The 41st Session of SIAC was held from 10-12 November 2016 at the United Churches Building, Kuching. Rev Steward Damat was once again elected for the third time as the President of the Sarawak Iban Annual Conference (SIAC) for 2017-2020.
At present there are 55 pastors under SIAC. Three pastors will be retiring next year. They are Joshua Mangga and Albert Alan who are 65 years of age. Another pastor of 70 years of age is Rev Tiong. SIAC is very grateful to Rev Tiong who had retired at 65 but continued to serve for another five years.
In year 2016, only one pastor was ordained as Elder. He is Rev Sutai. Meanwhile three new pastors are joining SIAC to serve the Lord starting from 2017.
According to statistics, SIAC has 44,382 members. The new lay leader is Jefri Ngalambai and the treasurer of SIAC is Richard Lon from Kuching.
Adjustment of Pastor’s Basic Salary
When interviewed, Rev Damat said that being re-elected as the President of SIAC means a humongous mission was once again entrusted to him. In 2017, SIAC is taking a big step by using the new salary scale for Iban pastors, starting at RM1200.00.
The Church Planting Institute (CPI) for lay people will continue to be held three times a year as before. Owing to the vast domain of the Sarawak state, with the Iban people living sparsely across the state, it is very difficult for pastors to minister to them all. Thus courses conducted for lay persons to assist pastors in ministering to believers in their vicinity are a necessity.
As for church buildings, Rev Damat stated that in the 8-year Plan from 2009 to 2016, four Iban Centres have been built and three of them have been completed for use. They are in Miri, Bintulu and Sibu Jaya. The one in Kanowit will be completing soon. The subsequent projects will be in Kapit, Bintagor and Johor Bahru.
“Kapit is our main stronghold for Iban ministry yet there is no Iban centre there. There are currently two gathering places in Johor Bahru. They are at Skudai and Taman Megah Ria. As for Bintangor, we also need a centre to enhance our ministry there.”
Encourage Members to Use The Upper Room
Rev Damat also encouraged his congregation to spend more time in reading the Bible, doing devotions and praying. Nowadays, the Iban language Bible by the Bible Society is also accessible by smartphone app. Thus the Bible can be read anywhere. He also encouraged them to use The Upper Room for their devotion. This is the only devotional material in the *Iban language, he said.
The 41st Session of SIAC was held in Kuching and thus, they had the honour to visit Deputy Prime Ministry Tan Sri Datuk James Jemut Masing who is also a Methodist. SIAC was granted RM80,000 and RM30,000 of which would be used for the salary of the pastors. Pelagus Assemblyman YB Wilson Nyabong also appropriated RM15,000 to SIAC. Our Bishop Rev Dr Ong Hwai Teik also donated RM5,000 to SIAC to support the Iban pastors.
Reported by April
Translated by Christina Tiong