News > Oceania

The Oceania Summer Bible Conference took place from December 5-7 in Marysville, Australia, about 2 hours outside of Melbourne. There were 14 children present at the conference and so a CBF Conference was arranged to run separate from the adult conference. Sister Hwa from Sydney—a friend of Priscilla Lee from a local Korean church—took care of the 4 children under 9 and Tim McEathron of Chicago led the main program for the 11 children age 11 to 14. Children older than this chose to attend the Adult program. 

The CBF Program came from the Peter Bible School materials that Chicago prepares for yearly VBS. Children studied the life of Peter in 4 lessons: Luke 5 Peter’s calling, Matthew 16 Peter’s confession, Mark 14 Peter’s denial, and John 21 Peter’s restoration (skipping lesson 5 which would have been Acts 2 Peter becomes a  shepherd). For each session everyone began with several icebreaker games to get to know each other and have some fun to set a good mood. S. Tim led praise with several upbeat songs and then delivered the lecture. Lectures were very interactive and with lots of stories and practical examples and only one point.

Following the lectures were free time and, of course, snacks which had been brought from Chicago, as snacks are essential to CBF ministry! There was then more praise and sometimes more games and then Bible study. Bible study followed the lecture so that they would have some understanding of the passage and be able to talk more about how to apply the passage. As with the message the Bible study had a lot of object lessons, like giving one child a paper that led them to a hidden bag of candy; after returning, they had to decide what to do with the key and in this way they could understand the keys of the kingdom that were given to Peter. Children were really attentive and they clearly had been struggling with a number of issues concerning their faith and practical life. Their questions were insightful and showed that they really wanted to know the truth. It was very encouraging to see young people who really were searching and took Bible study so seriously, thank God.

 During the conference children wrote testimony twice based on Lesson 1 “Do You Feel God Has Called You?” and Lesson 2 “What Is Your Confession Of Christ?” They were a little shy to share at first because they hadn’t seen each other in 5 years but in the end they opened up very honestly and shared sincerely. The oldest boy Daniel Yang was baptized during the conference and several others expressed interest in being baptized also. Daniel brought his two friends Matthew and Vincent both who wrote and shared in Bible study very sincerely; though they are not yet believers. Through the conference both really expressed desire to know Jesus. 

The children came from two groups one from Melbourne and one from Maquarie. Both have HBF (JBF/YBF) ministries where the kids have a good relationship and are growing through Bible study and the love and serving of their parents and coworkers. M. Aquilla’s prayer was that they may accept their identity as Second Generation Missionaries and I believe this is growing in them. We saw in them the future of Australia mission. May God help them to hold on to what they have received and grow as good coworkers. Amen.

Sh. Tim McEathron, Chicago