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Cologne UBF, Germany

May13, 2013

Seed Sown on Good Soil

“Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.” –Mark 4:20

Cologne UBF had their spring conference on May 3-5, 2013, along with participants from Düsseldorf, Freiburg, Wuppertal, Frankfurt II, Wiesbaden, and Cologne II. The spring conference was held in Oberwesel, Germany, a beautiful town on a mountain near the Rhine River.  The theme of the conference was, “Seed Sown on Good Soil, based on the parable of the Good Sower in Mark 4. 

Four messages were shared by Sergej Levitsky (Cologne), David Song (Freiburg), Rene Richelshagen (Cologne), and Jonathan Hong (Wuppertal).  On Friday evening, Sergej Levitsky delivered a message entitled, “The Two Lost Sons” (Luke 15:11-32). He shared how he personally learned of the Father’s love through God’s Word. Sergej had experienced a painful loss during his childhood when his brother passed away. After moving to Germany from the Ukraine, he struggled to adjust to life in a new country. He was later invited to Bible study and was moved by God the Father’s love and grace for him, and he prays to live his life for God and share the Bible with others.

M. David Song preached on Mark 4:1-20, “Seed Sown on Good Soil.” Through this passage, we thought about what kind of heart soil we may have. M. David confessed that his heart was sometimes a combination of both the rocky and thorny soil, and he sometimes forgot the meaning of the grace of Jesus because of the worries of this life. We prayed to trust in God’s Word and to have hearts of good soil, where God’s Word can take root and bear fruit for Him.  On Saturday evening, Rene Richelshagen gave a message on Psalm 1:1-6, “He is Like a Tree, Planted by Streams of Water,” where he talked about the blessings of delighting in God’s Word and remaining faithful to Him.  Jonathan Hong preached on Luke 5:1-11, “But Because You Say So, I Will Let Down the Nets.” In his message, Jonathan emphasized the importance of trust when we want to follow Jesus' words, saying that when it comes down to it we don't have anything to lose except maybe a little laziness, but we have so much more to gain.

Testimonies were shared by students Chansik Seo, Esther Nett, Elise Jeong, and JBF students Paul Gross and Dongyoon Yu. Their sincere reflections on the passages were encouraging.  On Saturday night, the CBF performed a sweet drama that emphasized the value of one person before God.  The JBF also created a cartoon based on the Prodigal Son and sang, “How He Loves Us.” They ended the program with words of thanksgiving to JBF leader Sarah Jeong, who will be moving to America this year.

Throughout the conference, we were reminded of the strength and power of God’s Word and the importance of trusting in His promises.  We were blessed to have good weather at a beautiful conference site, where we could spend time in God’s Word and have fellowship with Him and with each other. We pray to remain faithful to God and to have hearts of good soil, bearing fruit that is pleasing to Him.