News > North America

Chicago UBF, USA
March 14, 2014

“‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” (Mk 9:23)

On March 7, 2014 the Chicago UBF church hosted a special program , Canada Night. More than 20 Canadian UBF leaders came to Chicago and were received by more than 200 brothers and sisters from UBF chapters in the Chicago area, including Lincoln Park, IIT, West Loop, Hyde Park, and Dupage, as well as Toledo UBF. It was a great joy to welcome our neighbors from the north.
The program committee chose Mark 9:23 as a key verse. The late Dr. Samuel Lee gave this verse to the missionaries at the early stage of the Canadian UBF when they faced many challenges in the mission field. By holding on to this verse, they could lay a foundation for the ministry.

The program was divided into three parts. After a welcoming address by Pastor Abraham Kim (UBF General Director), Andrew Christopher shared the UBF history in light of the church history of Canada. At one time Canada was a leading missionary-sending nation in the world. A Canadian missionary to Korea helped translate the Bible into Korean and proposed the word “Hananim” for God. But now Canada suffers from secularization and is in need of spiritual revival. The Canadian UBF began with 23 women missionaries who came as humble sewing machine operators. God used their faith and perseverance to lay the foundation of God’s work in Canada through UBF. Now the Canadian UBF ministry includes over 300 members and has spread to more than 12 cities and major universities. Canada UBF has sent missionaries to the USA, Japan and Uganda, and two Canadian born leaders are serving as pastors of chapters.
In the second part, John Giesbrecht, Joshua Lee and Daniel Kwon each gave a lecture on the UBF history of Canada. This was followed by a special memoir written by Grace Hong, one of the 23 missionaries in the early days of the Canadian UBF. (Pauline Chang—another of the first women missionaries—shared this memoir in place of Grace, who had to attend to her mother-in-law’s funeral.) Afterwards Andrew Stumpf and David Jumeau shared their life testimonies. They represent the fruit of the UBF ministry in Canada. All attendants were greatly encouraged by the work of God in Canada. Ron Ward shared a closing prayer topic, thanking God for his great work in Canada thus far, and for the evangelization of all Canadian campuses and the raising of spiritual leaders in Canada to extend God’s dominion from sea to sea. We concluded with earnest two-by-two prayer.

The entire presentation will soon be published in a newsletter. We thank all who participated in this program in various ways. We thank and praise God for what he has done among our brothers and sisters in Canada. The full history of each church in Canada will be later posted on the web site: http://history.ubfservice.com/.

Please pray for the History Committee.

By Charles Kim