News > North America

Chicago UBF, US
November 18, 2013

As a time of refreshment and fellowship, the Chicago UBF fellowship leaders gathered for an afternoon to spend time together, study God’s Word, and share their struggles and hopes with one another. The event was held at the Chicago center on November 9. Overseeing it were Pastor Ron and Pastor Kevin, with support from the senior staff and elders, who also attended.

During the first part of the program, each small group gathered to share their reflections from our recent study of the gospel of John. Each person had picked a different study from John, one that had particularly moved his heart, and spoke on it. During the second half of the afternoon, each small group studied Isaiah 2:1-5. The purpose of this study was to help us to see God’s vision for the world. At the time Isaiah wrote, Israel was in moral decline. Yet, God envisioned a future day of salvation and foretold its coming. It is a word of encouragement to us too, that God still wants to save people from all nations; and despite the world around us, God will continue this until its completion.

In the evening, Pastor Moses Lenthang gave a presentation on evangelism. He showed us that there are essentially six different styles of evangelism: confrontational, testimonial, friendship, intellectual, invitational, and service evangelism. All of them are legitimate ways to share the gospel and present Jesus to the lost. There is not a one-size-fits-all approach. So at the end of his presentation, he challenged us to examine ourselves, to be aware of what style we use in sharing Jesus with others.

After his presentation, we heard reflections from Jacob Kim, Tom Guihan, Victor Velasco, and Mark Mederich based on the study of John.

As a conclusion to the event, we had dinner together at the church, graciously provided by Chicago UBF. During dinner, David Saethre, who had attended the meeting, shared a personal testimony, after which Pastor Ron and a couple of the elders prayed over him; and thus he was officially inaugurated as a fellowship leader.

Personally, I was encouraged by two things. First, Moses Lenthang’s presentation was very useful. Based on what he shared, I believe that my primary evangelism styles are invitational and friendship. More importantly, it helped expand my own vision for the different ways God uses people to witness to the lost. Second, I was glad for the small group discussion and that the program was well-designed to allow us enough time to speak freely with one another. I discovered that other leaders are having many of the same fellowship struggles that I have, and because we were able to talk with one another and share these things together, we were all mutually encouraged.

“Many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’ The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:3). May this vision be our vision, and may the hope that God planted in Isaiah be our hope for the people in our own generation as well.

By Darren Gruett