Preface

In Dec. 2012 Henry Kim wrote this article and prepared some photos.

Contents

1. 2001-2003, House Church Ministry
2. 2004-2009, Years of Transition
3. 2009-present, Years of Growth

Key Verse, “I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.” (Revelation 3:8)

I. 2001-2003; House Church Ministry

St. George UBF started when my family moved to Toronto since I obtained a professor position at the University of Toronto: I had been in Carbondale, IL from 1995 to 2001. When I first went there, I had a vision to raise many disciples of Jesus and send them out, based on Isaiah 2:3, “Many people will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountains of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’ The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” But as time went by, the vision died out. It was hard to watch students move away after graduation without any commitment. It has been my prayer to have 120 flock of God ever since Dr. Samuel Lee gave that prayer topic at a UBF USA staff meeting. So I decided to move to a bigger city. By God’s grace, he helped me to go to Princeton for one year in 1999. There, God blessed my mathematics research so abundantly that I became well-known, and the University of Toronto gave me a professor position. I have been praying for America to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. So when no university in the U.S. gave me a job, I was sorrowful. Even though Toronto is a big city, and the University of Toronto is a great university, I was sorrowful in leaving the USA.

Missionary Luke Hong, Canadian Director, gave me a direction to pioneer a new chapter in Toronto. So we began our worship service in our kitchen with my family. I held on to 1 Peter 4:13, “Rejoice in the sufferings of Christ.” When we had a clear identity, we could participate in the sufferings of Christ through one to one Bible study. At that time, I had 6 one to one Bible students: John Lampard, John McGlashan, David Bland, Daniel Subbotin, Atis Rersenauer and Alex Goscimski. Among them John Lampard came to our Sunday worship service regularly. Daniel Subbotin brought 12 of his friends to our 2001 Christmas worship service.

In 2002, by God’s miracle, two new missionary families joined our ministry. Missionary David and Langue Chung with two children, Somang and David came from Vancouver on June 1, 2002. Missionary David Chung wanted to go to Michener Institute and Langue Chung opened her own dog grooming business to support her family. Missionary Jeremiah Lee came from Madison, Wisconsin on July 1, 2002. His wife, Esther Lee, with two children, Joseph and Grace, came to Toronto at the end of October. I invited Missionary Jeremiah Lee as my postdoc with my research grant. In 2002, David Bland and John McGlashan were faithful Bible students. In 2003, my family purchased a new house and began to use a backroom as a worship service place. The average Sunday worship service number was 10. I felt awkward to have a formal worship service with a presider. So I decided to have a fellowship meeting style worship service; namely, a group Bible study first, and then I deliver a short message. It worked so well and I continued this format until now.

II. 2004-2009: Years of Transition

Sh. Paul Rhee, when he visited our chapter while attending 2004 international summer Bible conference, suggested that we get a Bible house near campus since many people felt uncomfortable in coming to a private home. After meeting various places on campus, we rented a studio apartment at 710 Spadina Ave. from November 2004, and had worship services there. One sheep lived there during the week. In August 2005, Missionary Jeremiah Lee obtained a tenure-track position at the University of Connecticut and went out to pioneer the campus. They left several sheep: Paw Wah, Sheila and Joshua Columbus who later became our important coworkers.

During those days, many people came and left and it was very difficult to serve U of T students. But we held on to God’s word in John 21:16, “Again Jesus said, ‘Simon son of John, do you truly love me?’ He answered, ‘Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.’ Jesus said, ‘Take care of my sheep.’” Our ministry was revived with the arrival of three missionaries in 2007. We also moved to a new Bible center in August 2007, which is closer to the campus, and has a better spiritual environment. Missionary Peter was a Ph.D. student in mathematics at the University of Toronto. He came with his wife, Rebecca Cho, and his daughter, Esther. They had a son, Ezra, the following year. Missionary Grace Park came to Toronto on December 1, 2007. She came from Chicago to learn dog-grooming skills from Missionary Langue Chung. She is originally from Kwanak 5 chapter in Korea. She was very sorrowful that she could not marry until the age of 39. God heard her crying out prayer and established a house church with Sh. Don Lipsey from Baltimore II chapter on June 30, 2009. We sent her out to be a blessing in Baltimore. She became Pauline Lipsey.

III. 2009-present: Years of Growth

Dr. John Jun gave a prayer topic to double our ministry by 2010. We realized in the summer of 2009 that the fishing ministry in the fall was critically important. Hence we had a sense of urgency. We decided to study the Book of Joshua for 6 weeks from chapter 1 to chapter 6. Our goal was to imitate Joshua’s strategy of conquering Jericho in conquering the University of Toronto, our Jericho. After studying each chapter, we imitated what the Israelites did.

First, we fasted for Saturday and Sunday for 4 weeks. Instead of circumcision, we fasted as our expression of repentance and rolling away a sense of defeat. We were very surprised that our sheep participated in the fasting prayer. Even Samuel had a fasting prayer right before his final exam for his summer course. He could not concentrate due to hunger, but God helped him to get an A in his course. Second, we went to campus and set up 12 stones and prayed earnestly for God’s blessing. Third, on the week of Club Day, September 4, 2009, we marched around the campus early in the morning. For the first 6 days, we marched around once. But on the Club Day, we marched around 7 times and shouted, “May God’s kingdom come in Canada! May God conquer the University of Toronto with the gospel of Jesus Christ! Double our ministry by 2010!” We earnestly prayed that each person may get one new Bible student and God may send 12 new sheep this fall. God blessed our Club Day invitation ministry and sent 73 students to sign up. Among them God sent 10 students to one to one Bible study.

Most of all God has raised up our sheep as Bible teachers. They are Paw Wah, Sheila Htoo and Samuel Mukwedeya. In spite of their busy school studies and work, they diligently serve their sheep, Stephanie and Daniel, Esther Lazo, and Wissam, respectively. We have been having an average 16 Sunday worship service attendants in 2009. We decided to double that number by holding on to Isaiah 54:2, “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.” We moved to a very spacious Bible centre at 720 Spadina Ave. Suite 101 which can hold up to 50 people. We prayed that by the end of 5 year lease, we may increase to 40 Sunday worship service attendants.

By the end of 2011, we had an average 32 Sunday worship service attendants and 23 1 to 1 Bible studies a week. We doubled our ministry according to our prayers. God has raised Luke West and Wah Paw as 1 to 1 Bible teachers. We had shepherd declaration ceremony on September 25, 2011 to appoint Paw Wah, Sheila Htoo, Samuel Mukwedeya, Luke West and Wah Paw as shepherds for God’s flock at the University of Toronto, and they began to serve as group Bible study leaders for each Sunday, and take part in preparing and leading group Bible studies. God sent Missionary Moses and Grace Kang from Chicago. Grace Kang obtained a job at KPMG in Toronto. They began to serve 3 sheep immediately: Heather, Sung, Calvin.

The key verse for 2012 is Revelation 3:8, “I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.” We prayed that 2012 is the year that God opens 3 doors in our ministry; First, the door of salvation for many Canadian students (John 10:9). Second, the door of opportunity to preach the gospel (Colossians 4:3). Third, the door of intimate fellowship with Jesus Christ (Revelation 3:20). Several times in 2012, God sent more than 40 attendants in our worship service according to our prayers. The most exciting development in 2012 was establishing house churches of Paw Wah and Joshua Columbus, Wah Paw and Jacob Jang. Jacob Jang is from Kwanak I chapter in Korea. He struggled with despair because God was closing doors in Korea wherever he went. We prayed that God may open a door for him in Canada to be a fruitful missionary. God answered our prayer and moved the heart of Wah Paw to make a decision of faith to marry him by faith.

I pray that God may use St. George UBF continuously so that many students may come and meet the Savior Jesus Christ, and grow as disciples of Jesus. I also pray that St. George UBF may be a loving community where our coworkers love one another and encourage one another and grow together in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, so that God’s glory may be revealed to the whole world.