Board of Executive
Adjustments on Sunday Worship time of the following churches were accepted: Teo Guan Hong Ang MC and Sing Fu MC of Sibu West District, Lawas MC of Miri District from 8am to 10am, and Samarindah Preaching Centre of Kuching East District from 10.30am to 11am. Tien En MC purchased a shop lot at RM780,000 for the multi-purpose usage of BM ministry.
After reconstruction it was resolved that the SCAC Headquarters building will be hereafter named Wisma Methodist SCAC. Estimated to move in around April 2020.
Since the nearly-completed education building of Hwai En MC has a larger capacity, the Sunday Worship sessions are reduced to two: 8.00am and 7.30pm.
The proposal of SCAC Staff Performance Appraisal raised by Board of Human Resources was approved by the Board and agreed upon at the Conference by 257 out of 347 total votes effective from year 2020. Gloria MC of Bintulu District embarked on a new BM ministry with PKKM at Sg Plan by starting small group gatherings. There were about 20 youth and adults and around 20 children. The Board granted its blessings to start BM Worship there.
The Foo-chow Sunday Worship of Sibu North District parked at Sing Ang MC will be handed over to Sing Ang MC to continue the work from 2020 onwards.
Board of Laity was granted permission from Taiwan Campus Evangelical Fellowship Press to print the monthly devotional material “Daily Living Water” in Sibu. And Methodist Bookroom was entrusted as the general distributor in Malaysia. In order to promote this booklet to deepen the spiritual lives of our congregations, Board of Laity will be holding seminars on devotion across Sarawak from 31 Jan – 12 Feb, 2020.
Board of Finance
Collections for the 4-item Offering totalled RM18,374,113.34 which was RM638,090.74 (3.60%) more than that of last year. Meantime the total tithes received this year was 17,006,662.39, an increase of RM632,946.94 (3.87%).
Board of Laity
The Board works on a wide spectrum of ministries which include: Church Management System (to computerize the Book of Life), Sarawak Chinese Methodist Convention, Workplace Ministry (Golf Fellowship, Workplace Witnesses), Prayer Ministry (District Prayer Coordinator, 24/7 Prayer Network via chat group, Prayer Watch for the nation & the church especially on the Sarawak Day and Malaysia Day, Women Prayer Conference, etc), Bible Reading Ministry (Prayer & Bible Camp, promoting devotional materials especially “Daily Living Water”, Discipleship Ministry (Emmaus Walks, TOP Discipleship Courses, History Makers, etc), Zion Correspondence School, and Short-term Mission School Ministry.
After taking over from Methodist Theological School (MTS) the Shortterm Mission School Ministry, the School was taken to the localities; one to Central Sarawak from 2 Jan – 29 March with 64 enrolments at MTS, another to Southern Sarawak from 9 April – 28 Jun with 7 intakes at Kuching Wisma Methodist. Graduates would join the Journey of History Makers. On the other hand, the Short-term Mission School for College Students took place this year from 2 Jul – 23 Aug at MTS with 12 intakes.
Women Prayer Conference 2020 will be held at Kuching Trinity MC on 20-22 March.
Board of Ministry
Rev Jerry Garang has served a full 4-year term of secondment in SCAC and will return to BEM next year. Rev Kong Pang Kee and his wife Rev Ngu King Chee will be transferred to Australia Chinese Methodist Church to serve in PNG starting from next year.
Rev Peter Yong Lah Nging from Australia Chinese Methodist Church applied to be transferred to SCAC and to minister in Sibu in order to take care of his elderly parents. The Board accepted his application and was appointed during the Conference to serve at Wesley MC next year.
Board of Missions
The Board continued to support 43 on-the-job overseas missionaries and another two who were pursuing further studies. Two new missionaries will be commissioned during this Conference, Wong Siew Nguok to Southeast Asia and Wong Kie to West Kalimantan.
Forty-four short-term mission teams were sent out to the adopted mission fields.
Information Communication Board
The Board covered a wide variety of ministries which includes: Internet Ministry, Radio Recording Ministry (also in BM and Iban), Shooting & Video Making, Animation & Comics, Porn Culture Prevention, etc.
Board of Evangelism
The MOU with SIAC was renewed and signed on 8 November this year.
Sarawak Indigenous People Minsitry (MSIP), adopted 113 long houses as of 2019. Currently there were 7 local missionaries including two of voluntary basis. Out of the two volunteers, Jason Siew applied to go for full time with pay starting from next year. And it was gladly blessed by the Board. Meanwhile, two new missionaries will be commissioned at the Conference; they were Bryan Ak Luwes and Irene Jee.
There were 3 new students coming to stay at Lawas Care Centre this year which madea total of 15 students.
“Calon ke Syurga” was a new means to specifically reach out to indigenous youth. It was a by-product of Ulu Julau short-term missions. It came under MSIP at the end of 2018. And it was suggested to change the project name to “Project Daniel”.
Board of Education
The number of students in all the church-run schools from MPI to kindergarten and nursery saw a decrease this year.
The textbooks for preschool have all been composed as of May this year.
Board of Medical
Through hospital visitation ministry, 3419 church members and 531 non-believers were ministered from October 2018 to September 2019. On the other hand, long house medical short-term missions continued to render services to remote places, such as Paloh, Ulu Siong, Serbau Lassa, Teku Plantation, Berangan, Lehah Plantation, Lengan, Stalon, Passin, and etc.
Board of Family Wellness & Counselling
The Board offered four main ministries: couple ministry, parent-child ministry, singles ministry, counselling ministry.
The working hours of the 4 counselling centres in Sibu, Miri, Kuching and Bintulu are 8am-12pm, 1:15pm-5pm, from Tuesday to Saturday.
Board of Youth Ministry In training ministry, there were programs like No Apologies, Character Building, Life Game, and MY Centre.
MY Centre organised a wide range of camps, courses, sports (especially Futsal, Tchoukball) and competitions to build up the young generation.
The management of the Bukit Lan Outdoor Activities Centre was handed over to the Board effective 1 Jan 2019.
Board of Social Concerns
For homeless ministry, 24 bentos were served daily in Sibu area. A refrigerator was added to the Street Friends Service Centre at the Central
Market to offer more food for the
homeless.
Apart from caring for male inmates, there was also female inmates fellowship every Friday afternoon which saw about 29 attendees.Praise God that six of them accepted Christ as their personal Saviour. Spiritual materials were provided to help themenrich their spiritual knowledge.
For Disaster Relief Ministry, the first Response to Disaster Training was successfully held from 27 Feb – 3 Mar this year. 32 church members including 4 pastors participated in the training. Among them, 29 passed the IDRN international certification exam as qualified relief workers. During the Board meeting in May, a Disaster Relief Team was formed.
Victory Home, a rehab centre, moved to the new premises at 9 ½ miles Oya Road, Sibu, on 28 February. A dedication ceremony was heldon 19 November. As of September 2019, there were 46 learners. The Director Tan Kok Hua will be returning to MTS in 2020 to wind up the remaining two years of theological training.
Methodist Children’s Home
The total number of children in the three children’s homes was as follows: 61 in Sibu MCH, 16 in Miri MCH, and 19 in Bintulu MCH.
Methodist Pilley Institute
Praise God that the Institute obtained ISO Certification this year. Though the intake this year was not as expected, the total number of students WAS still above 900. Meanwhile, the construction of education building A was going well and expected to be put to use in March 2020. Rev Debbie Yet was the first full time chaplain appointed to shepherd the staff and the students.
Methodist Secondary School
The total number of students this year was 1937 with 55 morning classes and 21 afternoon classes. MSS happened to be the only secondary school in Sibu to implement “SPM Bible Knowledge”, one of the papers in Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM). There were 16 students from Form 5 and 6 from Form 4 taking up this course. Meanwhile, the Bible Knowledge course was also offered for the junior high students with 53 enrolments.
Apart from student’s fellowship in Chinese
and BM, there were also Character
Classes in both languages.
Methodist Theological School
There were 285 students in total this year, 45 out of which were of full time. 26 were graduated this year and there will be 10 new intakes next year. It is expected to launch theological courses in BM in 2021.
Compiled by Saffrolee