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ON September 3, 2020, Rev. Dr. Tie King Tai, the President of SCAC conducted the first ever “Declaration of Deconsecration” in both SCAC history and his life, ending the operation of Hong Ang Methodist Church, Lebaan, Sibu.
Standing on the 64 year old wooden podium President Tie declared: “This sanctuary, the Hong Ang Methodist Church, Lebaan, was once consecrated as a sanctuary for worshiping God. Today it has completed its mission. Now we will consecrate the land on which it stands and all the objects in it for other meaningful purposes. I hereby declare that this is no longer a meeting place for the church congregation.”
Then the Lay-leader of the church, Wong Tiong Ping and Wong Tiong Swee the Deacon removed the cross and the Bible from the altar.
In his exhortation President Tie took the text from Ecclesiastes 3: “ There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh ……….”
Many local residents attended the ceremony. Mr. Tang, an ex-resident who moved away from the place 47 years ago attended with his daughter. Mr. Tang’s father served as the principal of Sekolah Rendah Kai Dee from 1957 to 1976 and they lived in the school’s hostel. He grew up in Lebaan and remembered both Kai Dee and Lebaan well.
Mr. & Mrs. Ting Hie Siong live not far to the left of Hong Ang Methodist Church and from their house they can see the church. Every morning when he opens the windows he can see the church and that view always brings peace to his soul. Though his wife had a foot injury, she turned out for this special service with the help of her children. When Mr. Ting saw me he tried to make a final persuasion, saying that “the church should not be demolished, it can be repaired where necessary and the pillars can be raised if sunken.” I think they have a deep feeling about the church being demolished.
Kai Dee School started from here
Hong Ang Methodist Church is located at the lower reach of the west bank of Sibu, by the Rajang River in the Lebaan area. In the past it was the place where the Pingnan Fuzhou folks lived. The Bawang Assan Iban longhouses are just round the corner.
As early as 1914, immigrants from Pingnan Fuzhou came to the Lebaan area to open up the area. They were eager for God’s word and on Sunday they had to travel to Yuan Nan Methodist Church (founded in 1912) in Bukit Lan for Sunday worship. Bukit Lan is a little upstream of Lebaan. In 1915 Pastor Yek Chao Liang was posted to shepherd in the area. Under the leadership of Wong Lian Ming and others, the people built a simple church by the riverside and they called it “Hock Ang Methodist Church”. The place served as a church on Sunday and a school on week days. At that time, more than a dozen school children studied there, and that was how Kai Dee School started.
In 1924, the sanctuary was no longer big enough because of increase in membership, so they decided to build a larger building for church -cum -school.The new sanctuary was completed in November 1924. When it was opened, a bird flew from the river and it seemed to declare serenity, so the church was renamed “Hong Ang Methodist Church”.
The member and student population increased dramatically from 1934 to 1935. Everybody worked hard to raise funds and a grand and spectacular new building was built. In the middle of this building was a church, and the four rooms on both sides were classrooms, which was the existing Kai Dee Primary School auditorium. The Sunday worship attendance was then over 100 people every week.
Separation of school
and church
In 1941, the Japanese invaded and occupied Sibu for four years. Church activities were suspended, but people still joined the Sunday worship actively.
The Allied forces retook Sarawak in September 1945. The socio-political situation gradually stabilized. By then the facilities in the church were in poor condition. With the help of the Methodist Church in Malaysia, the church was fully restored.
Rev. Wong Kie Cheng was the pastor of the church in 1953. Seeing the church and the school buildings were small and crowded, he planned to build a new sanctuary. The building of the new church was completed in 1956. Since then, Hong Ang Methodist Church and Kai Dee School officially separated.
In 1957, under the leadership of Rev. Wong Kie Cheng, the Sunday school was restored. There were 7 Sunday school teachers to lead and teach these children. The Youth Fellowship and the Women’s Fellowship were also very active. The church was facing the problem of shortage of space as the sanctuary was the only venue for all these activities.
In 1969, the pastor-in-charge was the then Pastor Ting Daik Choung. An extension of two rooms behind the church was built to house the Youth Fellowship and parsonage. At that time, the church building and facilities were considered good by the local rural standard.
The Rural Flight
However the socio-economic situation kept changing and the local folks began moving away. The livelihood of the people were affected because the rubber trees that the people planted were getting old and hence latex production dropped and the international rubber price was very low too. On top of that the communist insurgency in Sarawak also affected the livelihood of the people. As church members began moving out of the area the church activities began to slow down. Under the leadership of Pastor Ting Daik Choung, the people gradually turned to farming to make ends meet.
In 1972, when Pastor Ling Tung Lee was pastoring in this church, he organized the church members to rent land from the natives to plant paddy. He helped to apply for government subsidies, helped the church members in the field, and introduced the use of machinery to improve efficiency. That was a great contribution of the pastor.
When Pastor Yii Ching Tuong was pastoring in this church he raised funds for the building of the church, the conference room and Sunday school classrooms. The construction was completed in September of the same year and thanksgiving service was held in conjunction with the 65th anniversary.
In the 90s, the worship attendance dropped to around ten people. This was because of the local folks and younger generation moving to the town for their livelihood. The church just maintained the regular Sunday worship and fellowship gathering activities. Despite this, the pastors worked hard for more than ten years to shepherd the local folk.
Merging with Teo Guan
Hong Ang Methodist Church went through a lot from 2016 to 2018 and the old wooden buildings became unsuitable and dangerous. Various possibilities were looked into and for the betterment of both churches the members finally chose to merge with Teo Guan Methodist Church, the church which had been separated for 86 years.
After the last worship service on December 30, 2018, the church moved to Teo Guan Methodist Church. The two churches were merged into the “Teo Guan Hong Ang Methodist Church”. Currently 60 – 70 members worship in this church.