{"id":42451,"date":"2021-03-14T15:00:06","date_gmt":"2021-03-14T07:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/?p=42451"},"modified":"2021-03-14T15:00:06","modified_gmt":"2021-03-14T07:00:06","slug":"rev-dr-hii-kong-hock-re-elected-as-the-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/?p=42451","title":{"rendered":"Rev Dr Hii Kong-Hock re-elected as the President"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEWSlink<\/span>
\n3rd Session of Sabah AC held Online<\/span><\/p>\n

The 3rd Session of Sabah Annual Conference was held online on November 6, 2020 due to the Covid 19 Pandemic. More than 60 pastors and representatives participated in this \u201cnew normal\u201d historic annual conference.<\/p>\n

Rev Dr Hii Kong-Hock was re-elected President while Rev Tee Kwok Chiang was appointed the new District Superintendent of West District and Effindy Pengiran, the DS of BM District.<\/p>\n

\u201cChurch-Based\u201d to<\/span><\/strong>
\n\u201cHome\/Family-Based\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In his President\u2019s speech, President Rev Dr Hii, specifically mentioned that although 2020 is a year of raging \u201cvirus epidemics\u201d (Covid-19 virus), by our faith in the Lord, we are able to overcome these challenges and take it as an opportunity.
\nReflecting upon the progress of various ministries in 2020, he pointed out frankly that the various phases of MCO and restrictions, since March this year, had hindered the progress of many of the planned ministries. However, \u201cthe Lord taught us to explore at new ideas\u201d \u2013 the transformation of \u201cphysical\u201d pastoral model to \u201cdigital media \/online\u201d pastoral model. Another shift is from \u201cChurch-Based\u201d to \u201cHome\/Family-Based\u201d. On the positive side, the home based mode has accelerated the pace of practicing \u201cfamily disciple\u201d.
\nIn addition to caring about the members\u2019 jobs, finances, family relations, physical and spiritual conditions and pressures, the Church also provides care, counseling, encouragement and prayer support. Members who are not online are also frequently contacted and cared for by telephone.<\/p>\n

President Hii felt so blessed because \u201cmany members still hold on to the heart of loving God, loving others, and loving the church \u2013 they care for and remind each other, attend online worship and fellowship gatherings, and do their best to contribute to support the church and Annual Conference. He was most touched seeing the monthly offerings collection increased by 6.6% or RM 87,249.00 and the number of worshippers also increased by 4.5%!\u201d<\/p>\n

Focus on family intergenerational discipleship<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

President Hii reviewed the key ministries of the past four years: disciple-making, evangelism and church planting, church and society, cross-cultural mission, pastoral human resources, administration, finance and property and etc.<\/p>\n

For disciple-making, there are: \u201cMember\u2019s Bible Study Handbook: Luke-Acts\u201dto help members take root in the truth of the Bible; the \u201c21st Century Christian Education Nurturing Plan\u201d that focuses on teaching according to age groups; Local Preacher Training course; Church Planting Institute (CPI) Leadership Training Course for Indigenous Ministry workers of the General Assembly (BM); \u201cFamily Intergenerational Discipleship\u201d (such as D6 Conference).<\/p>\n

For evangelism and church planting, the Kota Kinabalu Methodist BM Preaching Centre (Asia City) established in 2018 is now combined with Kota Kinabalu Methodist BM Mandarin Preaching Centre (Manggatal) for Sunday worship service starting 2020; Sandakan BM Preaching Centre was established in 2017. In addition, Serudung Laut\u2019s education and gospel ministry which stopped since 2017 is now handed over to Persatuan Kristian Murut Sabah.<\/p>\n

The social concern ministry includes: the \u201cSabah Methodist Children\u2019s Home\u201d located in the Hope Village of Tuaran set up in 2017, currently with 10 children; Shern En Methodist Church initiated the \u201cAngel\u2019s Heart Ministry\u201d with the aim to provide care for dying children and their families. In respond to General Conference\u2019s \u201cOne Church, One School\u201d various motivational and health talks were organized as bridge to share the gospel. To help improve the livelihood of the indigenous people, the pig raising project (Kg Mangkalias) and the bird\u2019s nest partnership project (Kg Mononood) were carried out.<\/p>\n

During the Covid-19 outbreak, Sabah Methodist Crisis & Relief Development partnered with \u201cMethodist Crisis Relief & Development\u201d (MCRD) actively participated in disaster relief and food ministry for those affected.
\nThe cross-cultural mission ministry saw the Wesley Training Centre in Chiang Rai, Thailand organize three trainings and gospel camps per year to train preachers\/leaders and youths of various ethnic groups; 2 preachers and 60 children from the Kangaroo House in Kentong, Myanmar are supported financially. It also sends short-term mission teams to visit and serve at least twice a year to provide support to the ministry. As for the Chinese guest workers in Sabah, about 12-14 Chinese guest workers are baptized each year. Currently the CCMM is unable to enter the construction sites due to the epidemic. This ministry is also facing a stage of transformation.<\/p>\n

36 clergies<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

There are currently 36 clergies in Sabah Annual Conference, including: Elders (1 retired, 26 on-the-job), Deacons (3), Local deacons (2), Probationary Minister (1), Pastors (2), missionary (1). In addition, there are 4 ministerial officers (one of them is Elder). New staffs and clergies are: Grace Yong Sing ping (joined 2018), Jakli Benjamin, Jude Taka (graduated 2019). Currently there are two theological students at MTS and one at Singapore Bible College (own expense). There are 3 interns preparing to enter the seminary in 2021.<\/p>\n

2018 marked the 35th anniversary of the setting up of the Methodist Church in Sabah. On that day the Sabah Provisional Annual Conference was upgraded to Sabah Annual Conference. Bishop Ong Hwai Teck and Bishop Emeritus Hwa Yung and the Presidents of the other 5 Annual Conference witnessed the ground-breaking ceremony for Sabah Methodist Headquarters building.<\/p>\n

President Hii encouraged all the delegates that no matter how big the economic challenge may be they must remain united and continue to complete the Sabah Methodist Headquarters with confidence!<\/p>\n

Confidence and sense of mission<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In the past four years the average number of believers baptized and confirmed in the Sabah Annual Conference:
\n1. Chinese\/English churches: infant baptism (48 persons), adult baptism (47 persons), and confirmation (74 persons).<\/p>\n

2. BM churches: infant baptism (14 persons), adult baptism (4 persons), and confirmation (8 persons).<\/p>\n

Worship and children\u2019s Sunday school average attendances in the past 4 years are:
\n1. Chinese\/English churches: 2012 persons, dropped by 73 persons compared to 2017.<\/p>\n

2. BM churches: 467 persons,dropped by 60 persons comparing to 2017.<\/p>\n

Because of the impact of the pandemic, the attendance for fellowship groups has declined as well (with the exception of the Youth Fellowship); the number of members attending prayer meetings is about 15% of the total worshippers.<\/p>\n

In terms of finance, despite the economic downturns, the Chinese\/English pastoral districts have tried their best to present the designated twelve offerings to the Annual Conference according to the budget allocation. However over the past few years offering for missions, theological education, and social concerns have decreased.<\/p>\n

President Hii summed up the past four years of ministry, \u201cIn these four years, we have been guided by the theme of \u201cRoot deep on solid foundation\u201d, and our goal is disciple-making as the first priority, so as to build a healthy and growing church. For all that has been done, glory to the Lord for what we have achieved so far of what we have achieved so far; for those areas that we have not reached the expected goals, we must strive for break through and grow. Today, the believers and the church as a whole may be lacking of – especially in the current challenges we are facing – confidence and a sense of mission. In the days to come, let us ask God to lead us in this regard and move on!\u201d<\/p>\n

\nCompiled by Jacqueline Ung<\/span>
\nTranslated by KT Chew<\/span><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEWSlink 3rd Session of Sabah AC held Online The 3rd Session of Sabah Annual Conference was held online on November 6, 2020 due to the Covid 19 Pandemic. More than 60 pastors and representatives participated in this \u201cnew normal\u201d historic annual conference. Rev Dr Hii Kong-Hock was re-elected President while Rev Tee Kwok Chiang was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48980,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[238,10,287],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42451"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/48980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}