God's Work in the World Today (Urbana 73)

by Chua Wee Hian and Rene Padilla

A survey of the great things God is doing in the world (in 1973) through the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students [IFES].

*** Chua Wee Hian delivered this world report, asking Rene Padilla to present the section on Latin America. ***

Latin America

It was nineteen years ago that I attended my first missionary convention. At that time, I was just beginning my studies in college, and the work of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students was just starting in Latin America. True, there had been other movements working, but the IFES as such had had little to do with Latin America up to that time. Interestingly enough, at that conference I met a great pioneer in student work - Bob Young. We on the staff in Latin America cannot forget his example.

He had been on the staff of IVCF here in the States, had traveled for a number of years and then had taken off for Latin America. A few years after meeting him, when I traveled throughout various countries (especially in northern South America), everywhere I went, wherever there was a university, I met people who had known Bob Young. I don't know how he covered so much territory, but the Lord surely had used him to lay a foundation for the work in the future. He was a pioneer.

At the same time, there was an American young lady who was working as a school teacher in Lima. God used her tremendously to help the students. She was not on the staff of the IFES; she was just a teacher. But her home was open to the students, and there they received aid and inspiration. Through her help many of those who attended the meetings became leaders in the student work.

Years afterwards I met a professor at the University of São Paulo (he's still there), a man from Canada who is a specialist in physics. I do not think many others have done as much, by God's grace, as he has on behalf of the student work in Brazil.
I mention these examples because I believe that God has different ways of leading. If one is ready to be led, God can use him in a tremendous way as a witness to Jesus Christ.

Things have changed. I remember that when I started on IFES staff I would go to a city and barely meet any Christian students. Today I can visit practically any Latin American country and see representatives of student groups such as yours witnessing to the Lord Jesus Christ. We have been thrilled to see the growth of the work in these years.

At present, three movements in Latin America are completely self-supporting. You may be acquainted with our philosophy in IFES. Each movement is independent. Each works its own program. Each is to follow the Lord's leading. We do not have any "canned" methods of evangelism and do not lay down the program for anybody. We try to help the students by giving them training, especially regarding the study of the Scripture.

One of the main programs we have is the publication of literature, and we have been thrilled to see the growth of the literature program in Latin America. By the way, I want publicly to say thank you to those who contributed toward the buying of a building in Buenos Aires. We now have there both the office of the IFES for Latin America and the office of our publishing program. At present, most of our books are translated. We are trying to find people who will write books in Spanish - we have a few. But it is a thrill to see the way the Latin American students are using literature to reach their fellow students for Christ.

At times we have thought that perhaps the evangelistic impact of the groups is far from what we would like to see, but I can say publicly tonight that we praise the Lord because in the last two or three years we have truly seen a breakthrough, especially in some countries. We never dreamed of having eighty students at a conference, forty of them non-Christians, and of having most of them, if not all, make profession of faith and follow on with the Lord. We are concerned for those students who hardly have had help to grow to maturity, but we thank God for what we see in them of the image of Christ.

Africa

Africa is a continent of striking contrasts. On the one hand, North Africa represents resistance to the gospel. Since the seventh century, Islam has been the dominant force in religion. Christians are few and far between. The only bridgehead that IFES has is a reading room in Algiers. There students will drop in to borrow books, to read and to talk with IFES associate staff worker Ruth Stewart.

By contrast, when you go to Africa south of the Sahara you find large congregations, packed churches. In Kenya, 65% of the population claim to be Christians. Student work in English-speaking Africa is flourishing. In countries like Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and South Africa, you find large groups of Christians meeting for evangelism, prayer and fellowship. The work in West Africa is self-supporting.

Come with me for a few minutes to East Africa. I was there for a few weeks, and this was an exciting experience for me as a Chinese Christian to have fellowship with my African brothers and sisters. In fact, for many of them it was the first time they had seen a Chinese Christian. Some of them even came up to feel me all over to make sure that I was made of flesh and blood and was not a celestial being. They opened their hearts and their rooms to me. It was tremendous to be able to fellowship in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Last month John Stott conducted three evangelistic missions in Nairobi, Kenya, Makerere, Uganda, and Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. At Makerere University in Uganda, between 600 and 700 students attended the series of evangelistic lectures. At the end of this series several students committed their lives to Jesus Christ. In Uganda there is spiritual hunger. And at that university the Christian Union has a membership of just over 300. Nairobi also has a strong Christian Union. On Sunday afternoon members of this group go to the quadrangle of four hostels (dormitories) to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. They sing and testify, and some of the students explain the way of salvation to their contemporaries. African Christian students are bold in their witness for the Lord Jesus.

I would like to introduce you to Hamisi Chondoma, a Tanzanian who was brought up in a Muslim family. He went to the University of Tanzania, and, during the first year of his studies, he became a Christian. His roommate led him to Jesus Christ. Several months later, he wanted to be baptized openly, so he was baptized in the open-air swimming pool of the university, watched by hundreds of students. Today Hamisi is one of the leading lights in the Christian fellowship of that university.

In 1972 there was a great movement among young people in Ethiopia, and this struck Addis Ababa, the capital city, with tremendous force. Hundreds of students were won for the Lord Jesus Christ. The orthodox church leaders were perplexed and, of course, very anxious because many of the young people became Christians. In fact, most of the leaders of the Christian fellowship in Addis Ababa were imprisoned and sentenced to several months of hard labor.

Because of international pressures, however, these students were released on bail. On Friday night you can see 400 of these students packed into a church hall to listen to the gospel. We rejoice at the ways in which God is working in English-speaking Africa. We see large numbers of students coming to know Jesus Christ.

But there is one weakness. There are few regular Bible study groups on these campuses, and the African students need to be taught and trained to handle the Word of God for themselves. So it was exciting during the last few months to be able to invite people from different countries to come to Africa to labor as staff workers, joining African staff in discipling students.

The Finnish movement sent Eila Helander, a trained theologian from Helsinki, to teach and to help William Adodoadji, the African staff worker, train Bible study group leaders. In April of 1974 Hank Pott, who is presently the Inter-Varsity staff worker at UCLA, will be going to Zambia. There he will seek to train students to love the Word of God and to grow in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The IFES has a clear mandate for both Eila Helander and Hank Pott. They are to work themselves out of their jobs. I love the way in which Eila has grasped this concept. Writing to her prayer partners, she said, "First, I must make my self necessary. Then after two or three years I must make myself unnecessary."

Will you pray for Hank Pott? Let's pray him in: Let's pray that he will get his visa for doing work in Zambia. And after two or three years, let's pray him out, because we want to see him training Africans to be staff workers and to lead their own movement.

We also have work in French-speaking Africa, which is led by a team of Swiss and Scottish workers. The groups are small, but God is empowering his servants alongside French-speaking African students to make Jesus Christ known on the French speaking campuses.

Europe

I would now like to invite you to fly with me to Europe. Please fasten your seatbelts. Let us fly first to Britain and the Scandinavian countries. In our brief tour of the universities we see large Christian fellowships with students meeting daily for prayer, and on weekends we see open Bibles as gifted Bible teachers expound the Word of God. Some of these movements, like the ones in Britain and Norway, are over fifty years of age; but God has revitalized these movements, and these groups of students are aggressively witnessing for Jesus Christ on their campuses. Oxford University this year held a series of evangelistic lectures, and over 160 students committed their lives to Jesus Christ during, as well as after, the series of messages.

As You visit these groups, you will find students who are committed to Jesus Christ. You will find high school students at ski camps telling their friends about the Lord Jesus Christ and seeing great conversions of students from nominal Lutheran backgrounds to know and love the living God.

One of the most significant contributions of the British IVF and the Scandinavian IFES-related movements is the large number of graduates who have become pastors of churches. In Britain, about a third of those who are preparing for the Anglican or state-church ministry are Inter-Varsity graduates. All these movements have sent out hundreds and hundreds of missionaries to be disciple makers in all the nations of this world. In a few days' time, IVF of Britain will be holding its annual missionary convention.

Now let us fly to some southern European countries. Two months ago I was walking through the University of Rome. I was told that about 100,000 students are enrolled in this center of higher learning. I asked our associate staff member, Jean Elliot, how many students who love Jesus Christ would be found witnessing for him on this vast campus. Jean answered me, "As far as I know, only one." One committed Christian student in a student body of nearly 100,000.

As you leave Rome and travel to other Italian university centers, you find that the GBU (Inter-Varsity) chapters are small. Only a handful of Italian students are involved in these groups. We in IFES are naturally very concerned. We have been working there for nearly twenty-five years but have seen little fruit. I spent thirteen hours with the committee recently, and the GBU
leaders, both Italians as well as missionary helpers, have asked me to look out for an Italian-speaking man. If you know someone who can speak Italian, someone who has the vision, the guts, the drive, the enthusiasm for pioneer work in this difficult country, will you please get in touch with me?

In Spain and Portugal we find small groups emerging. God has used workers like Ruth Siemens to pioneer local groups in cities like Barcelona. Today groups are found in the cities of Barcelona, Madrid, Santiago and Zaragoza, and students are coming to know Jesus Christ, especially through evangelistic Bible studies. Recently students in Barcelona and Valencia were able to distribute questionnaires asking non-Christian students about their attitudes and their purpose in life. Through these questionnaires they were able to invite some of these students to study God's Word together. We thank God for conversions.

I remember being present at a conference in Valencia, where a Roman Catholic girl became a Christian. Her concept of God changed immediately. Formerly she had thought that God was so busy he had no time for her, a young student; but when she discovered that God delighted to meet with her, that she could speak to him in prayer, in the conversational prayer sessions she prayed ten times. Many Roman Catholic students are coming to a vital faith in Christ and expressing the joy of their salvation.

When we go to Portugal, we find ourselves in a difficult situation. What do you do when the times are so unpredictable? when police would disrupt campus life? That is a problem that IFES staff worker Alex Araujo faces. In spite of these problems, groups are growing in places like Porto, Coimbra and Lisbon. The IFES also has work among French-speaking African students in Europe, and Bill Thomas, one of the Urbana 73 speakers, ministers to these students.

In Austria we have introduced an experiment. A team of young graduates from England, Norway and Holland is working to establish a strong Christian fellowship in the University of Vienna. All four are supported by their local fellowships. The Officers Christian Union has increased its missionary giving by 500% because two of its representatives are on this team. According to reports we have received, students are being converted and young ones are growing amazingly. The hall where the students meet on Thursday night is simply too small, and they are looking for larger premises.

Another area of ministry is Eastern Europe. We thank God that during the last four years we have been able to pioneer about twenty to thirty Bible study groups. These have no labels, but God has used IFES special workers and envoys to visit and encourage these students. Our workers are not spies, involved in international intrigue and political espionage. Instead they are Barnabases encouraging Eastern European students to love and serve the living Lord.

In the Middle East, our work is focused mainly in the cosmopolitan city of Beirut, Lebanon. Here live hundreds and hundreds of Arab students from Cyprus. We have an international team headed by David Penman, a New Zealander, working with men like Al Fairbanks, a black teacher from America, and also teams of Egyptian and British students, seeking to reach out to these 60,000 Arabic-speaking students. And God, through the Holy Spirit, is bringing men and women in that city and that country to know and love him.

Asia

I would like to attempt the impossible and sketch five word portraits of what God is doing among Asian students. Portrait 1 depicts remarkable growth. If someone were to paint a picture of evangelical student work on the Asian continent fifteen years ago, there would be lots of room on the canvas, because back in 1958 there was only a handful of Christian fellowships.

Today several hundred groups, some totaling over 300 members each, are actively discipling their contemporaries on the campuses of Asia.

Consider Taiwan. There in that island republic every summer the Campus Evangelical Fellowship attracts between 3,000 and 4,000 students to their summer conferences. This year over 1,000 students professed faith in Christ Jesus at those conferences.

Think of the remarkable indigenous fellowship in Korea, known as the University Bible Fellowship. This started fourteen years ago, and today it has an active membership of 10,000 student members.

If you were to go to the University of Singapore, you would find there 100 action groups with five to six members reaching out to several hundred other students. It is also interesting to note that 10% of the faculty of that university are committed Christians.

Portrait 2 illustrates the ongoing task of disciple making. In some fellowships it is mandatory for the young believer to spend at least thirty days studying the Scriptures with an older Christian. In the Philippines and West Malaysia month-long training courses are used to build up and train student leaders. Teaching missions and evening schools of theology are integrated into the training programs of national movements in India, Pakistan and Singapore.

Portrait 3 embodies stewardship and sacrifice. Today in Asia there are thirteen self-supporting national movements, which support over 150 graduates, staff workers and traveling secretaries. Most of these people are medical doctors, engineers, theologians, university professors and teachers, and they are prepared to accept very low salaries and to sacrifice because the Lord Jesus has made the greatest sacrifice of all for them. They travel thousands of miles with their suitcases, visiting campus groups. The staff in India and Pakistan have to cycle and walk in the sweltering heat of 100° in order to meet the students and encourage them to grow in the Lord Jesus Christ. But joy comes when students go on to witness for Jesus Christ and make disciples on their campuses.

Not only do staff make sacrifices; some of the Asian students do the same. The University Bible Fellowship of Korea used to send students onto the streets. The boys would polish shoes and the girls would sell a Korean hot pickle called kimchi. The money they earned they gave to student work. This was something revolutionary. The usual Confucian culture of Korea, China or Japan despises menial tasks. The scholar has long fingernails. But these students, when they read that Jesus was a carpenter and that Paul made tents, were willing to dirty their fingers, to go to the streets, polish shoes, sell kimchi and serve God in this task of stewardship. No wonder that group has grown in such great numbers.

Portrait 4 demonstrates missionary responsibility. Some of our groups hold seminars and conferences which seek to stir their students to consider a missionary commitment. The first Asian student missionary convention is being held in Manila at the same time as this Urbana convention. And today over 400 Asian missionaries are serving God across national barriers and frontiers! Asian missionaries have worked in many, many places. I think of the groups in Japan. These are small compared to Korea, Singapore or Hong Kong. But the KGK of Japan has sent over 100 missionaries to different parts of the world - an amazing work of God.

I must mention, too, the number of graduates in the various movements who through their profession have maintained a solid witness for Jesus Christ. Some have built up churches in isolated villages and towns. Others have helped existing churches to grow.

Portrait 5 represents unmet needs. I would like to focus on one area, Bangladesh. In that war-torn country there is spiritual hunger. Bengali-speaking Indians have made trips into that country and have asked the IFES family to send a team of two or three people to work among Bangladesh students in the university towns. At the moment, Indians and Americans are not really welcome in that country, but the IFES has many member movements. Canadians in particular would be greatly welcomed. Wouldn't it be wonderful if at the next Urbana we could report a new movement in Bangladesh?

North America

On my journeys to Africa, Asia and soon to Latin America, I have been telling students about what God is doing in North America. I tell them about the high school groups and the lovely camping sites in Canada. I tell them about the number of students who are coming to know the Lord Jesus in both high schools and universities there. I tell students, too, of the way God has been working in the United States through Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship. During the past few years, thousands of students have come to know and love the Lord Jesus Christ. Training conferences have been well attended, and students are grounded in the Scriptures. There are the Bible and Life courses, which are aimed at building up students in the Word of God, and, of course, there is Urbana, where students in North America and other parts of the world are challenged to consider their place in God's missionary program.

And the students rejoice. In fact, some of them are praying daily for you. The gift you have made during the past days is an expression of our partnership in the gospel. We are workers together with God. The IFES family has national groups in fifty- two countries, and we are pooling our resources, manpower and finances to establish self-supporting national movements.

IFES staff, a team of about thirty mobile workers, will go to a country to encourage national leadership. Some of them engage in pioneer ministries. Ruth Siemens, for instance, has been used of God to start student groups in Latin America, and later on in Spain. We in the IFES are glad that we can loan Samuel Escobar to the Canadian movement.

A large number of American staff are serving through IFES. I want to thank God publicly for the lives and ministries of such people. Doug Stewart is helping to pioneer the work in Mexico. Bill McConnell has joined the Brazilian team to work among university students in that large country. One staff worker who is a continual headache to me is Ada Lum of Hawaii - a headache because over twenty fields and movements are asking for her services at the same time. She has been going to various movements to train nationals to write Bible study guides in their own language and for their own particular cultural setting. She has also trained hundreds of Bible study leaders and staff who are able to train other nationals.

Our newly appointed theological secretary, Bruce Demarest, is also from this country. His job is to encourage theological students, especially in non-evangelical seminaries and faculties, to remain true to their biblical and evangelical convictions.

All over the world throughout the IFES groups I sense a new spirit of partnership. For example, in Thailand there are more Buddhist temples than individual Protestant Christians. But today in Thailand there is an active Christian Fellowship, the Thai Student Christian Fellowship, which has six chapters and over 150 members involved daily in discipling their contemporaries. This work started only about eight years ago. The people who sowed the gospel seed were missionaries from Britain and the United States. I think of a professor from Wheaton who went to teach geography in one of the universities in Bangkok. And God has used these people and Asian missionaries today and many, many others to build up this group. This is a beautiful example of how the Holy Spirit has woven a pattern of partnership, and we give him all the glory.

I challenge and invite you to join with Christian students all over the world in the IFES family to obey the marching orders of Jesus Christ, our Supreme commander. Let's give him our best. Let's give him our all to make disciples of all nations, to win students to know him, love him and confess him as Lord of the universe and Lord of their lives. Will you join me and all my colleagues, students around the world, to make Jesus Christ known and to show the world that he is Lord of all?

Comments

Be the first one to add a comment.

To post a comment, please login or register

God's Work in the World Today (Urbana 73)

God's Word

Urbana Stories

See what happened at

December 27-31, 2009