Persistent Disciple Training

Persistent Disciple Training
(Spiritual Revolution through Personal Change) Missionary Peter Kim (Kiev UBF)
"I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies. it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." (John 12:24)

    Praise and thank God for enabling me to see his amazing salvation work established among CIS and Baltic nations through the chapter directors' conference. When I saw God's wonderful work through our missionaries, I could clearly see the hope that CIS and Baltic nations will be used by God as shepherd nations and priestly nations. I also thank God that this work of God was done by the fruits of sacrifice and devotion of our precious missionaries and many coworkers. I pray that many disciples of Jesus may be raised in each of our mission fields and that there may be many shepherd nations and priestly nations for the 21st century world through the sacrifice and devotion of missionaries whose lives have been planted in the soil of the mission fields. I want to share a brief Kiev mission report. I am especially thankful for Dr. Lee's prayers and encouragement.

   Thank God that he has been with us for the last ten years to enable us to persistently engage in the discipleship training and campus gospel ministry. For the last ten years, the Kiev shepherds and I have been learning the gospel truth of "a kernel of wheat," holding John 12:24 as our key verse. I thank and praise God who enabled us to learn "self denial and taking up one's cross" through this even a little bit.

   The ministry of the Word of God and discipleship minislry

   God, in his great grace, has established a flourishing gospel ministry among Kiev National University students. This university, especially the engineering college. is a center tor developing Ukraine talent and raising leaders. God is raising many spiritual leader candidates. For the last one year, 2000. we studied Luke's gospel and Genesis. Through Luke's gospel and Genesis Bible studies we learned that we should have absolute gospel faith and creation faith and live lives to worship God, our Creator, in this relalivistic world. We also learned that we needed to believe the words of God and obey them absolutely in order to live like this.

   At the 2000 Easter Bible Conference we studied the word of God with the title, "Come to me all you who are thirsty." When we challenged students with the motto. "To live or to die only for the Lord!" and sought to overcome the difficulties of the environment and hunger, God let 75 sheep attend this Easter Bible Conference and at this conference there was an abundant life-giving work of God. Through this conference many faithful freshmen brothers and sisters decided to live as disciples of Jesus. They formed the Hope Team. began to live the common life, and are growing. Praise God who sent Jesus, the Good Shepherd, to thirsty and sorrowful human beings.

   At the CIS Summer Bible Conference 64 attended and we all prayed with the hope and vision that Ukraine might be a shepherd nation for the world. Thank God that he established missionaries Dr. Peter Kim and Sarah Kim, Shepherds Jacob Valoja. G. Sasha, Point Valoja and Stas, and Shepherdesses Maria. Ira and Anastasia as group Bible study leaders and used them preciously. Thank God that he enabled us to learn the character and inner man of a "Royal priesthood and holy nation" through this. We also thank God that he trained us in the innsr man to be good shepherds who pray with tears for lost, wandering, shepherdless sheep. In the year 2000 we made every effort to establish a core leader's group by concentrating on a small number of disciples. We challenged the disci-ple making task by locusing on the Eagle Team, seven hand-picked members. These grew to become the shepherd team. This Eagle Team was willing to receive "eagle training" based on Deuteronomy 32:11, in order to participate in the remaining sufferings of Christ, These shepherds are challenging the campus ministry by proclaiming the word of God as the word of God. They seek to obey God's word. In these days. when the word of God is rare and God's vision for world mission is even more rare, these shepherds who want to receive God's training are very precious. The seven Eagle Team members are: Shepherds Valoja. G. Sasha, Stas and Vladmir, and Shepherdesses Ira, Nasta and Kyungsun (In addition there are several shepherd candidates: Vlad, Maria and Axana). While the seven-member disciple team has been growing through receiving discipleship training last year, the Hope Team was formed with new sheep, and a ministry among women students has been prosperous. The Hope Team members are as follows: Vladmir Pepelruk, Jolatoe Vasa, Mihail, Sergei, Alona, Marina, Natasha, Axana and Tanya.

   By God's special grace, we have persistently kept the early morning prayer time for the past three years. God answered prayer and gave a second generation shepherd baby named Ivan to the first Kiev family of God, Vlad and Maria. Their family has been faithfully coworking since Ihe very beginning of pioneering Kiev. This event broughl joy to us all. Vlad and Maria's shepherd family has been equal to the task with humbleness and obedience as coworkers for gospel ministry. Shepherdess Ira and Shepherd Ivan, and Shepherd Vladmir Libetski and Shepherdess Axana, who have been faithfully participated in the gospel ministry for last six years, received the world mission command and established house churches last May.

   Two common life teams (a total number of 10) are learning how to love each other and how to serve others as disciples of Jesus. Now 65 one-to-one teams and 45 Sunday worship service attendants are faithfully coming. We earnestly pray that our fellowship may overcome our limited thinking and easy going mentality and be equal to the task of fighting the good fight for Jesus and his gospel. We pray that we may have world mission vision with fire in our hearts and may be used by God as instruments of the Holy Spirit of God. Our motto for the year 2001 is: "Spiritual revolution in this land through my personal change," By faith in God we are praying for 120 one-to-one teams, 60 Sunday worship service attendants and 24 disciples. We pray that God may accept our five loaves and two fish faith and our prayer, and establish Ukraine to be like Zion, a city on a hill, and may he make her a shepherd nation and missionary sending country for the whole world in the 21st century.

   This year's key verse

   The key verse of Kiev center and Missionary Dr. Peter Kim is 1 Peter 2:1,2, "Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation." Our Lord did not leave us alone in the world like orphans. God already gave us the power source to overcome any kind of difficulties and win victories. That power source is the word of God and I believe that only !he word of God is the power source for repent-ance, change and growth, and only the word of God changes a family, a society and a nation into "a royal priesthood, shepherd nation and a holy nation." May.the Lord give me his grace so I may have an absolute altitude and reverence toward the word of God and may be a servant of God's word who can dig deeply until the fountain of God's word flows to every heart.

   Prayer Topics
1. Love Jesus, love the word of God, love prayer and love brothers.
2. I pray that I may serve the worship service message and prepare one-lo-one Bible study material with all my heart in this year. (Genesis Bible study)
3. The growth of the inner man for the Eagle Team, Disciple Team and Hope Team members; I pray that they may grow to be good Bible teachers and God's stewards who imitate Jesus.
4. May God raise Ukraine as a shepherd nation.