TMCJS Upgrades to Church Status
After two years of church-planting, the English-speaking Service (Trinity Methodist Church Jalan Song, TMCJS) at Chin Daw Methodist Church is now upgraded to a church status effective January 1, 2018. It is named as Tabuan Trinity Methodist Church (TTMC) during the recent 42nd Annual Conference. The church has also bought a worship venue at Tabuan Laru, which is a two- shop lot.
The church planting project started on January 3, 2016. The Children’s Sunday School followed a week later. There are currently around 190 adults and thirty children worshiping.
Nursing Home for the elderly
Modeling after the Taiwanese Nursing Home of the Suang Lien Presbyterian Church, the SCAC Senior Fellowship has made plans to develop a Methodist Nursing Home in Sibu Jaya.
Rapid growth in aging population is an inevitable fact. Many elderly folks are facing empty nests, immobility, health problems, and are unable to properly take care of themselves. All these are realities of life with the number of elderly folks living alone on the rise.
It is time for SCAC to think about how these issues can be resolved.
In June this year, SCAC Senior Fellowship made a survey trip to Taipei visiting the Nursing Home of the Suang Lien Presbyterian Church. This centre has been operating for 25 years, and is a role model among the nursing homes in Taipei.
At the nursing home, there are about 400 residents of different needs; some are able to move around, some need special care. The home offers friendly-user amenities and serene environment that the elderly can enjoy living their senior years gracefully with dignity.
During the 42nd Session of SCAC Annual Conference, this plan was submitted for approval. With the proposal receiving endorsement, the SCAC Senior Fellowship was given full authority to liaise with other Senior Fellowships on a working paper.
Ching Kwong BM Ministry
attains Preaching Centre status
According to the Blue Print of BM Ministry of the Board of Evangelism, the BM Ministry Committee of Ching Kwong Methodist Church of Kuching East District was approved to be to a Preaching Centre. It is named as Pusat Penginjilan Methodist Pending (PPMP), using the old sanctuary of the Ching Kwong MC as its place of worship.
The BM Worship of Ching Kwong MC started in 2008. With constant growth over the past decade, it has reached a stage of stability with 100-120 adults and 20 children in weekly attendance. They have 52 registered members and 100 children baptized. The congregation comprises of different ethnic groups like Iban, Bidayuh, Lun Bawang and Indonesian. There are also Chinese worshipers.
Besides Sunday Worship Service and Prayer Meet, there are also Youth Fellowship, Women’s Fellowship, Men’s Fellowship, Children’s Sunday School, Adults’ Choir, Children’s Choir, Youth Choir and Small Groups.
Since 2014, the Preaching Centre has been adopting the LCEC structure.
It is encouraging to report that from 2013, the weekly offering of the BM congregation has amounted to RM800-RM1,000, excluding those sums from the Chinese congregation or donations. After attaining its status as a Preaching Centre, Ching Kwong Methodist Church will still continue their support to PPMP for another ten years.
3 New BM Services
Three BM Services were approved and added to the BM Ministry of Board of Evangelism this year. They were Tien Tao MC of Sibu West District, and of Miri District, Life MC and Permyjaya MC. In total, there are now 19 BM Services in SCAC:
Kuching East: Chin Kwong MC (Pusat Penginjilan
Methodist Pending), Chin Seng MC, Samaridah
Methodist Preaching Point, Asajaya Preching Centre.
Kuching West: Trinity MC, Matang MC, Sentosa MC,
Siong Tau MC.
Sibu South: Xin Fu Yuan MC, Tien En MC
Sibu West: Tien Tao MC
Sibu North: Masland MC
Bintulu: Gloria MC
Miri: Tudan MC, Mei Ann MC, Gan En MC, Yi En MC,
Life MC, Permyjaya MC
Only 39% attending
Sunday Service Worship
The 2017 statistics show a total Sunday Worship attendance of 42,064, increased by 472 as compared to last year. For Children’s Sunday School, there was a slight increase of 39 attendances.
The baptism, this year’s record was 1,078 children’s baptism and 1,037 adult’s baptism totalling 2,115 baptisms. Paradoxically, this increase did not proportionately reflect on the Sunday Worship attendances.
On the other hand, SCAC scored a total membership of 109,099 this year. However, the total Sunday Worship attendance, including the Sunday School children, accounted for only 39% out of the total membership. Where are these believers who did not attend Sunday Worship Service?
Out of the ten districts in SCAC, the three districts in Sibu still top the Sunday Worship Service attendance. In spite of this, the statistics show a decrease of 196 attendances as compared to last year’s 14,917 attendances. Do the figures indicate a decline of church attendance or an increase of backsliders?
For the total number of pastors, God has blessed SCAC with 159.