The Prodigal Son Project

Although the South Korean knew how to read and write English, he rarely spoke it. So when Seung Ho Yang and his family moved to England 10 years ago, verbal communication was quite difficult. As if that wasn't enough, the family learned they'd been schooled in American English, rather than British English. They had also been taught incorrect English vowel pronunciation for 8 years. Initial communication was grueling, but the Yangs were compelled to stay and persevere in order to tell others about Jesus.

Despite language barriers, it is Seung Ho's commitment to serve God and make Him known to others that first brought him to London, England's capital city, and it's that same commitment that makes him stay.

Staff members with Agapé (Campus Crusade for Christ in Western Europe) in London, the Yangs originally moved to England so Seung Ho could study biblical theology (Old Testament). Then, while attending Trinity College in Bristol, mild-mannered Seung Ho attended a meeting in London between British and Korean Campus Crusade leaders.

Seung Ho learned that, although the United Kingdom is a nation rich in Christian history with well-known leaders such as John Wesley, Hudson Taylor and C.S. Lewis, its zeal for Christ has now all but been extinguished. At the meeting, Andy Atkins, who currently directs Agapé in the United Kingdom, listed statistics indicating the culture's general indifference to the gospel.

"I thought Europe and the United Kingdom had a strong Christendom and had no need from the rest of the worldwide church," says Seung Ho. "But when Andy gave the statistics, I could feel their desperate need for more international workers."

So for 3 months, Seung Ho and his wife In Soo prayed, asking God if He wanted them to move from Bristol to London. Months later, the family packed their belongings and moved there. Located on the Thames River, London is a city of great cultural diversity. More than 7 million people live in greater London and more than a quarter come from various ethnic backgrounds representing 200 countries. Because so many university students also come from all corners of the globe, Seung Ho envisions London having a great spiritual influence on the rest of the world.

"If we can communicate the gospel with them and train them in their faith, the hope is that they will become disciples of Jesus Christ," says Seung Ho. "When they return to their own families and countries they can be [inspirations] for their own people."

Part of a diverse Agapé Campus staff team made up of 26 people from 5 different countries, Seung Ho now spends most of his time on 3 campuses meeting with staff members, leading Bible studies and conducting spiritual interest surveys with students. Each survey consists of 12 questions to determine where an individual is on his or her spiritual journey and provides a great opportunity to communicate the gospel.

Student James Rogers became a Christian after taking a faith survey with some Agapé staff members. He then began meeting with a staff member to further discuss his faith decisions and later prayed and received Christ. Soon after, he and his wife Georgia (who was then his girlfriend) volunteered to help Seung Ho and his wife In Soo with their English. Now every Sunday the 4 meet at the Yangs' two-bedroom flat located in Muswell Hill, a suburb in northern London.

As the Rogers aid the Yangs in learning English, Seung Ho and In Soo are helping them grow closer to God. The 4 have been reading Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life. "We spend time working on material that is helpful to us spiritually and helpful to them for language improvement," says James.

The couple's genuine fervor for both their family and ministry is a reflection of the passion embodied by many Korean Christians. People from around the world have noted that many Koreans have a distinct passion for God, prayer and evangelism, and when they pray, they make Acts 1:8 applicable to their world: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (New International Version). Koreans compare Jerusalem to Seoul, their capital city, while Judea is comparable to all of South Korea. Samaria is likened to North Korea, and the ends of the earth represent other parts of the world.

Ultimately, the Yangs' decision to move to London and serve in unfamiliar territory was a big decision for Seung Ho and his family. But they have not regretted it. "We strongly felt God's call to reach the world in London for Christ and reverse the spiritual climate of Great Britain so it may become a great [influencing] nation again," says Seung Ho. They know that the "ends of the earth" is literally at their fingertips in London. Will you go to the ends of the earth to take Christ to the Nations?

by Tricia Allen, Agape Staff

Reading Break Project 2008 Dates:
Week One: February 8 - 16
Week Two: February 15 - 24

If you are interested in learning more about STINT just email me: terra.leavens@c4c.ca
The team is shaping up but we are still looking for more people. If you are considering applying I would recommend getting your application in asap.

[two things...]

1st - just wanted to let you all know that we are 'a-go' for Reading Break 2008 to Scotland. More details will roll in as they unfold on our end. So start praying and recruiting. Applications should be available online at gototheworld.com once the school year gets kicked off but watch here for more details.

2nd - STINT 08/09 is looking good. we have some strong interest and want to know if you are thinking about joining us. go to gototheworld.com and fill out an application. if you have questions - let us know!

3rd - (i didnt say i could count) Please be praying for the Agape Movement in the UK. pray leaders would be raised up to reach this generation for Christ on the Uni campuses across the nation and that those returning from CM2007 would be ignited to take their campuses by storm.

99% of Students in the United Kingdom can be classified as non-seekers: those who are currently not interested in or pursuing questions of truth or spirituality or God. Once Scotland was a centre for evangelical thought, theology, and global mission agencies. Men like John Knox, and Eric Liddell were hailed as public heroes and helped to pioneer Christianity in the modern world. But the generation of students filling the Scottish universities of today saw their parents walk away from the church and only few can recall grandparents who attend regularly. Literally the church in Scotland is dying and there is little to no vibrant evangelical witness among this generation of students.

Our team was in Edinburgh for two one week projects and as we engaged students on the campuses of the University of Edinburgh, Napier University and the University of Glasgow we discovered that while it is true that the term non-seeker is an accurate way to describe these students we discovered that they were still open to discussion, learning about Christianity and friendship.

Our conversations with truly post-christian individuals was challenging and we repeatedly faced a number of ideological issues that hinder these students from seeking after truth and after God.

The most common attitude I encountered was one of Spiritual Apathy. When I would ask a student about their spiritual background, and experiences a typical response was, “I’m not sure, I haven’t thought about it before”. When I would press the question, “Do you believe God exists?” they would shrug and say, “I’m just not sure”. Often this would be the first time students had even been asked to consider the spiritual side of life.

Mixed with this apathy I also encountered an extreme skepticism about Christianity as a valid explanation for the World. There is an underlying pluralistic assumption that all religions are man-made and more a matter of personal taste than truth. Students would often quip in response to spiritual topics, “well that is great for you, you should believe what makes you happy”

Another surprising and heartbreaking response to questions about who Jesus Christ is and how to enter into a relationship with Him were often sincere expressions of, “I have never heard this before.” While most students were familiar with Christian words, like ‘Church’, ‘God’ and ‘Jesus’ they were unable to explain the idea of a personal creator God, the significance of Jesus or even the importance of questions like, “What is the meaning of life?”

The light in all of this is rather depressing assessment is that though these positions may seem detrimental to the gospel in fact they have created a vacuum for truth. I found it very thrilling to be able to share with students that the God of the Universe, not a product of men or religion is the One offered to us in Jesus Christ! It was so exciting to help students put the puzzle pieces together of a shaky biblical education received as children. I remember one student admit after I had explained who Jesus was and why He died for us, “I didn’t know why Jesus had to die, and it makes sense now.”

One conversation I had in my second week on campus was with Simone, a student from near Glasgow who was studying in Edinburgh. Simone surprisingly was from a Christian background and after just a short time into our conversation I could tell she truly did desire to know God. When I inquired who she thought Jesus was she correctly answered that He was our Saviour who died for us but when I inquired why did He die, she was unable to answer, and had to confess, “I don’t know”. We walked through the main points of the gospel together and spent a lot of time talking about sin, the punishment for sin being death and Christ’s death on our behalf for our sin. It was exciting to be able to help Simone understand the depth of God’s love for her and the victory Christ’s death has over our separation from God but it was difficult to walk away from that hour-long conversation not knowing if Simone was going to truly surrender herself to Christ.

Campus for Christ, Canada and Agape, UK have started a long-term partnership to reach this generation of university students with the gospel in Scotland. One of the biggest blessings that resulted in our two weeks in Edinburgh was the way the passion and enthusiasm of our Canadian students energized, challenged and equipped the long term staff and students there. One of the staff there shared with us that God was challenged her through our time there. As God answered bold prayers, such as “Lord, I pray three people would come to Christ today!” He breathed new energy into the faith of these long-term workers to trust Him for greater things.

There is much more to tell about how God used and changed the 30 Canadian students who came with us on this project and we may never know the eternal results of the 140 ppl we were able to explain the gospel to face to face. But I can tell you that this project renewed in my heart the urgency with which we must share the gospel on our campuses here in Canada. Students here are lost without Christ. My time in Scotland encouraged me in my efforts to preach Christ boldly on our Toronto campuses and renewed my passion to see lasting movements of evangelism and discipleship built up on campuses around the world.

It has been 10 years since I first started praying for Western Europe and I continue to be fascinated the land across the pond. This trip to Scotland was my first of many and it was a great privilege to see God using me there to lift up His name and call people to believe in Him. I am excited to see that God has placed me in a position to not only bless the UK through my own going but also by raising up Canadian students to go.

Scotland and the UK are much like the Prodigal Son. The son, who leaves the loving arms of his Father, squanders his wealth on wild living and finds himself feeding the pigs just to get by. But we can see that the prodigal isn’t just one son, but rather a whole nation of sons and daughters who not only have run from God to seek satisfaction and pleasure in the world, but who now generations later are sons and daughters who have forgotten who their loving Father is, and do not know the Name of the One they are looking for. Our vision is to help call Scotland back to the loving arms of a Father whose heart breaks over his children.

Week One
Marianna
Meagan F.
Amarea
Kelley
Germiko
Sean
Nancy
Abby
Terra
Marcus
Michael
Rachel
Erin
Colin
Hillary
Emily
Meredith
Camille
Alan
Barbara
Hobbe
Ryder
Amanda
Brian
Tyler D.
Drew
Beth
Joy
Suraj
Jennifer
Steven
Jesskah

Week Two
Rhiannon
Lindi
Meagan S.
Veronica
Heather
Carol
Tyler R.
Louise
Sean
Nancy
Terra

It was great to see all the excitment around the Scotland Project at Winter Conference. Thank you to all of you who came out to the different project parties and those of you who have started your applications. I believe we have a few students already accepted which is very exciting.
There are just a bunch of random thoughts in this post to help you out.

Here is a run down of what of the schedule for the Spring Break project...

Friday night: Depart Canada
Saturday morning: Arrive Edinburgh
Saturday afternoon - evening: City and Team Orientation
Sunday: Cultural and Ministry Training, Outreach Planning
Monday – Friday: In smaller teams you will be designing a targeted outreach to an area of campus (like a faculty or residence). You will spend the beginning of the week meeting students in your area of campus, developing your outreach plans, advertising, and building relationships. Towards the end of the week you will hold your outreach and begin follow up. You will be working in conjunction with the local staff and students.
Saturday - Sunday: Debrief and Fly Home

The deadline for applications is January 15th.

How to prepare for Scotland:
1. Go share your faith! Grab a friend (or a couple of friends) and take the initative to go out on campus and share your faith a whole wack before project. Try to go sharing 10 times in January and make a point of sharing the gospel not just starting spiritual conversations.
2. write out your testimony and practice it. Focus it on one theme. Have a three minute and a ten minute version.
3. Read Fireseeds of Spiritual Awakening or Master Plan of Evangelism
4. Read some apologetic articles and take notes - www.everystudent.com is a great resource
5. Learn how to share the Satisfied booklet.
6. PRAY FOR SCOTLAND!

Well the buzz for Scotland is definitely in the air and many of you have been asking how to begin the application process. It is pretty simple.

1. Register online here.
2. Wait until December 1st for the online application program to be launched (everything is going to be online - from your personal application to references - pretty sweet!).
3. Go online here and fill out the online application form.
4. While waiting to hear of your acceptance, pray about those who would join your support team and begin drafting your letter and a list of potential supporters.
5. Come to Winter Conference to receive great training, vision and meet others who will be going on project this year.
6. Once you receive your acceptance package begin support raising.

that's it! Brilliant! Or rather I should say, "Absolutely brill!"

You might think that we speak the same language as the Scots. Well, we do. And we don't. When I was in Glasgow a few years ago, it took me several days to aclimatize to the dialect. Not sure what I mean? Check out this Bible excerpt paraphrased into a Scots dialect:

Why Should I Come?
Scotland has a rich spiritual heritage. Men like John Knox, George Macdonald, and Eric Lidell have impacted the world from this small but mighty country. Unfortunately, things are changing.

Our generation is virtually unreached. Most students believe that the Church is a thing of the past, that tolerance and pluralism are the paths of the future, and that Jesus is ultimately irrelevant.

What'll It Be Like?
In a post-Christian culture, evangelism is not always easy. Patience and boldness are needed here, and your Canadian passport won't buy you an audience.

The spiritual soil is rocky, and we may not see instant results, but we will definitely be laying the groundwork for movements of evangelism and discipleship that will transform this nation. We will be partnering with the local ministry team for an intense week of sharing our faith and building friendships.

Expect to be stretched, expect to grow, expect to be changed.

Who Can Come?
Do you have some experience in sharing your faith? Further training provided.
Can you kick a football [soccer]?
Do you like haggis or blood pudding? On site training provided.
So what are you waiting for?

Cross the pond to the not-so-sunny metropolis of Edinburgh. Dare to share your faith in a post-Christian culture, where spirituality is growing, but in a thoroughly post-modern and relativistic way.

Come with us on this ground-breaking trip!

The University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh is located in the heart of this old cultural centre of Scotland. With over 20,000 students, 3,600 from an international background and about 120 nationalities, Edinburgh has a very cosmopolitan and diverse student community. The University of Edinburgh is one of the UK's most prestigious universities and has been attracting international students for over four centuries.

Some Flinging Facts

Many people don't realise but Scotland as a nation has given the world the television, the telephone, penicillin, the postage stamp, the pneumatic tyre, curling, football, golf, plus much more. Not bad for a tiny nation.

Full Name: Edinburgh
Area: 260 sq km, 100 sq miles
Population: 453,000
Time Zone: GMT/UTC 0 ()
Languages : English (official), Gaelic (other)

"Until the 12th or 13th century, Gaelic was spoken in all of Scotland, although Lallans (an English dialect with French and Scandinavian influences) has been spoken in the Lowlands for centuries. Now only about 66,000 people speak Gaelic, mainly in the Hebrides and northwest Scotland. Efforts are being made to halt its decline, and there are numerous Gaelic words that linger in everyday speech and make Scottish English almost impenetrable to foreigners."

Check out this great link to discover what makes this land unquiely scottish.