Ministry Update March/April 2011

March started full of activities and they were significant activities. Some Upper North Anglican pastors met to discuss the possibility of starting an Anglican Bahasa church on the island to cater to Anglicans from East Malaysia, who are here for study or work. Then there was the meeting with an Indonesian pastor who expressed an interest to partner Bagan Jermal Anglican Church (BJAC) to start an Indonesian service to cater to the Indonesians who are in Penang for medical purposes (at Adventist Hospital), besides the fact that the Indonesian Consulate is just around the corner.

March also saw the start of efforts towards establishing the Anglican Training Center, a center to house TEE programs for lay leaders/pastors. Also planned was skill-related programs/seminars. And these were not all that came together with month number three. The Sekolah Alkitab Malaysia (SAM) Penang center started its first class with its new curriculum in St Mark’s, Prai with an average attendance of 10 students. Classes are still on-going for the study of the Gospel of Mark as part of the New Testament study requirement. I also began my monthly missions training session with members of St Mark’s Prai that will continue till September. I’m excited to be a part of their missions efforts with the goal to be equipped to do outreach work in South Thailand. They also started their Thai language class with a Thai student from MBTS. They are hoping to pick up basic conversational Thai to enable them to function in their target group of Southern Thais.

BJAC also went to an OA village. We “closed shop” one Saturday and went to Pawong. There were 11 of us in the van with one participant from St Paul as the driver, one from St George’s as an observer, and another whom I never got to know which church he was affiliated to. We were joined by another 13 in 3 cars from FLC. As far as I’ve been informed, everyone had a great time and there are requests to plan another longer trip there. As to the situation in the village, the grocery store project is progressing better than anticipated. Their initial capital has been used and they are receiving requests to sell new items. I’m seeking for sponsors to invest in this ministry and let them run it as they deem fit. Profit will be re-invested and they will roll on their own. Besides being a source of income for the local church, it also serves as a developmental project and an outreach where customers can get to know the church.

Then there was the SAM Ipoh graduation I attended last week. The event was sandwiched by 2 meetings, before & after the graduation service. The Council met to decide on an autonomous style of governance for the various SAM centers. This is because some centers want to affiliate with STM while some with MBS. For myself, coming under the umbrella of the Anglican church, I was instructed to work towards affiliation with STM. There’s actually no choice as I’m obligated to the “canonical obedience” enshrined in my appointment. But I am very glad to witness and participate in the discussion towards drawing up future plans and goals for SAM to be an independent Bible School, standing on its own with its own accreditation and not having to lean on another entity to gain recognition of our programs. However, this is not something that can be accomplished overnight. Perhaps, it will take another 3-5 years. I’m pushing for the others to set a deadline so we can measure our progress. It will be in September before we start elaborating on this.

The following day after the graduation service I had a meeting with a church in Ipoh to establish partnership in our OA ministry. I’m so glad for this. When I returned to Penang I had a meeting with another church to discuss similar possibilities. I’m really excited. These two are AG churches. In fact, I am still very overwhelmed by the extent of potentials and possibilities in this ministry. I really pray God will raise someone to come along side me soon. At the rate this is going, soon I will not be able to attend to everything completely by myself.

Another interesting event in March was the 50th Anniversary of my school, CGL. It was sort of a last minute thing that I finally made it to the dinner, attended by over 1000 guests and students on the school field itself. As it was on a Saturday night, I was obviously late for the dinner. It was supposed to start at 6.30pm but I arrived at about 7.30pm and dinner was not yet served. Traffic was bad due to this very event. I arrived to meet a friend who showed me to the table, supposedly attended by friends of my class year. But I could hardly recognize some of them. There were 2 ladies at a nearby table who came over to exchange greetings. They recognized me but their faces just do not register in my mind at all. I came back from this event a bit shaken. Many people could recognize me but I could not recognize them at all. It was as if a part of my life had been erased from my memory and that was frightening. I kept asking myself, how come they don’t register in my mind? In fact, I have several facebook friends that I added without recalling who they are but they insisted we know each other from school, CGL. This continues to puzzle me greatly. I keep asking myself why and how come. I completely have no recollection of some friends in school. And these are individuals who claimed that we were pretty good friends. In a way, it is scary. I think I can remember pretty well events in university days. Earlier years seem too dim. It’s like my hard disk drive crashed and was re-formatted and not all data was restored.

April is right around the corner. There are several preaching engagements, and after Easter is a week-long trip to Ipoh for the SAM Ipoh’s diploma program class. Though I’m not teaching, I will attend to this first class and explain the new curriculum to the students. Other days of the week I hope to do 2 things: build better rapport with Ipoh churches while exploring partnership possibilities and to continue interviews for my thesis research. Ending the week will be a trip to Gua Musang, Kelantan. I’ve been looking forward to a chance to visit this place and I’m glad the opportunity has arrived. The local leaders are also waiting for my visit to extend the efforts that is being done in the Simpang Pulai/Gopeng OA Villages in terms of social development and Christian education.

The SAM center in Ipoh has also started their new curriculum this month with Gua Musang center planning to launch their first course in April. Also, kindly pray for the Anglican Training Center, located just next to my office, that aims to offer TEE programs in English, Mandarin, Tamil, and BM.

Once again, thank you for your partnership in ministry.

Ministry Update March 2011

It’s been a quick month full of activities. First, the CNY break where I “locked” myself indoors to escape the stress of Penang traffic. Just concluded last week was the SEA Anglican Provincial Gathering. Never thought I’ll enjoy an Anglican function but I did. Actually, I discovered that there are Anglican pastors from other diocese who are “fun” and it’s not all dull traditions. Don’t get me wrong. Traditions are good… if it serve a purpose.

Entering into the third month sees the start of the BM school in Penang and Ipoh. Not sure yet when exactly Gua Musang is starting their classes although the coordinator said it should be in March too. The Ulu Tiram center is still pending. The coordinator is busy being a daddy.

Later in the month (12th), I’ll be bringing a team of blind participants to an OA village. A friend asked in a surprised tone…what can they see? Anyway, I sort of forced them to play a role in the trip. 4 of them will be sharing their testimony and 3 of them are blind. I have a van load going and we will be joined by FLC to this “exposure” day trip. Please pray for us: good weather, logistics, those ministering (BJAC sharing to adults & FLC ministering to the children), the journey, etc.

The grocery store project at Pawong is apparently doing well. Stock is already running low. But I’ll go see the place and study the needs before I update further. Anyone interested to partner development work with the OA community? There are several other projects needing partnership with urban church/individuals. Pray over it and let me know. A little monetary investment from our part is a huge contribution to them. I have 2 chicken projects pending needing investment of approximately RM5000 a year for 2 years. These are all located within Perak/Pahang and we can go visit anytime.

Kindly pray also for the Bible translation workshop scheduled for early June by Bible Society of Malaysia. It was postponed from December last year. As we all know there is a tremendous need for contemporary and contextualized translation into Bahasa Malaysia. The present one, the only version, is not accurate at all and Malaysians have been relying on Indonesian bibles in BM services/churches.

Well, once again let me end with this familiar quote…

PHP 1:3 I thank my God every time I remember you.

Thank you for your partnership in ministry.