(GERMANY) The Work of God in Koeln 2021

by UBF HQ   02-08-2022   0 reads

By E*berhard Groß

The key verse was Hebrews 10:23-24: " Let us hold fast to the confession of hope and not waver... " We studied the book of Esther, 1 and 2 Peter, Exodus, the Sermon on the Mount and Hebrews. J*an Winand took over the chairmanship from M*ichael. S*amuel Lee, J*an Winand, E*lia Lee, and E*berhard Gross delivered the Sunday messages without interruption from January through June despite the demands from their work and families. J*ohannes Lee took his retirement and now serves archival work with his gift. J*ohann Kim took over the leadership of P*eter Youk's former circle. We had a virtual Easter Bible school based on John 19-21. H*arm Meyer, T*itus Keller and W*alter Nett delivered the messages with Dresden UBF attended. We also had a Scandinavian service with Kim’s family. We had an open-air service on the university meadow with an impulse message from R*ainer on believing in God. Some expressed their gratitude, T*imo about his school leaving certificate, P*aul about his bachelor thesis and P*eter Jeong about obtaining German citizenship, S*arah Wieland about completing her studies in Vienna and returning to Cologne. S*amira, R*uth Kong, M*aria Yoon (Düsseldorf) graduated from high school. The refugee family O*yor Moses (mother with 4 daughters) sang a song and let us share their African movement talents. Some members of our congregation took care of this family, visited them in their refugee home in the Eifel region, translated their sermons and conducted the Bible study with them and taught them German. They need our help. Starting from April, we carried out a special project to research the Bible. Under the direction of our main preachers, we created a theological offer with the topics of exegesis, hermeneutics, homiletics, and rhetoric. See world mission slides from 12/12. On 30th May, we had an online world mission report with P. Moses Yoon's sermon on Acts 28 which was an extremely valuable orientation in Corona times. A*nnika Fabian was one of life testimony speakers in WMR. A*nnika and T*oni established a house church in Heidelberg in August. The merger of the Colone 1 and 2 UBF were sealed with a large majority of the general meeting and united on 3rd October. We had christmas messages from the book of Isaiah on the 3rd and 4th of Advent. U*lrike Groß on a great light based on Isa 9:1-4 and Toni Demir on a son that has been given to us based on Isa 9:5-6 followed by beautiful music and fellowship with grilled chestnuts outside. Praise God who let us not waver, but hold fast to the confession of hope!

Outlook 2022 Key Verse for 2022 is 1 Peter 4:10: "Serve one another, each one with the gift that he has received, as good stewards of the varied grace of God."
1. Serve one another with God's gifts as the good stewards of Jesus' church
2. S. E*berhard Groß: His leadership and servantship based on 1 Peter 4:10
3. Spiritual revival among the students and the friends, neighbors, colleagues of the city of Cologne and suitable environment for it in the church.