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Go and make disciples all nations

Matt 28:19-20 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

I praise God who has worked in the evangelization ministry of Austria UBF in 2014. I thank God that he gave us comfort and His good guidance and showed us his comfort. Our chapter started 2014 as we held the New Year’s Bible conference on the 2nd and 3rd of January. We divided into two groups: high school students and adults, in order to study the word of this years’ direction of God and to find a spiritual orientation. On the 4th of January M. James Han delivered the first Sunday worship message based on 2 Tim. 3:10-4:8. We wanted to live by obeying Matt 28:19-20 to go and make the disciples by delivering the gospel of God.

Firstly, God gave us his living word abundantly in all seasons.

The main word of God which we have studied in this year was the book of Isaiah which is the “miniature of the Bible” containing the quintessence of the gospel of God. Since June 2013 we studied this book. Up to date (Dec. 14) we studied the 47th chapter.  We met the eternal God who rules over not only the history of Israel, but also over the entire world history. Moreover we could learn about the God who loves mankind and wants to save them from their sins. During the preceding Bible study there was a difficulty in understanding the word of God rightly, because we didn’t study it precisely enough, but the Holy Spirit showed us the genuine meaning of the word of God and has given us the message towards each of us, our chapter and Austria. We were very thankful this year that God helped a missionary to overcome her weakness and led her to our Morning Prayer and that she could come to God at 6am in the morning. In her we can see the fruits of grace that God gave her.

Secondly, the monthly Bible school/gathering

In the beginning of this year we held a “Bible school/gathering” monthly by inviting students to our church. We did not use the delivery of the message but the group Bible study, to introduce the new coming students more effectively in order that they can tell us their thoughts and can freely ask their inquisitive questions. This method was good to deliver them the gospel of Jesus naturally by communicating with them. We chose the gospel of John as the teaching material who understood the heart of Jesus best. Shepherd Epaphroditus Kim served the university team and Lydia Han, who is a 2nd generation missionary, guided the high school team. After the Bible study we invited all attendants to eat and have fellowship with them. In this Bible school our God sent us many new sheep, especially the high school classmates of Lydia (Anita, Naomi and Nadia). In this year they entered the Vienna universities and joined the group of the university students. Before the Bible study Sarah Han, Lydia Han, Johanna Hong and Sarang Yang prepared the hearts of the attendants and invited our God to dwell in us.

Thirdly, Saison Bible conference

We held the Spring Bible conference in our Bible center of Vienna UBF on April 18-20. The conference topic was “to store for yourselves treasures in heaven!” Shep. Epaphroditus served the first lecture based on Matt 9:19-34. The second lecture was delivered by Shep. Johanna Hong based on Matt 5:13-16. We heard the opening message by M. Sarah Han not in the Bible center, but at the beautiful lake near Vienna. Sister Schaolin Zhang and M. Daniela Yang served the quiet time message. On the night of the second day we heard the special book presentation entitled, “The Study Method of Prophet Daniel” which was written by Pastor Dong-Hwan Kim in Korea, in order to learn how to store up our treasures in heaven during our studying and working in our daily life at school and university. Young shepherds and the 2nd generation children learnt how to do their study and to prepare for the future to be used as a good coworker in God´s work.

In this year we prayed for the coming European Summer Bible conference in Willingen, Germany, August 14-17 as we learned the words of God, which will be studied during the conference. We studied them every week and wrote reflections personally, to learn how to have faith in God. 14 people attended this historical conference. Especially the 2nd generation of Vienna UBF took a good opportunity to support the message of Shep. Bruno Assaunt with a Bible sketch from Ezekiel 37:1-14. Through this preparation and performance of our 2nd generation children and Shepherd Epaphroditus Kim they could learn and accept the vision of God and believe in God who can make us his great army for the kingdom of God. We honored God when we heard that our brothers and sisters were inspired by the performance of the Bible sketch.

From Oct. 31-Nov. 2, we held our yearly autumn Bible conference in Tulle, where the previous middle European Bible conference was held. The conference theme was “Be a merciful child of God!” M. Daniel Yang opened the conference with the message based on Lk 15:11-32 regarding the parable of the lost son and his older brother. In particular, we focused not on the lost son, but on the older brother and the heart of their father. We saw that we had no mercy of God our father in our heart, as the older brother, and repented our terrible sins and took the heart of mercy and love for our neighbors. The main lecture was the word of God from Lk 10:25-37. Shep. Epaphroditus served the message regarding the love of a Samaritan, who served a blood-wounded man on the way to Jericho. We realized through that word, that we had lost the love of God and worked with church habits and tradition and repented by learning to serve our next. Finally at the Sunday worship service, M. James Han delivered the word of God based on Matt 12:9-12 with the title of “The Love of Jesus healing the Man with a Shriveled Hand”. In this conference sister Shaolin presented her first life testimony. Before attending the conference all coworkers prepared their life testimony to renew their hearts and let the grace of God come upon them during the conference.

Fourthly, the ministry of disciple making

God gave M. Sarah Han the heart of a shepherd for the 2nd generation children, so that she served the word at reflection meeting every Sunday after the Sunday worship service to take care of them spiritually. This meeting helped them to take the word of God personally and to grow up as a disciple of Jesus. Lydia Han graduated from high school and started the study of chemistry. She joined in the ministry of campus evangelization. Every Wednesday we had lunch with our sheep in the Bible center. Lydia Han and Shep. Epaphroditus Kim served a short message for the invited students. And then they had lunch. It was a good chance to invite the students in the Bible center and to get to know them. In this year Shep. Epaphrodits received messenger training every month, after the monthly Bible school so that he could grow up as a heart-moving and powerful messenger. I thank God that he made him his good servant for the Austrian students. The Austrian coworkers get up early in the morning to have a personal prayer opportunity in the Bible center and also on every Friday night at 9 PM. Through this prayer time, they became spiritual people who communicate with the living God and walk with him.

Finally, I feel the living gracious hands of God which guided us and accompanied us in 2014. As a reflection on this year, I cried aloud like a frog with a big mouth for my faults and sins before God. I found the limit of faith as a shepherd and therefore I had a serious time to think about how to be a good shepherd and how to guide the coworkers and sheep in Austria. My findings are that I should look at Jesus and follow him and serve as Jesus served and has shown me. “I am the way, the truth and the life.” This word of Jesus is the key point.  A new year 2015 is coming soon. I pray that I will follow Jesus and that I can guide the sheep of Jesus in Austria to God and his kingdom.

Prayer Topics in 2015

• Bible study from Isaiah and following the word of God
• Disciple making: 120 God´s men and women until 2017
• Austria will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation
• Monthly John's gospel Bible school
• Wednesday campus lunch meeting