2026 Staff Conference Holy Spirit, Catch Us

Remaining before the Holy Spirit, being caught by the Holy Spirit, and soaring together with the Holy Spirit

Standing Again before the Holy Spirit

As we move toward 2026, God has been asking the staff community of the University of the Nations Jeju a clear question. It was not about new strategies or expanded ministries, but rather,

“Where are you starting from right now?”
“Who is leading you?”

As the CLT and the Staff Conference Preparation team prayed, one consistent flow of the Spirit began to emerge with unmistakable clarity:

Spirit began to emerge with unmistakable clarity: The Holy Spirit. Prayer. Listening. Being caught. And soaring.
These five keywords set the direction of the conference, and through them God engraved a single verse deeply into our hearts.

“If Your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.” (Exodus 33:15)

This verse was more than a theme statement, but became the collective confession of our community. We stood before the acknowledgment that without God’s Presence, all our ministry, devotion, and labor lose their meaning. The conference began with a renewed desire to enthrone the Holy Spirit once again at the very center of everything we are and do.

During a time of prayer, we received a clear image. A great eagle was soaring above the University of the Nations and suddenly grasped the community firmly in its talons. Alongside this image came a single word that resonated among us was, “Catch.” It was God’s desire to lift us higher than where we currently stand, holding us fast by His Spirit.

At the same time, the image also confronted our posture. The call before us is not to strive harder or to do more, but to yield and allow ourselves to be caught by the Holy Spirit.

Through this, the Staff Conference unfolded as a journey of three stages:

Set – Surrender – Soar.

Day 1. Set

Stopping and Aligning Our Hearts

The Staff Conference began with the Monday gathering and morning worship, followed by a time of recreation. Staff from across different ministries were grouped together to play games that encouraged natural connection and laughter.

As the tension and heaviness began to ease, the atmosphere shifted. The community was reminded beyond ministry boundaries that “we have been called together as one body”. Particularly the facilitator’s excellent leadership during the recreation time gently opened the atmosphere of the conference and created a good foundation for the deeper sharing and prayer that followed.

After the recreational time, the overall direction of the conference was shared. Together, we recognized that this was not just another annual gathering, but an important turning point as we look toward 2026. We then moved into small group sharing.

Within each group, staff were invited to reflect honestly on what they were expecting from God during the conference and if their expectations faded, what they might need to lay down to avoid. Some shared hope and anticipation, while others named weariness and discouragement, and others shared fear and distance. Rather than seeking polished answers, the focus was to bring our hearts as they were before God. That honesty itself became the first step of alignment.

In the afternoon, each small group went off campus for an outing. In outdoor spaces and local cafés, staff prayerfully wrote down the things they needed to release in order to be caught by the Holy Spirit. These included a desire for control, the weight of ministry, unfulfilled expectations, and recurring fears. After sharing within their groups, they prophetically and symbolically discarded their papers in the trash, declaring that “what had been laid down would not be carried back into the campus”.

The evening session was led by Jigu Bogi, who reflected on the early church in the book of Acts. He reminded that the coming of the Holy Spirit was not rooted in human zeal or strategy, but in a community that stood before God with one heart. He invited us to see our community not merely as an organization, but as the Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ, cherished deeply by God.

This message naturally led into the realm of relationships. We confronted the question, “Am I someone who builds the community, or am I unknowingly tearing it down?” We brought unresolved relationships before the Holy Spirit, choosing humility, forgiveness, and reconciliation without delay. Day One concluded quietly, yet with deep resonance, as the community was realigned once again as one ‘body’.

Day 2. Surrender

Being Caught by the Holy Spirit

The second day began as a journey of intentionally offering ourselves to the Holy Spirit upon the alignment of the first day. If day one was about stopping and examining our hearts, day two was about choosing together to be held by the Spirit.

The morning message began with a challenge about words that build community. Words are not merely expressions, but spiritual tools that shape direction and atmosphere. Encouraging words, words of expectation, and words of hope bring life and growth, while careless or presumptive words can easily fracture relationships.

The principle that “people grow to meet the expectations placed on them” deeply marked the hearts of the staff. Rather than speaking from what is currently visible, we were challenged to speak from God’s perspective, recognizing the potential He has placed within each person. Staff practiced speaking words of encouragement and expectation to one another, experiencing how language can become a channel of life within the community.

In the afternoon, small groups gathered once again to pray and to listen for God’s heart for one another. As they shared what they sensed from God and spoke blessings over one another, a deeper sense of trust and safety began to form within the community. This time became a practical expression of being built up through words spoken from God’s heart.

During the evening session, the speaker once again clearly proclaimed the power of the Holy Spirit. He challenged the community not to stop longing for God’s presence, but to live and serve in the power of the Spirit already given to us. The message reminded us that it is the Holy Spirit who transforms individuals, reshapes communities, and ultimately releases powerful ministry to the world.

The message returned to the book of Acts. When the Holy Spirit came, individuals were transformed from fear to boldness, the community became a body that took responsibility for one another’s needs, and God’s power was clearly manifested among them. The Holy Spirit did not come upon human strategies, but upon a praying community that waited together.

During the following time of ministry, staff responded to the movement of the Holy Spirit in their own ways, while the community gathered to pray for the Campus Leadership Team. As the whole read Joshua chapter 1 aloud, the staff expressed their commitment to entrust and joyfully follow their leaders. The community also prayed over every school and ministry on campus – as well as those yet to begin – asking that the entire University of the Nations Jeju would be built as one body in the Holy Spirit.

Day Two was marked as a day in which the community chose once again to live not by its own strength, but by being held by the Holy Spirit.

Day 3. Soar

Soaring Together with the Holy Spirit

On the final morning, the community stepped into a posture not of closure, but of commissioning. Having stopped before the Holy Spirit and chosen to be caught by Him, the community was now ready to soar together.

The morning began with a time of generational blessing. From those in their twenties to those in their sixties, staff from different seasons and rhythms of life stood together in their respective generations, blessing one another. Each generation was reminded of its unique role and responsibility and together confessed how God works beautifully through every generation. Younger generations were blessed with boldness and obedience; middle generations with wisdom and discernment; and older generations with faithfulness and the heart of spiritual fathers and mothers. This was followed by a time of blessing for staff children preparing to enter university. More than a simple encouragement, it was a meaningful expression of how the community values and invests in the next generation.

The community then moved into a time of discerning God’s heart for Jeju University of the Nations toward 2026. Through sharing Scriptures, images, and impressions received in prayer, the community recognized a consistent movement of God calling the university to be united again in the Holy Spirit, built in love, and sent forth to soar toward the nations. This was not a time of creating new plans, but of receiving and confessing together the direction God had already given.

The final message from the campus director brought the flow of the Staff Conference and invited the community back to its core. The essence of training and education at the University of the Nations is not the accumulation of knowledge, but transformative moments that redirect the course of a person’s life. Learning without the work of the Holy Spirit remains information alone, and the University of the Nations must stand as a school led by the Holy Spirit.

Using the image of Jeju’s camellia forests, the director reflected the nature of the community. Just as trees endure strong winds and harsh environments by growing together and leaning on one another, the community is called to live not in isolation but by holding one another up. As the forest does not grow by its own strength, neither can the community stand apart from the help of the Holy Spirit.

Finally, through Communion, the community once again confessed its unity as the Body of Christ. As the bread and cup were shared, staff offered their ministries, their positions, and their journeys back to the Lord. This Communion was not an ending, but a starting line, sending the community back into the world with the Holy Spirit.

The Staff Conference concluded with a quiet yet unmistakable conviction. The community chose neither speed nor height, but to be held by the Holy Spirit. And within that holding, the community had already begun to soar.

[A Communal Confession for 2026]

Through this Staff Conference, the community of University of the Nations Jeju makes this confession with one heart.

-We will be united again in the Holy Spirit.
-We will be built up in love.
-We will move forward in humble obedience.
-We will soar to the nations together with the Holy Spirit.

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:2)

At the beginning of the journey toward 2026, University of the Nations Jeju declares once again:

Holy Spirit, Catch Us.

— Steve Donguk Kang, Planning Director