Sister Chrisanne Chin was invited to share on two special topics, “God’s Goodness to This Land” and“The Changing Factors” during the training session.
God’s Goodness to This Land
(a) Short timeline of God’s Grace in Malaysia. Sister Chin first thanked God for working through the missionaries and wondrously founded churches by different ethnic groups. She led us down the memory lane of Malaysian church history. Following Portuguese occupation of Malacca in 1511, the Catholic Church landed on this land. In 1641 the Dutch brought the Protestant influence. Soon after the British took over Penang in 1771, St George’s Church, the oldest Anglican Church in South East Asia, was established in 1816. In 1848 the first Anglican missionaries set foot on Sarawak, East Malaysia. The Methodist Church rode the wave of English education to come to Sitiawan in 1885 and began the gospel work among the Tamil group in 1894 in Kuala Lumpur and Penang; while another wave came with the Fuzhou immigrants to Sibu, Sarawak in 1901.
The work among the Orang Asli in West Malaysia began with the Sengoi community in Pahang in 1903 with the help of Indonesian missionaries with Paul Means. The Methodist work among the Ibans, the biggest ethnic group in Sarawak, began in 1939 when the missionaries from Indonesia (Lucius Mamora) and America (Paul Schmucker) teamed up to work deep in Kapit and Upper Rajang area. BEM, the inter-denominational mission agency was set up in Australia in1928 with a burden to evangelize the Orang Ulu in Central Borneo (now North Region, Sarawak). Its pioneer missionaries came to Sarawak in late 1928. In 1937 the work was extended to Sabah.
By early 70s when missionaries were forced to leave the country, God raised indigenous church leadership that has now become ethnically diverse and firmly national.
(b) The “Allah” issue and the issue of banning the Bahasa Malaysia Bible have become the force uniting different denominations and bring about a rare unity. These issues also awaken indigenous churches which make up about 60% of total believers in Malaysia. Even with all these challenges we see that Malaysian churches continue to grow, though the pace of growth may not be very fast. Since 2012, different churches and prayer networks began to pray together. The movement “Prayer United” also mobilizes Christians to commit in a 2 years’ 24-hour prayer chain in 2014 for the revival and transformation of the nation.
(c) In the process of translating Bible to the Malay language, we see that God is already at work. As early as 1612, God moved his servant Albert Conelisz Ruyl to translate the Gospel of Matthew and Mark, which was published in 1629. In 1758 the complete Jawi Bible was published in Batavia. This version of Bible became the standard translation for nearly two centuries in Indonesia and Malaysia. Rev Benjamin Keasberry, a Presbyterian minister serving the Malays in Singapore for 38 years, improved the version translated by Robert Burn, an Anglican priest also based in Singapore. With the assistance of Munshi Abdullah (Father of modern Malay literature) the New Testament in Romanized Malay was published in 1853.
Ex-British soldier, William Shellabear (1862-1948), returned to Malaya as a Methodist missionary. He was a pioneer in Malay literature and was also the founder of Methodist Publishing House. He translated the Bible into Malay, improving on Keasberry’s version.
The Shellabear Malay version Bible was later revised and reworked by a group of linguists and theologians and was published as an updated version of the Malay Bible. After 15 years’ work the AVB (Alkitab Versi Borneo) Bible was launched in May 2016.
(d) The arrival of Methodist missionaries also brought about an impact on education. The parallel development of the church and education has always been the principle of gospel work by the Methodists, a lot of elite were nurtured in Malaysia and that became the tradition of Methodism in Malaysia.
(e) We also thank God for this generation of church leaders for they are willing to put aside their differences and be unified against opposing forces to defend freedom of religion.
(f) Lastly, we thank God for the election result because we believe that God’s way is not the same as our way. He is always in control; God’s plan is one that no man can disrupt.
The Changing Factors
In the second lecture, “The Changing Factors”, Sister Chin reaffirmed that our country is a secular country by referring to the process of founding of the legislative system. The Federal Constitution endows upon Malaysians
the freedom of religion. Islam as the official religion means that (1) Islamic rituals can be used in government official functions; (2) secular status of Malaysia is not affected; (3) religious freedom is guaranteed and cannot be obstructed. Therefore, Malaysia is not an Islamic State, and Syariah Law is not the supreme law of the land although certain sectors are deliberately misleading people or attempts to move in this direction.
Sister Chin, who is full of spiritual insight, pointed out that the evil ones were like termites outright while covertly corrupting the foundation of the churches in Malaysia. Churches are now facing various kinds of attacks. All church members should be aware of these.
Secondly, our church is also facing a hidden problem i.e the slow growth of the church, especially among the indigenous people group and the Indians. In 2000-2010, churches in Penang, Johor and Perak have grown while Sabah posted the most serious negative growth.
Other church problems also include
1) our lack of affection towards the Malays because of the past unfair treatment, hurts and fear;
2) our lack of interest in the gospel work among the indigenous people churches as well as the foreign workers;
3) Our Churches are composed mostly of middle class and we are coplacent of status quo, lack of vitality of the Holy Spirit, some even operate like a social club;
4) our church leaders tend to criticize more than to give support;
5) our love and commitment for God is not enough, we spend a lot of time doing a lot of other things but refusing to spend a few minutes to get close to God, and thus most of us do not establish a close personal relationship with God.
So Sister Chin advised all Methodists to live a prayerful life with depth and not just superficially, to establishing a deep and wide relationship with the Father, to extend our blessings beyond our own race and even to our enemies.
Politicians needs prayer support
She said that behind the first Chinese Christian Mayor of Jakarta there is a body of dedicated intercessors supporting him. She believed that the politicians of our nation also need such prayer support. The problem is that our church is lacking of such committed intercession warriors.
Her own calling of intercessory
prayer ministry began five years ago during the 30 days fast and pray. God brought to her vision some of the unbearable political situations and that was how her intercessory ministry got fired up.
Bishop Ong Hwai Teck accompanied by Rev. Wong Tik Wah (the interpreter) led all participants to pray and confess the church’s indifference, arrogance, laziness and other shortfalls.
Reported by Saffron Ling
Translated by KT Chew