The Significance of UBF ministry in Church History

First, God is using Korea as a kingdom of priests through UBF. The UBF ministry began in poor Korea, particularly Chulla Province—Galilee of Korea—and reached out to Moscow. For the last 40 years God sent out 1,600 missionaries to 86 nations. Nobody imagined that this was possible, but God accomplished this great work. This was a new history-making, miraculous work in Korean Christian history. This work proved that God is using Korea as a kingdom of priests through UBF. This was a great privilege given to us. When we served world mission to this day, God blessed Korea greatly. Fifty years ago, Korea was the No. 1 mission field. Right after the Korean War of June 25, Korea was devastated and needed the help of medical missionaries. But now we grew and began to send out missionaries to other countries. In the 1971 Summer Bible Conference, Dr. Samuel Lee made an announcement, “In ten years, in 1981, let us have an international Bible conference in Washington, D.C. with 200 attendants.” When some American missionaries heard this, their pride was hurt and they became angry. But now America became our No. 1 mission field. As a result, our missionaries mostly were sent out to America. They are praying and working hard to establish America as a kingdom of priests once again.

For the last 40 years God blessed not only UBF but also Korea politically and economically until Korea is recognized as one of the developed countries in the international society. Now we can freely visit other nations. Last year we had a summit meeting between North and South Korea. For the second time families, who were separated due to the Korean War, met one another after 50 years of separation. Now there is open communication between North and South Korea. Someday we hope to hold conferences at Baekdoo Mountain, the highest mountain in North Korea. This was beyond our imagination. When we served the world mission work, in obedience to Jesus’ word, “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” and pleased God, God blessed Korea abundantly. In order to bear the blessing of being a kingdom of priests to the world, we needed the economical and political strength of our nation. If we are poor, how can we support all our missionaries? I believe that serving world mission is the way that Korean churches can bear God’s blessing.

Second, we showed the possibility of self-supporting lay mission. There is a great limitation for ordained ministers to carry out missionary work. For example, Islamic countries and some African countries do not accept these missionaries. Furthermore, it is not easy for them to acquire native languages. But professional workers such as doctors, nurses and technicians are welcomed anywhere. So UBF self-supporting professional lay missionaries can go to anywhere including communist countries and Islamic countries as professional workers or students. They are self-supporting missionaries. So they can be sent out as many as possible. This kind of self-supporting lay mission became a good model of Korean church’s overseas mission. Indeed God used our UBF ancestor’s faith and missionary spirit very preciously.