Hi Friends! :) For those at PTS who had the opportunity to meet Dr. Thu and Ms. Brenda, Dr. Thu spoke very kindly of the hospitality received at PTS..made me a little homesick. :)
Early Friday morning, I travelled back to Kudat only this time I travelled with the intent of meeting with various churches in rural settings. During the four hour car ride of bumpy mountain roads, I had the opportunity to speak with Rev. Daniel, a pastor at a rural church just outside the city of Kudat and enjoy the beautiful scences of mountains and tropical forest in Malaysia. Rev. Daniel spoke more about the issues facing many Christians in Malaysia such as some ways of persecution such as lack of jobs and schooling opportunities. During our car trip we had several stops. The first stop was a bible training center (which works to train not only potential future pastors, but also various lay leaders and those who may be able to help and teach Sunday School) The teachers at the small training center, along with the students, were very welcoming but it was once again encouraging and saddening to listen to some of their stories. One spoke of how they use to be able to use and cross but now since being controlled by the government, they are unable to do so. They spoke about the challenges facing Christians as evangelizing to Muslims is illegal. Some take the risk and try to reach out to Muslims regardless through speaking with them about their beliefs and then opening up the conversation for questions and ideas about Christianity. Some times this is successful, other times it is not..but as one student said, it is still important to plant the seeds even if we don't know the outcome of the harvest. It is also very difficult since when a Christian falls in love with and marries a Muslim he or she is expected to convert to Islam. One student spoke openly about their friends who end up leaving Christianity because they fall in love with a Muslim. They shared evangelism techniques that can help plant seeds such as revivials, inter-religion dialogue, and said it is easier to spread the gospel in villages over cities.
One thing I'm learning quickly about Christianity in Malaysia is there is no real way to track the growth and spread. Since converting to Christianity is a huge crime in Islam culture, many Muslims maintain their status as a Muslim but follow Christ in their hearts. As one pastor stated, they may be a Muslim on paper in the government office, but they are Christians in their hearts. This presents many challenges as some former Muslims are caught in Christian churches.....many move elsewhere to Singapore or neighboring countries. The situation provides unique challenges for evangelism in Malaysia...some are willing to take the risks and switch their documented religion while others do not...in efforts to protect their families, jobs, etc. It is a difficult situation.
Next, we visited a Christian domestic training center for women. Here women are taught basic home skills and trained to make crafts for fair trading companies. The center gives women an opportunity for education and Bible study as well as life skills such as cooking, raising children, etc. A church established the center as a response to the needs of the community.
After walking around a bit to observe a local festival and eating some seafood with Rev. Daniel and his wife, I checked into a hotel. The next morning I was greeted by an English teacher and his daughter to help me speak with more rural churches. The pair provided such great company during the day and I enjoyed the time of fellowship. The first stop was to a church meeting at Rev. Daniel's church. We exchanged questions as the members asked some questions about churches in the US and I asked about ones in their area. One member explained the importance of follow up education as people in their church were converted because the village chief was and they did not actually make a personal decison to follow Christ. In situations like this, he explained the importance of education so these villagers can have a real, personal, relationship with Christ. They spoke about the importance of extending the love of Christ to others in their every day lives and how the village people are able to evangelize well since they enjoy mingling with others and can relate to various peoples (languages, skin colors, etc.) Many spoke about the importance of prayer when trying to show the love of Christ with others. At the next coffee meeting, I met with various church leaders from a local congregation. They spoke about their churches involvement in the local community. The elder explained the importance of youth involvement and how the local youth in the congregation reach out to the community through inviting their friends from school to church and sharing the love of Christ with elders in the community. He explained that within the past year, four families joined the church because one of the youth invited their children to church and they saw their children experience the love of Christ.
At the last meeting, I spoke with various church leaders from the local parish. They shared stories about how they decided to follow Christ. Many of their stories spoke about how with their former religion (animism) they lived in fear...they could not farm, enter homes at certain times..and had many rules to keep in order to avoid evil. If they broke any rules, they would end up becoming very sick. When Christians came to their villages to evangelize, the people observed how they were not keeping all the rules and the evil spirits were not making them sick. People in the village became curiou and spoke with the Christians about Christ. Once they were told about Christ and how He conquered the world, they were at peace from all the evil.
I have several more days here with various meetings and other activities. I will try to update my blog before heading the Kenya as I don't think I'll have internet access the first several days..I'll include a rough schedule of my time in Icuga, Kenya for everyone's information. Thanks for the prayers...keep them coming. :)
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