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Montreal UBF (Canada)

“In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.” (Acts 2:17)

On June 22-24, 2012, St. Jean Baptiste weekend in the province of Québec, Montreal UBF held a Summer Bible Conference at the beautiful campus of Bishops’s University in Lennoxville, Québec. Also joining our conference was Rideau UBF (Ottawa) and UdeM UBF. A total of 41 people attended (30 from Montreal, 9 from Rideau, and 2 from UdeM) the conference. It was our prayer to restore faith and God’s vision in our lives and for our ministries.

The first day of the conference began with an opening message, by David Jumeau, based on Mark 11:22, “Have Faith in God”. We had clear direction from the very beginning to put our faith in God. Following his message, Lesedi Masisi helped us to learn through Jesus’ calling of Levi (Luke 5:27-32), that Jesus has called each of us with the vision for us to be great men and women of faith. And so just as Jesus called selfish Levi to become Saint Matthew, we wanted to make a decision of faith to follow Christ and live as men and women of faith. To end the evening program, we were led in praise and worship and prayer.

The next morning (Day 2), John Giesbrecht gave the morning devotion message on Psalm 1:1-3, to help us to know that the truly blessed man is the man who meditates on the law of the Lord day and night. The main morning message on Mark 8:31-38 was then given by Marcel Rodney about a life in following Jesus. It was clear that we must remember the basics of a disciple of Jesus, also known as the ABC’s of a life in following Christ. It is a life of a) denying oneself, b) taking up his cross, and c) follow Jesus. We must learn how to say “No” to what we want and “Yes” to God. Then we must take up our cross of mission, because without it, at best we become Sunday Christians. And finally, we must follow Jesus, obeying his commands to make disciples of all nations. In the evening, we could think about receiving God’s vision for ourselves through Philip Wong’s message on Acts 2:14-21. We learned that we need God’s Spirit before we can receive God’s vision. And to receive God’ Spirit, we must repent and be baptised. God will pour out His spirit on all of us who repent, and we will receive God’s vision and power for us to teach the Bible.

On the last day of the conference (Day 3), Nicolas St. Arnault delivered the morning devotion message on 1Ti 4:11-16 and showed us that not only do we have to live as ambassadors of Jesus, but we must also show progress in our life of faith. The last main lecture on Hebrews 12:1-6 was given by Véronique Gagnon-Bilhete. What is crucial in our life of faith and keeping God’s vision is to fix our eyes on Jesus. A life of faith is not like a 100m sprint, but a lifelong marathon. We must remember Jesus. And in closing the conference, Ernest Chan reminded us that the righteous will live by faith (Romans 1:17).

The conference program also included life testimonies from Paul Kim (Rideau UBF) and Monique Jung (Montreal UBF). We were also encouraged by one word testimonies from young disciples of Jesus: Maryruth, Christine, Alice, Josie, Luke Jr., and Josie. May God bless each of them with great faith and God’s vision for their lives.

We are grateful to the Lord for blessing this conference with His spirit and Word. We were strengthened in faith and renewed God’s vision to serve campus mission to build up our 1:1 ministry. May God bless His people with great faith and vision in God!

By Philip Wong