About missionary work
Every Christian is really a missionary, wherever he/she is at. Jesus calls us in Matthew 28:18-20, the Great Commission, to go to all the nations, make disciples, baptize them, and teach them to obey Jesus's commands. After I became a Christian in April 2000, God called me to serve Him, first as staff member with Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship (short: Chi Alpha, or XA) at the University of Missouri-Columbia the next 5 years, then as staff member with Chi Alpha at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) since 2005
On the pages here, I am telling you about Chi Alpha, then I am explaining, why UCLA is such a crucial place for ministry, and what missions opportunities are available. To do effective ministry, I need your prayer and financial support - find out, how. To find out more what God already has done in my life, please look at my testimony, also see my short little histories of XA at Mizzou and at UCLA, and my newsletters. Finally, I made available my papers I wrote for long-distance courses, called Berean courses at Global University.
My testimony (2006)
My name is Uwe Muench. I was born and raised in Germany. I knew about Jesus, but I had no relationship with Him. I was considered a good kid. I was good at school. I didn't use any drugs. I didn't drink alcohol. I didn't smoke, I didn't steal, etc. But I was living for self, not for God. I didn't serve anyone, I didn't obey God, I wasn't humble; when there was disagreement, I didn't submit. I put my trust in the world. I didn't have purpose. I was going to hell, and I didn't even know it.
Even then, God took care of me. When I was about 18 years old, God revealed to me that he exists. I was open to visit places that seemed to have something different in their midst, that seemed to apply their beliefs actively. However, there weren't many of those places around in Germany, and if so, they weren't close by.
Nine years later, with a decision time of just six weeks, God moved me to Columbia, MO. I arrived at the University of Missouri-Columbia (aka Mizzou, abbreviated MU) in January 1998 to study for a Ph.D. in physics. Despite being confused by so many denominations in the US, I followed the invitation to Chi Alpha by a fellow physics student.
In the following two
years I grew spiritually and learned a lot. I understood that
people might consider me a good kid, but they didn't know my
thoughts or feelings. They didn't know my
selfishness. They didn't know how I unintentionally hurt
others. I learned I am a sinner.
I also learned
that the world cannot fulfill the trust I put in it. You cannot put
your trust in things, they will break down. You cannot put your
trust in people, they will eventually disappoint you. But you can
put your trust in Jesus, because He is faithful.
Jesus
revealed to me that He came into the world to cover my
sins. He doesn't condemn me for what I did, He wanted to save
me from what I did. So, on April 9, 2000, I was baptized, and I
accepted Jesus not only as my Savior, but also as my Lord. I want
to let you know, that today I am still following Jesus, serving
Jesus, and I am committed to Jesus.
Around that time Chi Alpha at the University of Missouri-Columbia was struggling. There were only 8 attending students left. We had a vision for outreach, evangelism, and growth in numbers, but we didn't know how to go about it. This changed when pastor Winston, his wife Kimberly, and a team came to MU. We caught the vision for building a foundation, then being in a phase of addition, and finally seeing multiplication. And five years later we had a solid Chi Alpha group at MU with healthy relationships. We had contact with 200 students each week. We established outreaches and discipleship for traditional students, international students, and athletes. We saw the vision happen.
In the meantime, I graduated with a Ph.D. in physics in August 2002. When I was wondering, what I should do now, God told me that I could try to go the easy way, work in my field and make money, or I could make a commitment and follow Him. So I joined pastor Winston on staff full-time. It's not about sacrifice, it's about obedience. Far too often do we try to treat God like the Queen of England. The Queen of England doesn't have any real power, she has to sign the law that the parliament decided on. We cannot write down our plans and have God sign them. Instead we need to treat Him as the real King, sign an empty page and have God fill out His plans for us.
In January 2005, God called me to go with pastor Winston,
his wife Kimberly and a team to UCLA in Los Angeles,
California. Like in Matthew 25:22-23, we were asked to give our
doubled two talents back to him, rejoice with God, and then receive
the new task, our five talents.
We are in the middle of
establishing Chi Alpha at UCLA which is a huge task.
I am once again humbled that God finds me
worthy to give me such great responsibilities.