor from Sudan to Egypt, Matthew from India to Portugal and more, around 30 in total.

Moreover, as we saw at the European Conference, the Second Generation now is growing as responsible stewards for the ministry. They do not identify themselves as „Missionary kids“ but rather as New Generation Missionaries. Among them, Titus Keller is leading an exemplary life as President of the New Generation in Europe. After the European Conference he initiated the „Hope Explorer Bible Study“. He will talk about that in a moment.

In conclusion, raising true disciples of Jesus in modern Europe is possible. It is possible through a sacrifical life following Jesus’ example of incartation. It is our prayer that Europe – like in the past – may become a missionary sending continent once again.