News > Asia

by Caleb C.

Let Your Maturity Be Revealed

From October 16th to the 18th, we had a fall staff shepherd's retreat at the Kensington Resort in Chungju for 3 days and 2 nights. P. Nehemiah K., Korea UBF Director, delivered the opening message, “Let your maturity be revealed” (1 Timothy 4:6-16). We learned how important spiritual maturity is for a shepherd, and we were given a clear spiritual direction to have a desire for maturity, strive to attain godliness, and devote ourselves to reading and teaching the Bible.

Afterwards, we studied Nehemiah (1:1-3:32), “Lord, who keeps the covenant and shows mercy,” in groups, and learned about Nehemiah holding on to the covenant and praying in the midst of difficulties. In the evening, Chang-won K. (Gwanak 1) gave a special lecture on the topic “Faithful God: Reading the Bible with Covenant.” He organized the covenants in the Old Testament and we learned about the practical benefits of reading the Bible from the perspective of the covenant, and received much grace. On the second day, we traveled to Chungju and had a time of fellowship and rest with co-workers through hiking and exercise.

On the third day, we studied Nehemiah 4:1-5:19, “Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome.” We received much grace through the attitude of Nehemiah and the people, who had faith in the great and fearful God of heaven, feared God, overcame internal and external obstacles, and devoted themselves to the construction of the wall. Afterwards, we held a staff meeting and prayed together for the fall retreat in India and South Sudan, as well as for the disciple-making history of the fall semester in Korea. We thank God for giving us rich words and gracious fellowship and rest through the retreat.