World Mission Society Church of God

The 9th Foreign Language Bible Preaching Festival and Overseas Mission Experience Event

Nation | South Korea
Date | June 17, 2007

In this age of world evangelism, when the workers of the new covenant are taking active steps toward the world, the “9th Foreign Language Bible Preaching Festival and Overseas Mission Experience Event” were held at the Okcheon Go&Come Training Institute on Sunday, June 17. This event was held to encourage the members, who desired to preach overseas, to have confident faith through the power of the Holy Spirit and strong determination to complete world evangelism, and also to provide them with an opportunity to experience the traditional cultures of the world. Over 13,000 members, including short-term overseas mission and culture experience teams, participated in the event.

The event consisted of three parts: a wor-ship service; a declaration of “Our Deter-mination”; foreign language Bible preaching and overseas mission experience. Before the event began, the members watched some videos, which reminded them of their mission to tell the good news of salvation to all mankind and lead them to Zion, the city of refuge.

Around noon, the worship service began. Mother earnestly prayed to Father to give His children the ability to teach the Word, in addition to strong faith and spiritual under-standing. And She complimented Her children on their efforts to preach the gospel despite the hot weather. Also, Mother reminded them that the spiritual food suitable in this age of disasters is the good news of salvation, and that it is a wise person who gives the proper food to his family, neighbors and all the nations of the world. She encouraged Her children, saying, “Let’s complete world evangelism by extending our love and concern to all people, taking care of even small things, just as faithfulness in little things turns out to be a great blessing.”

Chief Pastor Joo-Cheol Kim repeatedly em-phasized through the sermon, “The kingdom of heaven is given to those who realize its value and strive to obtain it. Let’s make all our efforts to do the work of God, so that we will not have any regrets about the things that we have not done.” He also emphasized, “All we have to do is sow the seed of the gospel. It is God who makes the seed grow and be fruitful. We are all given the opportunity to participate in world evangelism. Let us all live a life without regrets by doing the will of God, rather than do nothing for the gospel and regret.”

For the second part of the event, represen-tatives—one for each continent—declared “Our Determination” for the overseas mission before God. They pronounced their firm de-termination, “As the heavenly armies who listen to the sound of the prophetic trumpet, we will quickly accomplish world mission by proclaiming Elohim to the new continent of the gospel, with all our heart and soul.” Mother blessed and encouraged them, saying, “Wherever you go, believe that God Al-mighty is with you and earnestly pray to God. Let’s find all of our heavenly family members scattered throughout the world, by fervently preaching the gospel with a self-sacrificing love, like that of God.

Around 3 p.m., the foreign language Bible preaching and overseas culture experience began at the same time. In the main building of the Institute, over 3,000 members, grouped into 286 teams, demonstrated their preaching ability in over 20 foreign languages. This preaching festival was attended by a large number of members—those who had ear-nestly asked God for the power of speaking foreign languages and led many foreigners to God, and also by those who had desired to preach overseas and started to study foreign languages. All participants showed great en-thusiasm for world mission.

The weather was not too hot or humid. Both on the lawn in front of the main building and in the soccer field, the overseas mission experience events were held. Six continental pavilions were installed; in each pavilion there were various booths for providing data on the present status of the gospel in each country, information on each of the countries, a cultural experience, a simulated money exchange, and much more. The members were able to have an overseas mission experience, visiting each pavilion and gathering various information on each country, learning a foreign language, exchanging money and buying food or goods only by using the foreign language.

Toward the end of the preaching festival, international traditional games were played in the gymnasium: Gorodki a traditional Rus-sian game—a stick-tossing game, Tumba a traditional dance in Southeast Asia, Pachisi a national game of India, Darumaotoshi a Japanese game, and much more. The mem-bers, who participated in the traditional games of each country, laughed cheerfully, saying, “The names of the games are unfamiliar, but they are very similar to traditional Korean games. Now we feel closer to those foreign countries.”

The participants in the event showed their strong determination, saying, “Today we had an opportunity to fully display our for-eign language ability, even though we are still lacking. Also, we experienced vividly the cultures of the world. We felt like we were abroad. Based upon our experience today, we will save all mankind as the world mission workers, asking God for the power of speaking foreign languages and confidence even more earnestly.”

They are ready to take their vigorous steps into the world to save all mankind, trusting in the power of God who is always with them wherever they go, even to the end of the age. This summer, the heat of the gospel is expected to be much hotter than ever before.