News > Oceania

2015 Macquarie UBF Annual Report (by Mark Lee)

The mission key verse of Macquarie UBF in 2014 was 2 Timothy 4:2: “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.” Based on this key verse we prayed to preach the Word in season and out of season, to raise a disciple team, to serve each ministry with love and prayer, and we prayed for Missionary Mark Lee’s powerful Sunday messages.

In 2014 the Lord did beautiful things in our church. The Lord used FOME (Fishers of Men and Evangelism) ministry. We had prayer and preaching meetings regularly on Macquarie University campus and invited university students to 9-Step campus Bible studies and to the Sunday worship services. God used FOME ministry as 5 loaves and 2 fish and sent us Bible students - Uche, James, Wei Wei, Nora, Natia, Maggie, Thomas and Phyllis. The Lord sent these Bible students from the beginning of the semester throughout the year to one to one Bible study and Sunday worship service. During the first semester, Christopher also joined FOME ministry and contributed his time and prayer and joined preaching work. Through this small fruit of prayer and preaching we have been greatly encouraged to keep on preaching the gospel to the students on the campus in 2015. At the end of last year the Lord gave us spiritual desire for preaching and gave us the key verse in Psalm 126:5, which says, “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.” I pray that the Lord may give all our church members passion for preaching and bring many people to him through our preaching ministry this year.

The Lord established the music team two years ago with two singers Owen and Uche, a drummer Chirayu or Mark, and a permanent guitarist Moses. The music team members have dinner together every Friday evening and practice the music. This regular music practice is not only for the music but also for their team work. Through the music team the Lord has raised three such faithful people Owen, Uche and Moses as disciples of Jesus. They have grown up to be more responsible and more faithful to the Lord. They have spent their precious time to come to the music room in my home and practiced music for two or three hours. Uche used to sit at the back and withdraw from the Sunday worship service when he was in Nigeria. But the Lord led him to our church and trained him to be a faithful servant. He has been faithful not only to the music team but also to the Sunday worship service and FOME ministry. God blessed their time and sacrifice for the music and brought us beautiful worship music in the Sunday worship service.

The Lord blessed Macquarie UBF Easter camp during two nights and three days in April 2014 at Merroo Christian Conference Center with the gospel of the Risen Christ. The Lord raised four messengers among missionaries and gave us the messages of on the cross and resurrection of Christ. All 21 attendees of the Easter camp enjoyed Bible study and sharing testimonies and outdoor activities. The Easter camp was so graceful that we all agreed to have another camp next year in 2015 at the same place, and we already have it booked.

The Lord established and settled testimony sharing meetings among growing disciples - Owen, Chirayu, Moses, and Mark. We encouraged them to write a Bible testimony based on the Sunday worship message and to join the Bible testimony sharing meeting at 1:30pm after Sunday service lunch together. While writing and sharing their testimonies, they learned to apply the word of God to their personal Christian life. The Lord improved the quality of their spiritual life a lot through the testimony sharing meetings throughout the whole year. Through the testimony sharing meetings the Lord raised Owen. He is a good example in writing Bible testimony. He spends much time writing a deep Bible testimony of 2-3 pages every week. By his diligent and sincere testimony writing, other Bible students were influenced and began to write their testimonies more deeply.

On the 5th-7th of December 2014 the Lord blessed Oceania Summer Bible Conference. A total of 75 people attended and among them 35 people were from our church Macquarie UBF. For the last ten years all the messengers were raised among missionaries. But this time the Lord raised all the seven messengers among shepherds and shepherdesses and growing disciples. From our church, Owen and Chirayu were used as the messengers in the conference. The Lord also used our church music team to serve the music for the whole conference.

My personal mission key verse in 2014 was the same as the key verse of Macquarie UBF, which is 2 Timothy 4:2. Based on this key verse, I desired to preach the Word. I joined preaching meetings at the commencement of the first semester and I met Thomas on the campus. He arrived two weeks before the university commenced. He was a university lecturer in Ghana and came to Macquarie University as PhD student in sociology with a scholarship. On his arrival to Australia he was looking for a church. The Lord led me to him and invited him to one to one Bible study and Sunday worship service.

Throughout the year the Lord sent Chirayu to one to one Bible study weekly. He has studied the Bible with me for the last five years. He accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior through the Bible and became a disciple candidate. The word of God has power to move his heart. Through the regular Bible study Chrayu has changed little by little to be faithful to the Lord. The Lord blessed his humble spiritual struggle and raised him as a messenger in 2014 Oceania Summer Bible Conference. Through the word of God and message training he accepted campus mission and began to pray to become a Bible teacher and serve a Bible student.

“Preach the Word”, the key verse in 2014, especially touched me as a messenger of God’s word to prepare Sunday worship messages from my heart. “Preach the Word” widely means that we learn and teach and handle the word of God carefully so that we can be prepared as a good Bible teacher to correct, rebuke and encourage myself and others using the word of God. As a Bible teacher and Sunday worship messenger, I had to repent and struggle to serve the word of God spiritually and diligently in 2014. As a lay missionary working full time, it was not easy for me to prepare the Sunday message every week. I had to use a lot of spare time to search and find out useful materials for the Sunday message. But many times I felt myself not well prepared and a lack of God’s word in my heart. However, the Lord was so gracious to me. He accepted my spiritual struggle in his word and gave us beautiful messages in the books of Philippians, Luke and 1 & 2 John in 2014. I pray that I may devote myself more to the ministry of the word of God continually in 2015.

2015 Macquarie UBF Key Verse and Prayer Topics:

 “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.” (Psalm 126:5)

1. Sow the word of God in tears
2. Raise a disciple team – Owen, Christopher, Moses, Uche, Mark Jr
3. Missionary Mark Lee’s powerful Sunday message
4. Serve each ministry with love and prayer

2015 Key Verse and Prayer Topics for Mark Lee

“Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.” (2 Timothy 4:2)

1. Devote myself to preaching, Bible study and the Sunday worship message
2. Build up the love relationship with my family
3. Serve coworking missionaries and Bible students in love and prayer