Shalom Bible Study (SBS) Completed the Acts...

Praise the Lord!

Shalom Bible Study completed the study of the Book of Acts over the past 7-8 months. We celebrated God's grace over our study and our successful completion. Through the study, we witnessed how the great commission was emphasized to all of us, how the church was born when the Holy Spirit descended upon the saints, how the early church in Jerusalem was established and ministering to people, how Stephan was martyred and how the church was forced to be scattered, how the apostles proclaimed the gospel with miraculous signs and wonders, how the apostle Paul was boldly witnessing who Jesus was and what He has done for us and how we may know God and may be saved. What a powerful journey of the Holy Spirit!

We all learned that the Acts of the Holy Spirit have not ended at the 28th Chapter of Acts. We Christians are called to continue writing the 29th Chapter of the Acts through our lives. Whether we participate or not, the Acts of the Holy Spirit will continue and when we do we shall share the joy of our God. If we do not, we will miss the opportunity to be part of God's grand salvation plan.

Shalom Bible Study dates back to 2009 when Kristin and I started a small bible study with three KOICA volunteers: Jooheum, Jihun and Sangmin. The SBS started growing gradually and we ended up splitting the group in August 2011 since it was getting far too big. For this study, some members started the study together but had to go back to Korea without completing the study, but new members also joined in the process. The members who remain in the SBS now include:

Missionary Koh's family (Mrs. Koh and their son Kyungchul)

Deacon Sejun Park

Jihye Moon

Minjung Kim

Hyeyoung ChoiSunghye Yoon

Isaac Baik

Garam Kwon

Kristin and me

From the list of topics and bible books that I suggested, we have agreed to study next on the "Sermon on the Mount." Many wanted to study on "Good Steward's Financial Management" but this study has been decided to be shared with the members of Agape Korean Church of Rwanda on one Saturday.

We rejoiced greatly together in the completion and encouraged each other to be faithful to the

next study.

I have included a few photos that show the SBS history:

[A group photo taken after SBS was split, August 2011]

[A group photo taken after the study of Ephesians, March 2010. Junghee, Jihun, Yeonhee, Sangmin and Jooheum]

[A group photo taken after completing the study on "Romans." A humble beginning in 2009 with Jooheum, Jihun and Sangmin.]

To date, SBS has completed the studies on "Ephesians", "Romans", "God's Names and Titles", "Kingdom of Heaven and Kingdom Life" and "Acts." May God continue to lead us to improve our knowledge of God and His will so that our lives may reflect His will and love to bring Him the glory that He deserves! - Jeffrey