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Oceania UBF
December 28, 2013

Preach the Word

I thank God for blessing our 2013 Oceania Missionary’s Conference. Our conference was held from the 12th to the 14th of December in Melbourne. The place was beautiful and was beside a quiet mountain side. There were a total of 19 attendants from 4 chapters of Australia (7 from Melbourne, 2 from Canberra, 8 from Macquarie and 2 from Sydney), 4 from the USA and 1 from Korea.

Day 1 - Fullness and Freedom of Christians
The first day started with Colossians bible study led by Shepherd Stephen Ahn from Korea, who presented 7 lectures from 4-10 pm. The study was titled “Fullness and Freedom of Christians”. Through the Colossians bible study, we learned that it is only through Jesus that we are saved and can enjoy freedom and fullness through our salvation. We also learned the importance of holding on to what we learn from our ancestors of faith through the Bible studies.

Day 2 - Preach the Word
On the second day, we had group bible studies based on 2 Timothy 3:10-4:8, titled “Preach the Word.” The men’s missionary group was led by Missionary Joseph Ahn (from the USA) while the women’s missionary group was led by Missionary Sarah Kim and Missionary Maria Ahn (both from the USA). Afterwards, Missionary Abraham Kim delivered a message. His message gave us clear direction for the upcoming year. He reminded us of the urgency and importance of preaching the Word. With this in mind, all our missionaries wrote testimonies and made clear decisions to preach the word in our respective chapters.
In the evening, we had a special lecture by Shepherd Stephen Ahn, titled “The Person and the Work of the Holy Spirit from the Lens of the Reformed.” Through this lecture, we learned about the problems and dangers of charismatic movements and the importance of Bible-centered ministries.

Day 3 – The broken alabaster jar

On the last day, Missionary Joseph Ahn gave us a testimonial message based on John 12:1-20. Through his message, he showed us his desire to live a life just like Mary, who broke her alabaster Jar for Jesus. From his message, we could see that just like Missionary Joseph Ahn, our labour in Jesus is not in vain. Through this, we could have hope in Jesus even though we can’t see visible fruit now. While his message continued for more than 2 hours, we felt that it was too short.

Through this conference we held onto our prayer topics again:
1. for unity, love, and service for one another
2. to pioneer 50 campuses: 40 in Australia, 7 in New Zealand, and 3 in Papua New Guinea
3. to raise one ancestor of faith in each campus
4. to establish 12 house churches and 12 disciples of Jesus in Australia

Missionary Abraham Kim also suggested that we invite 30 new bible study students next year for the Oceania Summer Bible Conference.
Please continue to pray for Oceania to be the centre for world mission.

From,
Missionary Aquila Lee