From an attitude of dislike to the extent of looking down on the indigenous people, Rev Sency Ling has revolved into full commitment to become a local missionary to them. She even becomes one of them by marrying into the clan, giving her all without any holding back.

What made her overturn her attitude?

Did her family oppose her dedication to serve the indigenous people and even marrying one?

How did she and her native husband walk hand in hand in serving his people?

Indigenous classmates
From young, she was told that the indigenous people are not smart and are lazy. This thinking indeed influenced her attitude towards them. However, her mindset and attitude had a drastic change after staying with indigenous students at the same dorm during a short term mission.

“At that time, I really did not appreciate them. Since staying with them, I tried to be courteous and later found them to be friendly and kind. Slowly, the barrier was broken.”

After the short term mission, she went back to her hometown in Sri Aman. With a renewed perspective, she saw the needs of the indigenous people and decided to become a local missionary to spread the gospel to them.

When she told her family about her decision, they neither supported nor opposed her thinking. However, her father, who was not even a fervent Christian fully supported her choice.

“In fact, at the age of 15 I had offered myself to Christ during the SCAC Youth Convention to become a missionary. Only I didn’t know where the mission field would be. In 2003, I joined Sibu Methodist Theological School to equip myself for the task.” In 2008, after graduation, I worked with SCAC and in 2012, I was posted to Xin Fu Yuan Methodist Church to serve at the Bahasa Malaysia (BM)
ministry.

Chinese Ideology is inapplicable
“I am very grateful because I was trained in BM during my Theology studies and I was directly involved with the BM ministry after graduation. My job involved Longhouse mission, and I had had a lot of opportunity in using the BM and though I am not fluent in Iban, all these are preparations made for me by God.”

Serving at Xin Fu Yuan Methodist church for 8 years, she also faced cultural shock. While serving the Indigenous
people, she has learned that one should never use Chinese Ideology to make it work. As an Indigenous pastor, you have to realize the slow pace of these people. “In 2012, I married an Indigenous man and it is another preparation for the ministry.”

The BM ministry of Xin Fu Yuan Methodist church is mainly catered for the low income group. The youngsters are in the weaker category. Through education and training, a lot of improvement has been made. “In the past, they seemed to be more destructive, and it led people to have such stereotype impression of these people.” Whenever there was vandalism of the church property, people would say it was done by the Indigenous group. After investigation, it wasn’t their fault.”

Mobility of the people is big
At present, there are about a hundred people gathering for Sunday worship, the Sunday School has around 70 students. The grand Dedication Ceremony of the Xin Fu Yuan Methodist BM church, Sibu fell on 19 May, 2019.

Among the 100 Sunday Worshipers, many have Catholic background and some are from BEM. They have moved to the town to work here. Thus, they move a lot depending on the availability of jobs.

Around 30% are Indonesian Christians. The women have followed their working husbands here. The men are working in timber camps while the wives rent a place in town. These Indonesian Christians have stronger faith than our local ones. This is because they are from a Christian background.

Rev Ling said, due to their fast mobility rate, the church needs to prepare them quickly in order to help them to build a stronger foundation in their faith – at least help them form a habit of coming to church for Sunday Worship. In this way, no matter where they go, they will find another church to go for Sunday Worship.

Preparation to pass the baton
Besides moving about, there are a lot of family problems. There are divorces and remarriages, thus making it more complicated. Apart from that, they live in cramped spaces, causing conflicts and misunderstandings. This might be the reason why youngsters loitered about refusing to go home.

“It was my dream to set up a Centre for these loitering children who refuse to go home. It will be a refuge for them. These youths are not bad in nature, but are lost as they wander about, creating nuisance for the society. I feel sad for their circumstances.”

The cost of the the new Xin Fu Yuan Methodist BM church is around 3.5 million and the church is also preparing to be independent. “We want the BM congregation to bear 5% of the cost, to help them learn how to make offering and manage financially. They have to set up committees with a Chinese member to assist them at the moment. When the time comes for them to operate efficiently, they can be fully independent then!” Rev Ling is also making preparation for passing the Baton. She is hoping to find successors among the Indigenous group. She is not encouraging them to go straight to Theological school, but to work in the church for 2-3 years. When they are certain of their calling, they are to enter the Theological School for further preparation. During their service in the church, they will be given training as well. She can also observe and assess them. In this way, they are more capable of serving the church as they are not unfamiliar with the working environment.

At the moment, we have one candidate studying at Sabah Seminary.

Rev Ling shared that there are around 20 BM preaching points in Sarawak. To her, this is a big field of harvest. Many Indigenous people are still lost. There is a great need for labourers to join the harvesting force.

Still happily married
Talking about her cross cultural marriage to Rev Jatan ak Badi, a SIAC pastor, who is now currently working at Gereja Methodist Iban Bintangor, Rev Ling said smilingly that they met, fell in love and were married in 2012. She never dreamed that she would marry an Indigenous man.

“We met in the Theological school. I was a short term mission student then and he was a Theological student of the seminary. It wasn’t love at first sight,” Rev laughingly recalled.

“In 2003 I went to Julau on a mission trip and he was in charge of the team then. We became close after that.” The following year, she had a car accident and the pastor sent her medicine.

The interaction made them closer but the pastor decided to end the relationship after a month as he felt inadequate. With much struggle, they felt that they loved each other more.

After four years, Rev Ling introduced him to her family for fear of rejection. “I have hinted to them a lot.” They decided to tie the knot in 2012 and it was quite hard for her mom to accept this ‘Kapit man’ as her son in law. Of course Rev Ling’s family did face some outside pressure from relatives and friends, asking, “Are there no other choices in the Chinese community? Why choose a native? Is she scared that no one want to marry her?” and so on…

They are still happily married after all these years. They seldom squabble. Though they are still childless, they believe that God is holding back this gift. “Perhaps, we have had good communication and understanding before marriage, thus, we seldom clash on issues.”

Recorded by April
Interviewed by Menglei
Translated by Christina