Preface
In 2013 Charles Kim contributed this article and photo gallery.Main
At the beginning of the year 2000, Missionary Charles and Anna Kim moved from London, Ontario, to Toronto with their three children Charles Jr., Rebecca, and Joshua. They prayed to share the gospel with the students at Ryerson University and raise them as disciples of Christ. Ryerson University is located in the downtown of Toronto with about 28,000 students. At the initial stage of establishing the Ryerson ministry, Missionary Charles suffered from a stroke so that he was hospitalized for three weeks and underwent two and half months of rehabilitation. By God’s grace, Missionary Charles was fully recovered so that he could work and serve ministry.
From the late 2000 to the next three years, God sent five missionary families from Korea to co-work at the Ryerson ministry. They are Missionary Steve and Susie Kang, Abraham and Hannah Shin, Andrew and Sarah Lee, Isaiah and Maria Seo, and Joseph and Priscilla Chon along with their children. They left their comfortable life in Korea and began their new mission life in Canada. Over the years, God enabled them to lay foundations as lay missionaries in many fields such as accountant, banker, college administrator, pharmacist, nurse, and business owner. God also blessed us to have 14 second generation missionaries among the six missionary families, from two-year-old child to university students.
The Ryerson ministry has many ups and downs for the last 13 years. God sent us his flock from the beginning. With the great hope of raising them as disciples of Christ, we served them. Among them, Theo was growing as a disciple candidate. But he left our ministry following his girl friend. For the time being, we were discouraged at the poor situation of our ministry. Soon God sent more disciples candidates including Carlos, Charbel and his wife Maya. It was like the season of Christ coming to our ministry. But they left our ministry one by one. Carlos left due to his relationship with his girl friend. Charbel left our ministry due to his wife’s lack of spiritual desire. So far, the disciple candidates who left our ministry seemed to have a common problem that is either girl friend or wife.
In the midst of ups and downs, God has been faithful in guiding us. Shepherd Louis Perdomo joined our ministry in December 2009. Louis studied the Bible at North York UBF and finished a business program from the Ceneca College. His prayer topics were to find a suitable job and establish a house church. Louis’ greatness is his faithfulness. Since he joined our ministry, he never missed Sunday worship service. He is faithful in keeping Bible studies. Since mid-2011, Louise decided to clean our Bible house on Saturdays to prepare Sunday worship services as a steward of our ministry. He has been faithful in doing so. God blessed Louis to find a stable job in a construction business. Now we earnestly pray that God may provide a suitable wife to establish a house church.
God sent other disciples candidates. Preston and Jeffery keep Bible studies and attend Sunday worship services regularly. We pray that God may grow them as committed disciples of Christ. God also sent us other students such as Derrick, Scott, Matthew, Paul, Jermaine, Mario, and Maria.
God has been working among second generations. There are three university students: Charles Kim Jr. (Ryerson, Business 4), Rebecca Kim (Western, Kinesiology 1), and Joseph Kang (Waterloo, Mathematics 2). Grace Oh (George Brown, Nursing 1) joined the Ryerson ministry from the Guelph UBF since Fall, 2012. There are seven high school students including the second generations who prepare for university entrance. These second generations actively participate in the ministry.
Since Fall, 2009, Ryerson UBF has been praying for four campuses: Ryerson University, University of Toronto at Mississauga (UTM), George Brown College, and Ontario College of Arts and Design (OCAD). We pray that God may raise an ancestor of faith from each campus.
Prayer Topics
- 35 Sunday worship service attendants
- 40 weekly one-to-one Bible studies