01 Dec 2006

December 2006 - They Have Come a Long Way in Ten Years

10th Anniversary of Qi En Methodist Preaching Centre - Segaliud Lokan, Sabah

Bishop Hwa Yung and Rev. Ling Heu Uh at the celebration Children from the tadika Celebratory Dance
 Traditional Culture is still alive
 Map showing all the BM ministry of SPAC
This was the first Bahasa Malaysia ministry of the Methodist Church in Sabah amongst the bumiputra community. On 15 October 2006 they celebrated ten years of mission work begun in 1996.

It started in a small office room at the timber camp of KTS Plantation in Segaliud Lokan. Rev. Wong Kiu Ngok with Pastor Chong Siew Len as interpreter visited once a month with 25-30 bumiputra believers. After a year the meetings moved to the meeting hall of the camp, with Rev. Shia Siek Hing visiting twice a month. A Sunday School was started as well as instruction classes for 10-20 children. Youths from Sy En Methodist Church, Sandakan helped out here.

This mission work received an impetus with the mandate given to Rev. Wong Teck Suk to lead the work amongst the bumiputra community. A milestone in its history was the baptism of seven new believers with another seven joining the church family. Soon after a building project was launched.

Today the Preaching Centre has its own building on a five acre piece of land donated by KTS Plantation, built in 2002. Since 2004, Pastor Tihronny Engao has been working fulltime at the Centre and his wife is the head of the Tadika Qi En. There are now about 80 members and 40 pupils in three classes at the tadika. The four classroom tadika was built with funding from KTS Plantation.

The church wants to raise the level of education in the bumiputra community, including the non-Christians. To this end it provides free tuition classes for primary and lower secondary students; and also for those who are illiterate and not schooling.

In ten years the Qi En Methodist Church has come a long way in its mission to the bumiputra community in an isolated part of Sabah. This is the fruit of the vision, dedication and patient hard work of the pastors and lay members together with the support of other churches and the KTS Plantation.

Today, the Sabah Provisional Annual Conference has five other Bahasa Malaysia mission work with the indigenous people of Sabah.