News > Oceania

by Joshua L.

God helped Canberra UBF to have a discipleship retreat at the beautiful Wollongong Beach, in New South Wales, Australia, from December 8 -10 2023. As Canberra UBF is a small chapter with one family and a few young leaders, we got support and service from missionaries and young leaders of other chapters (M. Moses K., M. John & Faith J., Nick L., Daniel H., Sowon J., and David J.). Some traveled far from the venue: Nick L. traveled 700 km from Melbourne UBF; Daniel H. traveled 1200 km from Brisbane UBF. God filled the DR2023 with 11 attendants (4 of Canberra UBF and 7 of other UBF chapters). All the attendants were like the Magi who traveled a long distance to worship the Messiah baby Jesus.

The theme of DR2023 was ‘Noel' (the birth of Jesus). God granted the joy of the Magi to each attendant through Bible passages and fellowship. This was a young leaders-focused retreat and all 6 young leaders served the retreat: Nick L. served the bible passages reading session as GBS leader; Austen H. and Paakofi A. wrote and shared their life testimonies. The other three young leaders served Sunday worship service: Daniel H. as presider; David J. and Sowon J. as representative prayer servants. Attendants were refreshed by the word of God and through spiritual fellowship. One of the thanksgiving topics is that the young leaders had an opportunity to get to know each other more deeply and to make a spiritual vessel as a Jesus’ family. Nick called this spiritual vessel ‘a family’ and so M. Hannah L. named this family ‘Magi family’. Hearing the Sunday worship message (Matthew 2:1-12) delivered by M. Joshua L., we all worshiped baby Jesus, the Messiah, and were overjoyed like the Magi. Through this discipleship retreat, we learn that even a small chapter can have a discipleship retreat with the support and participation of members from other chapters. We pray that many campus students in Oceania may have more chances to know God and be saved by our preaching the gospel on campuses.